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Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather was both funny and passionate when he addressed a packed house Thursday night at San Antonio College. Sounding a little choked up, he encouraged the audience of students and others to follow their dream, whatever that may be, because “by doing your heart's bidding, you can find a way to burn with the white hot flame that can make the difference between having a job and having a career, a life's work filled with joy and meaning.” However, his clearest message was a warning. Rather said that when it comes to the media, this...

CNN's Anderson Cooper and his camera crew were attacked and repeatedly punched by pro-government forces near Tahrir Square in Cairo today. "My team were set upon by the crowd," Cooper said on CNN this morning via telephone from the safety of a hotel balcony. "There was no rhyme or reason to it—it was just people looking for a fight, looking to make a point, and punching us." According to a Twitter post from George Hale, the English editor of the Ma'an news agency, who cited a CNN "manager," Cooper was punched "10 times in the head." Bonus Video! Video:Leave Our...

CBS 'Early Show' Blames Winter Storms on Global Warming By Kyle Drennen Created 02/02/2011 - 10:27am By Kyle Drennen | February 02, 2011 | 10:27 Speaking to physicist Michio Kaku on Wednesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge fretted over the recent series of severe winter storms and wondered: "...nine storms in seven weeks, why is this happening?...a lot of people want to talk about global warming and thinking that that may actually come into play here. Is that accurate? Is that having an effect on what's going on?" Dr. Kaku agreed with the suggestion: "Yes. It seems to violate...

"NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams is on his way to Cairo right now. He left New York Sunday afternoon arriving in Amman, Jordan and is now en route to Egypt. He’s expected to arrive in time for “Nightly News.” •CBS’ Katie Couric, after a weekend in Miami Beach, is leaving for Egypt today. “Evening News” EP Rick Kaplan will travel with her. Harry Smith will be filling in at the anchor desk tonight. •ABC’s Diane Sawyer is not going to Cairo “at this time,” says a spokesperson. Christiane Amanpour is leading ABC’s coverage in Egypt.

An overwhelming majority of Americans approved of President Obama's overall message in his State of the Union on Tuesday night, according to a CBS News Poll of speech watchers. According to the poll, which was conducted online by Knowledge Networks immediately after the president's address, 91 percent of those who watched the speech approved of the proposals Mr. Obama put forth during his remarks, while only nine percent disapproved. Specifically, 82 percent of those who watched the speech said they approve of the president's plans for the economy, up from 53 percent who approved before the speech. The sight of...

When you talk big, you'd better back it up. And if you back up the big talk, you deserve to celebrate even bigger. That wasn't a problem for the New York Jets during and after the team's decisive 28-21 victory over the New England Patriots in the AFC divisional playoff. A bit of the celebration didn't please CBS announcer Jim Nantz, though. After Shonn Greene(notes) scored a late game-sealing touchdown, many Jets, Rex Ryan included, converged in the end zone to whoop it up and send one final message to the Patriots and their fans. Nantz didn't like this, particulary...

I don't normally comment on trivial television programs because I do not watch them. However...

Capitalizing on the shooting in Tucson this afternoon, CBS furthered the lunatic left rhetoric that Sarah Palin was somehow responsible for this heinous crime. The theory being that the shooter was inspired by Palin’s midterm election map, which featured Gabrielle Giffords as a potential target. “…critics of Sarah Palin have already drawn a link between the shooting and the fact that the former Alaska governor put Giffords on a "target list" of lawmakers Palin wanted to see unseated in the midterm elections.” It’s a little concerning that CBS would fall for such a

As 2010 comes to a close, the media industry is taking its annual breather to reflect upon all the things it had to cover in the past year. Katie Couric, in her CBSNews.com review of 2010, highlighted the controversy surrounding the Park51 project. “The bigotry expressed against Muslims in this country has been one of the most disturbing stories to surface,” she told her panel. In that media narrative, she saw “a seething hatred many people feel for all Muslims,” which she theorized could be remedied by another, more lighthearted narrative: “Maybe we need a Muslim version of The Cosby...

"Gregory S. Hollister, Petitioner v. Barry Soetoro, et al. Docketed: November 23, 2010 Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Case Nos.: (09-5080) Decision Date: March 22, 2010 Rehearing Denied: August 23, 2010 ~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nov 22 2010 Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 23, 2010) Nov 22 2010 Appendix of Gregory S. Hollister filed. (Volumes I, II, III) Dec 22 2010 Waiver of right of respondents Barry Soetoro, et al. to respond filed.Dec 29 2010 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of January 14, 2011. Attorneys for Petitioner: John David...

"CBS News aired a fake cover of former President George W. Bush's memoir over the weekend, after a staffer apparently got duped by a hoax image floating around the Internet...The title of the Bush book read: "Desision Points ... How I Managed to Go Eight Years Without Making One Good Decision." Save for the title and subtitle, the cover image looked similar to that of the real book, "Decision Points."

When CBS News aired a special on book covers this past Sunday, not many took notice. That is until George W. Bush’s new book “Decision Points” popped up on the screen. That’s because the cover the network showed was not only the wrong one, but it was also mocking the former president. The cover is supposed to look like this: Simple. Harmless. But that’s not what aired. Here’s the cover that flashed across the screen: Yes, you’re reading that right. CBS aired a Bush book cover that says, “Desision Points: How I Managed to Go Eight Years without Making One...

On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, substitute co-host Russ Mitchell announced that "the lame duck session of Congress could hand President Obama yet another victory" with possible passage of the START nuclear arms treaty. Moments later, Mitchell declared that "The President seems to be on a hot streak." Mitchell got analysis from Republican strategist Dan Bartlett and Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons. Bartlett hardly offered an opposing viewpoint, as he completely agreed with Mitchell's assessment of Obama: "It's a great streak he's on. He's on a hot streak...

Katie Couric is in early talks on a new contract with CBS Corp. that could see the CBS Evening News anchor take a pay cut while expanding her role at the company, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. The network began meeting with Couric's agent at CAA early this month, according to Bloomberg, which reported that both parties have agreed that Couric must take a pay cut to remain at CBS, whose evening news lags behind NBC and ABC in the ratings with a nightly average of 5.7 million viewers. In addition, viewership for CBS' news program has dropped by 24%...

We are told by careful pollsters that half of the American people believe that American troops should be brought home from Iraq immediately. This news discourages supporters of our efforts there. Not me, though: I am relieved. Given press coverage of our efforts in Iraq, I am surprised that 90 percent of the public do not want us out right now. Between January 1 and September 30, 2005, nearly 1,400 stories appeared on the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news. More than half focused on the costs and problems of the war, four times as many as those that discussed...

CBS News and “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric have begun preliminary talks about a new contract, Bloomberg News reports. Couric’s current deal with CBS ends next year. Not surprisingly, it appears that any potential deal would result in lower pay for Couric, who signed a record-breaking $15 million a year in 2006. That would be in line with what CBS CEO Les Mooves said in August of rich anchor conracts: ”Those days are over, because the news no longer generates the kind of revenue or success that’s worth doing [those contracts].” Later that month he backtracked a bit, saying...

After his wife told CBS' Leslie Stahl how much of a journey it has been for the family that her husband John Boehner went from nighttime janitor to Speaker of the House, the Congressman began to cry. "You know what's happening over here," Stahl said, pointing at Boehner while tears begin to form. "What set you off that time," a perplexed Stahl quizzed Boehner. "He cries all the time?" Stahl asked in complete wonderment. "He's gone from mopping this floor (points to floor) to being Speaker of the House," Stahl said while Boehner was holding back tears. "Welcome to America,"...

On December 3, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave CBS's Katie Couric a much-needed lesson on why America invaded Iraq. When Couric said to her guest during an "HBO History Makers Series" interview, "Documentaries have been made about how intelligence was incorrectly analyzed and cherry-picked to build an argument for war, and memos from that time do suggest that officials knew there was a small chance of actually finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," Rice stopped the host dead in her tracks (video follows with transcript and commentary):

*snip* Rather confided to writer Gregory Speck, "Until now I never fully understood the power of the forces behind my axing from the anchor post at CBS News several years back, simply for speaking the truth about George Bush's questionable National Guard service." Rather was fired in 2006 for claiming Bush had received preferential treatment in the Guard in the early '70s using questionable memos as evidence. He tells Page Six he'll set the record straight in his book due this spring,

As Ace points out this really is a case of life imitating Seinfeld. Then again this woman is a little crazier than George Castanza ever was… I’m not sure what to say about this other than to note the reporter acts like everything that is happening is completely normal and never once tries to give this woman a reality check. A bit odd to say the least…