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The Media Mob has learned that a team of Hollywood insiders is currently working on a screen adaptation of Truth And Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power—the 2005 book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, in which she defends the 60 Minutes II story by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, which ran on CBS in September 2004 and eventually led to her ouster from the network. Who would want to turn "Rathergate" into a feature-length film? According to sources familiar with the situation, Producer Mikkel Bondesen,...

Monday, July 21, 2008A Rathergate Movie? Rather -- Ready for his closeup?If they’re really going to make a movie about the Rathergate scandal, and base it on the ludicrous book by moonbat pseudo-journalist Mary Mapes, it’s going to be a bad joke.==================================================== "The Media Mob has learned that a team of Hollywood insiders is currently working on a screen adaptation of Truth And Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power—the 2005 book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, in which she defends the 60 Minutes II story by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush’s time...

CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan, who just relocated to Washington DC, was the first correspondent to interview Barack Obama during his just-begun, but much talked-about overseas trip. The discussion happened today in Afghanistan and aired this morning on Face the Nation and on CBS Evening News. Politico's Mike Allen reports, of the three network anchors covering the overseas trip Katie Couric will go first, interviewing Obama on Tuesday "in a country that the campaign does not want named for security reasons." Charles Gibson gets Obama on Wednesday, and Brian Williams will go Thursday. Allen writes, at least...

In his interview with CBS News, Obama says: Logan: Because you do have a situation seven years on into this war where Osama bin Laden and all his lieutenants and all the leaders of the Taliban, they’re still there. And they’re inside Pakistan. Obama: Right. It’s a huge problem. And first of all, if we hadn’t taken our eye off the ball, we might have caught them before they got into Pakistan and were able to reconstitute themselves. Several times in recent interviews, Obama has referred to "taken our eye off the ball" in terms of the invasion of Iraq,...

Barack Obama's upcoming swing through Europe and the Middle East is now guaranteed to be a major media event, certified by the presence of the three network anchors. The Washington Post has learned that Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric will travel overseas next week, lured by the prospect of interviews with the presumed Democratic candidate. That means the NBC, ABC and CBS newscasts will originate from stops on the trip and undoubtedly play it up.

The three network anchors will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week for Barack Obama's trip, adding their high-wattage spotlight to what is already shaping up as a major media extravaganza. Lured by an offer of interviews with the Democratic presidential candidate, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric will make the overseas trek, meaning that the NBC, ABC and CBS evening newscasts will originate from stops along the route and undoubtedly give it big play. John McCain has taken three foreign trips in the past four months, all unaccompanied by a single network anchor. Obama has "proven...

SHE is known to be a brilliant war reporter, one of America's hottest TV journalists. But it was not her reporting that made her page one news for New York's tabloids. Sexy Lara Logan who had been reporting from dangerous Baghdad has been labelled a homewrecker for her tryst with an Aussie newsman and the husband of a US embassy worker. According to the New York Post, the 60 Minutes reporter and former swimsuit model apparently courted two men which led to a brawl. One of her lovers, MrJoe Burkett is an American civilian contractor. He reportedly brawled in a...

On Tuesday’s CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric reported on Zimbabwe’s opposition leader dropping out of an election against the nation’s socialist dictator, Robert Mugabe, and lamented how: "The fear and danger that now pervades the streets of Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe is a tragic departure from the hope and promise that began with his landslide victory nearly 30 years ago." File footage of an unidentified reporter covering Mugabe’s 1980 election followed: "A self-described Marxist has won the right to form the first government of the new state of Zimbabwe." Couric continued to describe Mugabe’s promising rise to power:...

The US Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals has ruled that the CBS television news magazine 60 Minutes must turn over outtakes from its interview with Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich in which he revealed what happened at the so-called “Haditha Massacre” in Iraq more than three years ago. The three-judge appellate panel Friday directed Marine Corps military judge Lt. Col. Jeffrey G. Meeks to “conduct additional fact-finding” including an “in camera review” of the outtakes to determine whether Wuterich revealed any information the government needs to bolster its prosecution against the Marine infantryman. The ruling of the military judge...

On Monday’s CBS "Early Show," correspondent Jeff Glor did a report on "five things you should know about John McCain" and highlighted details such as: "Number four, a maverick even back in high school, John McCain was nicknamed ‘the punk’...A reputation that followed him to the naval academy." During the segment, USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro added: "John McCain graduated five slots from the bottom of the Annapolis class of 1958." Contrast those bits of information with the hard-hitting facts revealed about Barack Obama during a similar segment on last Wednesday’s show: "Number four -- in addition to enjoying basketball...

Someone please tell CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan that her reaction is precisely the reaction her peers are shooting for: "If I were to watch the news that you hear here in the United States, I would just blow my brains out because it would drive me nuts," Ms. Logan said. Logan admits here a common complaint about the kind of news reported out of Iraq for the duration of the war, which is a macabre focus on blood-soaked sensationalism to the near exclusion of any other sort of story. The newsworks (to perhaps coin a phrase) have...

Dan Rather may retire this Wednesday night as anchor of the CBS News. But before he does, the verdict on his tenure as one of America's leading anchors has already been fixed. Helping to seal that verdict is Mike Walker's new book "Rather Dumb – A Top Tabloid Reporter Tells CBS How to Do News."

CBS News sinks to new low; publishes crackpot global warming story, attributes it to Associated Press, kills it with no retraction Yesterday I posted a story from CBS News: Quake n’ Bake: Global Warming Causes More Energetic Earthquakes? The main headline was this: Seismic Activity 5 Times More Energetic Than 20 Years Ago Because Of Global Warming This drew a lot of attention because of the total lack of verifiable science associated with it. I posted some graphs of USGS data showing that the opposite was true, that recent earthquake energy was actually less that in the early 1900’s, and...

CBS News and the Associated Press were quick to regurgitate claims that global warming has increased the intensity of earthquakes fivefold in the past 20 years. But had either taken the time to investigate, they would have discovered that both the source's facts and credentials were, if you'll pardon the expression, on very tremorous ground. In a Wednesday piece -- suddenly vanished on Thursday -- attributed to the AP, CBS warned in its subtitle that a new "study" has found "Seismic Activity 5 Times More Energetic Than 20 Years Ago Because Of Global Warming." Based on a Tuesday Market Wire...

A profile of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann by Peter J. Boyer in the current edition of the New Yorker, gives us a good clue as to why the man known for his laughable impressions of Edward R. Murrow is so antagonistic towards CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric. She beat him out of a job as anchor at CBS. Yes, you read that right. In fact I had to read it twice in amazement when the article, "One Angry Man," stated that the CBS execs actually considered Olbermann for the anchor position (emphasis mine): After Rather’s unhappy departure from CBS, the...

MINNEAPOLIS -- There are thousands of journalists and others taking part in a convention in the Twin Cities this weekend. Among the major names in town is former CBS News anchor and "60 Minutes" contributor, Dan Rather. The aim of the convention is to reform the media. Attendees ultimately want to hold the media accountable for serving the public interest. "I have a lifetime of believing the red, beating heart of free and democratic people is a free and independent -- truly independent -- press," said Rather. One of their main goals is to make large national ownership groups and...

President Bush's approval rating is at its lowest level ever, according to the latest CBS News poll. Just 25% of Americans approve of the overall job Bush is doing as President. Likewise, 67% disapprove of the job Bush is doing -- the highest such figure in CBS News polls since he assumed office. Only Presidents Nixon (24%) and Truman (22%) have seen polls showing job approval ratings lower than 25% during their presidencies, according to Gallup Polls. President Carter's all-time low was 26%.

NEW YORK — The "CBS Evening News" audience has taken a noticeable dip ever since the latest round of speculation over Katie Couric's job. The broadcast averaged 5.34 million viewers last week, breaking a record low for CBS News' flagship show that had been set the week before, according to Nielsen Media Research. The "CBS Evening News" - No. 3 in a three-way competition - had nearly 2.5 million fewer viewers than No. 2. NBC's "Nightly News" led with 8.02 million viewers last week (5.5 rating, 12 share), with ABC's "World News" averaging 7.79 million (5.4, 12). CBS had a...

On Friday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith proclaimed: "Barack Obama took some time off from campaigning to go back to Washington, where he got the royal treatment yesterday." Correspondent Chip Reid followed with a report: "Officially this place, Capitol Hill, is Barack Obama's place of employment, but he doesn't come here very often. When he did make a rare visit yesterday he was treated like a rock star." Reid went on to describe Obama’s "rock star" tour of Congress: "Swarmed by tourists and reporters, Barack Obama slowly wound his way through the U.S. Capitol, visiting the House floor where...

First on TVNewser: Dan Rather's lawyers have served CBS with an amended complaint related to Rather's fraud case against his former employer. The complaint will be filed with the court tomorrow morning. TVNewser has learned the amended complaint contains details about Rather's last days at CBS including, we hear, particulars about that flawed National Guard Story. -snip-