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CBS chief calls Rather comments `sexist'
Yahoo ^

Posted on 06/12/2007 10:10:21 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

CBS chief calls Rather comments `sexist'

By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer 5 minutes ago

CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves shot back at former CBS news anchor Dan Rather on Tuesday, saying remarks Rather made about his successor, Katie Couric, were "sexist."

Rather, speaking on MSNBC by phone on Monday, said CBS had made the mistake of taking the evening news broadcast and "dumbing it down, tarting it up," and playing up topics such as celebrities over war coverage. The comments appeared in blogs and in a story published Tuesday in the New York Daily News.

While referring to Couric as a "nice person," Rather said "the mistake was to try to bring the 'Today' show ethos to the 'Evening News,' and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience."

Moonves, asked about the remarks at an appearance in New York sponsored by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, called the remarks "sexist" and said he was surprised at the amount of negative coverage Couric was receiving. Couric, the first solo female news anchor, has been struggling in the ratings.

"She's been on the air for nine months," Moonves said. "Let's give her a break."

Moonves said he "absolutely" had confidence in Couric and the direction that CBS's evening was going, saying it was imperative to reach younger audiences. Evening news broadcasts couldn't continue to have audiences that are mainly over 60, Moonves said, otherwise "the evening news will die."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cbs; couric; danrather; rather
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To: Sub-Driver

Did anyone else notice that while Moonves called Rather’s remarks ‘sexist”, no where in the article did he disagree with Dan’s opinion?


21 posted on 06/12/2007 10:22:59 AM PDT by Exeter (If Life gives you lemons, just shut up and eat the damn lemons!)
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To: Sub-Driver

How could you possibly dumb-down anything Dan said? That would be like reaching Zero on the Kelvin scale of stupidity or something.


22 posted on 06/12/2007 10:23:00 AM PDT by FormerLib (Sacrificing our land and our blood cannot buy protection from jihad.-Bishop Artemije of Kosovo)
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To: Sub-Driver
Well, if there's anyone who ought to know a dumb tart, it's Rather.
23 posted on 06/12/2007 10:24:03 AM PDT by Sloth (The GOP is to DemonRats in politics as Michael Jackson is to Jeffrey Dahmer in babysitting.)
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To: Sub-Driver
Dan Rather is a grumpy old man.
24 posted on 06/12/2007 10:26:11 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (The Democrat Party: radical Islam's last hope)
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To: mewzilla

Nice catch! Although, I must say, I am not at all surprised. I’ve heard about the Cruella act when she was at Today, but it’s pretty surprising that she could get away with this “sexist” CBS.


25 posted on 06/12/2007 10:26:56 AM PDT by ishabibble (ALL AMERICAN INFIDEL)
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To: fieldmarshaldj
Whatta bunch of assclowns.

Isn't it wonderful to see Moonves strap himself even tighter to The Perky One?

26 posted on 06/12/2007 10:29:12 AM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Nine months—eh. Normally that is an eternity in TV ratings land. But perhapse in Les’ land of the ratings sinkhole, it seems little more than a .... “pregnant” pause.


27 posted on 06/12/2007 10:30:21 AM PDT by rod1 (uake)
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To: 04-Bravo; aimhigh; andyandval; Arizona Carolyn; backhoe; Bahbah; bert; bilhosty; Caipirabob; ...

Dinosaur Media Catfight Ping.


28 posted on 06/12/2007 10:30:36 AM PDT by abb (The Dinosaur Media: A One-Way Medium in a Two-Way World)
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To: 04-Bravo; aimhigh; andyandval; Arizona Carolyn; backhoe; Bahbah; bert; bilhosty; Caipirabob; ...

Dinosaur Media Catfight Ping.


29 posted on 06/12/2007 10:30:42 AM PDT by abb (The Dinosaur Media: A One-Way Medium in a Two-Way World)
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To: hunter112

Her ratings still lower than “Mama’s Family” reruns in the L.A. market ?


30 posted on 06/12/2007 10:31:33 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~~~Jihad Fever -- Catch It !~~~)
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To: Sub-Driver

Rather’s comments were fake but accurate.


31 posted on 06/12/2007 10:31:39 AM PDT by AU72
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To: Sub-Driver
I love honest reporters and commentators like Laura Ingraham. It is phony liberals like Couric I despise. I must be a "sexist."


32 posted on 06/12/2007 10:32:15 AM PDT by FormerACLUmember (The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Even some at CBS didn’t want Couric. She has made a huge mistake and it’s just a matter of time before changes are made.


33 posted on 06/12/2007 10:32:31 AM PDT by feyler
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To: Sub-Driver
Rather said "the mistake was to try to bring the 'Today' show ethos to the 'Evening News,' and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience."

Trust us, Dan ... SeeBS news was no smarter when you were there.

34 posted on 06/12/2007 10:33:32 AM PDT by Colonel_Flagg (Fred.)
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To: Sub-Driver
...and to dumb it down... in hopes of attracting a younger audience."

Dan Rather is an age-ist!

35 posted on 06/12/2007 10:34:15 AM PDT by xroadie
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To: Sub-Driver
"dumbing it down, tarting it up,"

Well, they did that when they put Dan in the anchor chair.

36 posted on 06/12/2007 10:34:33 AM PDT by Fido969 ("The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax." - Albert Einstein)
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Comment #37 Removed by Moderator

To: Sub-Driver

Katie’s tarting it up... as compared to RATher’s forging it up...


38 posted on 06/12/2007 10:41:14 AM PDT by johnny7 ("But that one on the far left... he had crazy eyes")
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To: PzLdr
It’s an insult to tarts.

LOL!!

39 posted on 06/12/2007 10:42:13 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ( “A nation without borders is not a nation.” —Ronald Reagan)
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To: Keith in Iowa
One of the few times in recent history when Gunga-Dan was actually right...he gets crap for it. :)

I agree. The expression means sleazying the presentation of something, and while it may have had its origin in Victorian references to prostitutes, I think he was referring to the program features, not to Couric.

It's like the "niggardly" argument -- a word that never at any time had any history of racism and is not even spelled the same as the N-word got someone fired. It's PC overkill. Mooves probably has some private issues with Rather. OTOH, Rather should keep his mouth shut and cut his losses.

40 posted on 06/12/2007 10:46:56 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ( “A nation without borders is not a nation.” —Ronald Reagan)
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