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NEW YORK (AP) - Dan Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit Wednesday against CBS, alleging that the network made him a "scapegoat" for a discredited story about President Bush's National Guard service. The 75-year-old Rather, whose final months were clouded by controversy over the report, says the complaint stems from "CBS' intentional mishandling" of the aftermath of the story. The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, also names CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves, Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone, and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward. Rather, the former anchorman of the "CBS Evening News," is seeking $20...

Dan Rather’s lawsuit against CBS should be dismissed, both in court and in public opinion, as a shameless and ridiculous effort to retract his on-air apologies for his smearing of President Bush with bogus National Guard documents in 2004. The New York Times reports Rather is suing CBS for what he claims is the network’s "‘biased’ and incomplete investigation of the flawed Guard broadcast." That’s rich, since it was Rather’s reporting itself that was biased and incomplete. Dan Rather didn’t always have this rosy view of big-money litigation. See the CBS Evening News from March 14, 1996: "In tonight's Eye on America,...

Dan Rather, whose career at CBS News ground to an inglorious end 15 months ago over his role in an unsubstantiated report questioning President Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service, filed a $70 million lawsuit this afternoon against the network, its corporate parent and three of his former superiors. Mr. Rather, 75, asserts that the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on “60 Minutes” after forcing him to step down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005. He also contends that the network committed fraud by commissioning a “biased” and incomplete investigation of the flawed...

Dan Rather Expected to Report Boeing 787 Unsafe Tuesday , September 18, 2007 NEW YORK — Boeing Co's (BA) new carbon-composite 787 Dreamliner plane may turn out to be unsafe and could lead to more deaths in crashes, according to a report by veteran journalist Dan Rather to be broadcast in the United States on Tuesday. The new plane, which is mostly made from brittle carbon compounds rather than flexible aluminum, is more likely to shatter on impact and may emit poisonous chemicals when ignited, Rather will report based on interviews with a former Boeing engineer and various industry experts,...

A Rutgers University basketball player on Tuesday withdrew a slander and defamation lawsuit she had filed against Don Imus and CBS Radio, among others, after the shock jock called the team "nappy headed hos." Kia Vaughn had contended in the lawsuit filed in August in New York state Supreme Court that the comments made by Imus had damaged her reputation. The lawsuit also named various media outlets that broadcast Imus' show. Marti McKenzie, a spokeswoman for Vaughn's attorney, Richard Ancowitz, said in a statement that Vaughn had chosen to focus on her education at New Jersey's Rutgers University as a...

CBS) With President Bush's top military and diplomatic advisers on Iraq due to deliver a major progress report on the president's "surge" strategy, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that an increasing number of Americans believe the troop buildup in Iraq is having a positive impact. U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus are expected to warn Congress on Monday that making any significant changes to the current war strategy will jeopardize the limited security and political progress made so far. Later in the week, Mr. Bush plans a national address. The poll finds 35 percent say...

As she broadcasts from Baghdad and Damascus this week, making what is arguably her biggest stab at "serious" news-anchordom, it's plain to see Ms. Couric has little to do with the venerable -- and increasingly out-of-sync -- traditions of the evening news program. While her makeup may be a tad off as she broadcasts from war-torn Iraq, interviewing generals, villagers and Army regulars, Katie remains the perky inquisitor. Her style seems more appropriate for soccer moms and boomers still trying to be hip, not the creaky oldsters who typically flock to the evening newscasts.

After listening to Assad’s nonsense, CBS’s chief correspondent in Iraq, Lara Logan, reports on “Iraq’s most secret and elite warriors … Iraq’s version of America’s top counterterrorism unit, Delta Force,” she says. Hardly. Granted, there is no question in terms of skill level, Iraqi special operations forces are well above their regular Iraqi army counterparts. But to suggest they are the equivalent of Delta Force commandos – the U.S. Army’s equivalent of Navy SEALs from the DevGru community – is simply not so.

With Katie Couric in Iraq, the CBS Evening News on Wednesday allowed viewers to hear directly from U.S. soldiers who regretted how people back home don't hear more about “the good things soldiers do for the Iraqis” and warned that a pullout by the U.S. would lead to “mayhem.” Couric asked a small group of soldiers: “What would you like people to know that you don't think they're hearing back home?”Army Sergeant Jamie Wall answered: “The good things that happen out here, the good things that soldiers do for the Iraqis and how the Iraqis react to us.” Sergeant Brady...

A media watchdog organization says after a year in the anchor chair at CBS, Katie Couric's liberal approach has perpetuated the network's bias problem. The Media Research Center (MRC) says for 15 years, Couric put her liberal fingerprints all over the Today Show. And after one year on the job at CBS, MRC spokesman Tim Graham says Couric has carried on the liberal tradition of Dan Rather. "Katie Couric has been at it for a year at CBS. She's still a ratings disaster, and she's still channeling all the liberal bias, all the puff jobs for Hillary Clinton and Michael...

Bob Gabriel likes to think of himself as a young guy, or at least a "young 81." Lives out in Westhampton Beach with his wife of 56 years, Grace, and has spent the better part of his life in Douglaston and Long Island, where he moved after World War II - he was on a Navy destroyer in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. Long retired, Gabriel keeps up with world events these days by reading newspapers and watching the nightly news - what the trade now ruefully refers to as "the old media." He especially likes NBC's "Nightly News with...

Here I am, my first day in Baghdad... It is overwhelming to be here and there is so much to take in. We arrived at the airport this morning on a private plane. I was surprised to hear that there are now three Royal Jordanian flights into Baghdad every day. It was difficult to see much from the air ... though I did see the Tigris River. The scope of the destruction can better be taken in at ground level. I had heard a great deal about the corkscrew landing into Baghdad airport, ostensibly to avoid being a clear target...

By DAVID BAUDER NEW YORK (AP) - CBS News is expected to change management at its morning show, bringing a hard-charging former "Good Morning America" executive producer to help a program that's spent generations stuck in third place. Shelley Ross is expected to be named executive in charge of "The Early Show" in the next few weeks, according to two broadcast news insiders with knowledge of the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday. It's unclear what Ross' hiring would mean for Steve Friedman, brought on in March 2006 as vice president of morning broadcasts at CBS News...

Katie Couric To Report From Iraq NEW YORK (AP) - Katie Couric plans to leave Wednesday for an ambitious reporting trip to Iraq —the CBS anchor's first time in the war zone—in anticipation of a crucial military report on progress of the American effort. Since Couric took over the anchor position at CBS Evening News, ratings have plummeted, leading to speculation she would be fired but for her long-term contract. "I'm not going anywhere, I don't care what the ratings do," the spunky Couric remarked when recently questioned about the newscast's rocket-sled ride to ratings Hell. Reportedly, CBS is sending...

NEW 'KID NATION' PROBE By Post staff writer August 28, 2007 -- ONE of the TV industry's biggest unions is launch ing its own investigation of the controversial CBS reality series "Kid Nation." The American Federation of Television & Radio Artists says it wants to find out if any of its rules were broken during the filming of the show in New Mexico. "Kid Nation" - which features 40 kids ages 8-15 who inhabit their own small town without parental supervision - has come under scrutiny recently because of allegations that some of the kids were injured during production and...

CBS sending Couric to Iraq 'Evening News' anchor sets Mideast trip By MICHAEL LEARMONTH Get ready for Katie Couric -- Phase II. One year after Couric jumped from NBC's "Today" to CBS in a big-money talent deal, the "Evening News" anchor is embarking on a high-risk tour of Iraq and Syria to revive the broadcast. Announcement comes just days after an Iraqi translator working for CBS was killed in Baghdad. CBS said Monday the translator had been found dead following his abduction just hours after leaving work at CBS News' Baghdad bureau. Couric has never been to Iraq, and she...

CBS sending Katie Couric on high-risk tour of Syria and Iraq in order to revive newscast, ratings, VARIETY is set to report in Wednesday issues... Developing...

The humorist and commentator Andy Rooney has made a career out of being a grumpy old man, most frequently at the end of “60 Minutes” on CBS. But his latest rant, in the syndicated column he writes for Tribune Media Services, drew fire last week for crossing the line from crotchety to racist. Mr. Rooney vented his ire on Thursday about baseball, which he said he had never liked. Amid complaints about the game’s rules, types of statistics and the dominance of the New York Yankees, he seized upon the prevalence of Latin American players in the United States. “I...

http://www.babalublog.com/images/KidsNation.jpg http://www.variety.com/VR1117970788.html

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A Christian televangelist who harshly criticizes Islam and other religions said Friday that his late-night program is being pulled off the air because of pressure from a Muslim group. Earlier this month, officials from the Council on American Islamic Relations wrote a letter to the TV station's owners asking for an investigation of the show it broadcasts, "Live Prayer with Bill Keller." In a May 2 broadcast, the televangelist said Islam was a "1,400-year-old lie from the pits of hell" and called the Prophet Mohammed a "murdering pedophile." He also called the Koran a "book of...