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His lawsuit will attempt to show that CBS tried to suppress the report on Bush's National Guard Service and the Abu Ghraib abuses. By Sidney Blumenthal Dan Rather's complaint against CBS and Viacom, its parent company, filed in New York state court on Sept. 19 and seeking $70 million in damages for his wrongful dismissal as "CBS Evening News" anchor, has aroused hoots of derision from a host of commentators. They've said that the former anchor is "sad," "pathetic," "a loser," on an "ego" trip and engaged in a mad gesture "no sane person" would do, and that "no one...

I have obtained new documentary evidence regarding Dan Rather's relationship with his former bosses at CBS News. Obviously, I cannot identify my source. But he told me during a collect call from Sofia, Bulgaria, that he has access to Rather's "personal files" and that his typewriter was built after 1966. To authenticate the document, I showed it to some of my kids' friends, and they said it was awesome. Here, then, the letter -- written by Dan Rather and dated Nov. 31, 2006: "Dear CBS News: "My new career at HDNet is keeping me busier than a bordello at Mardis...

In 2004, at the height of the Dan Rather Memogate story, I wrote in National Review: “Across the media universe the questions pour out: Why is Dan Rather doing this to himself? Why does he drag this out? Why won’t he just come clean? Why would he let this happen in the first place? Why is CBS standing by him? Why ... why ... why? “There is only one plausible answer: Ours is a just and decent God.” Well, God has not forsaken us. Dan Rather seems divinely inspired to crash more times than a Kennedy driving home from an...

Dan Rather has been out of the anchor chair at The CBS Evening News for more than two years. There is wide agreement that the story which led to his departure, a report on George W. Bush’s Air National Guard service, was based on fraudulent, or at least unverifiable, documents. CBS commissioned an extensive investigation into the matter, Rather left the network, and the affair seemed over. Until now. Yesterday Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against his old employers, and it is based on a set of astonishing allegations that are sure to bring what became known as “Rathergate”...

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 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 Guard broadcast...

Most of Dan Rather's pontifications on today's "Morning Joe" rolled off my back, as I flipped between his performance and that of Tiger Woods over the closing holes at Carnoustie. But something made me sit up and take notice. At 8:34 A.M. EDT, Rather suddenly blurted out: "I'm big on personal responsibility." And yes, he managed to do so without laughing. This from the man who notoriously brought us Memogate, yet who to this day has refused to squarely admit the truth: that the documents were blatant forgeries. For documentation of Rather's dodges, weaves and rejections of personal responsibility, check...

Dan Rather might have left CBS under a cloud, but his star still shines brightly -- at least among some on the distaff side of the NBC networks.Rather was a scheduled guest on today's "Morning Joe," and neither Erin Burnett, reporting in from CNBC, nor MSNBC newsreader Mika Brzezinski, could curb her enthusiasm.Burnett was first to confess. CNBC'S ERIN BURNETT: You know who I had a crush on? . . . Don't you have Dan Rather coming on in a couple of minutes? Alright, so, when I was little, I thought I was going to marry Dan Rather. I watched...

The Web is a great way to deliver information, but it's also a great way to expose, spread, or jump-start a scandal. SNIP The Net's biggest scandals are nothing if not democratic, touching everyone from the most ordinary individuals to the highest office in the land. Not everyone deserved the notoriety. Some were hapless victims of privacy breaches; others were exposed by hackers or misguided crusaders. But in almost every case, somebody ended up getting fired, sued, or mortally embarrassed. SNIP 3. Dan Rather Bids a Font Farewell They were supposed to be the smoking gun the Bush Administration was...

Conference preview: Q-and-A with Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News. Is the evening news more important than ever now? Oct.24, 2006 Copyright © 2006 PRSA. All rights reserved. The following interview appears in the fall issue of The Strategist. By John Elsasser One could be forgiven for thinking Andrew Heyward’s career was as carefully planned as, well, one of the evening news broadcasts he had overseen during parts of his nearly 30-year career. Heyward, former president of CBS News, however, never planned on a career in the news business. Rather, his journey into journalism evolved from a temporary post...

Memogate Reunion! QUEEN MARY MapesGood news, phony document fans! The team that gave you Memogate is back in action. Former CBS News producer Mary Mapes has rejoined her old running partner Dan Rather at Mark Cuban's HDNet channel. Rather, 74, is starting all over at hi-def cable network with a weekly one-hour show that will translate the day's events into awkwardly-worded homespun similes. It debuts in October. Mapes, of course, was at the center of the scandal that triggered Rather's abrupt retirement from CBS: She was the producer of a 60 Minutes segment that showcased documents suggesting that, just maybe,...

by Mark Finkelstein September 5, 2006 - 08:39 Looks like CBS got itself a two-fer. Katie's not just an anchor - she's a comedian, too! The highlight of her extended interview with Harry Smith on this morning's Early Show, touting her debut on tonight's CBS Evening News, was her claim that what the "old media" has to offer in contrast with the new media is . . . "integrity and standards." Couric is apparently a jokester of the deadpan school, managing to get off the line without dissolving into guffaws. This from the woman about to take over the illustrious...

by Mark Finkelstein August 30, 2006 - 13:49 In the wake of the fauxtography scandals of the recent Middle East conflict, you might think that the MSM would be particularly careful to avoid tinkering with photos. And if there is one TV news operation you would imagine would be particularly gun-shy about altered documents, it would be the Memogate network - CBS. Apparently not. The photo on the left is Katie's official CBS photo. The one to the right is to be found in the CBS "Watch" Magazine. Whoops. You know, they say it's all about the accessories. That little...

NEW YORK Three news agencies on Tuesday rejected challenges to the veracity of photographs of bodies taken in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, strongly denying that the images were staged. Photographers from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse all covered rescue operations Sunday in Qana, where 56 Lebanese were killed. Many of their photos depicted rescue workers carrying dead children. A British Web site, the EU Referendum blog, built an argument that chicanery may have been involved by citing time stamps that went with captions of the photographs. ......... The site suggests these events were staged...

Declaring he “absolutely” believes “the truth” of his discredited story based on forged memos, about President Bush's National Guard record, on Wednesday's Larry King Live on CNN Dan Rather contended that “we had a lot, a lot of corroboration, of what we broadcast about President Bush's military record. It wasn't just the documents.” Rather then attacked those who dared to expose his misdeeds: “It's a very old technique used, that when those who don't like what you're reporting believe it can be hurtful, then they look for the weakest spot and attack it, which is fair enough. It's a diversionary...

Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather, who recently left the network after heavy criticism for standing by a story based on forged documents, is being considered for a teaching position at Harvard University. Published reports in Philadelphia and Boston indicate Rather might become a fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, which is run by Alex Jones. "I'd love to have him come here for a semester or full year on campus," Jones told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Dan Rather has all the credentials, as far as I'm concerned." Jones told the Boston Herald, "I...

CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said on Wednesday he was sorry about the bitter departure of newsman Dan Rather, who left the broadcaster after protracted talks to renew his contract fell apart. ..media watchers said Rather appeared to have been slowly pushed off the air... "I'm sorry it ended the way it did," Moonves told executives at a PricewaterhouseCoopers media event. "There was no bigger role for him to play anymore," ...

With Katie Couric lounging in the wings, Dan Rather is now expendable, and the suits at CBS News are squeezing him out of his last remaining gig on "60 Minutes." This has caused great distress for those who like their news to look like a long commercial for MoveOn.org, which is to say, the Dan Rather fan club. CBS smiled politely as they pushed him away, but the Philadelphia Inquirer quoted an anonymous former CBS executive, who denounced the shove-off as "disgraceful. He's a legend. He gave his life to that company. Even though he made a big mistake, he...

This just in from source at Black Rock: He/She is at pre-season party in The Hamptons. Other CBSers (The Suits) are there as well. The Suits confirmed: Ran Rather's contract at CBS expires in August. He has not been offered ANY type of renewal. There may be some tiny dollar (the exact fee never to be disclosed) face-saving deal but that's it, Dan is out. This comes after he "resigned" from CBS Evening News position last year in an attempt to stop the bloodletting of advertisers at CBS. As we all know, the primary cause was not so much Rather's...

Kudos again to FR, Buckhead, Howlin, Texasforever, NYCVirago, and of course Jim for having this site to begin with. "Chapter 9 "We're Toast" pg 143 - 145 directly credits Freepers above with uncovering the "missing Documents" out of President Bush's National Guard Service that were distinctly unflattering to the President, and also flat forgeries. I am reading the book at the moment, and I wanted to pause and give credit where credit is due. I thank all those who helped bring to light these roaches that considered themselves so important as to try to influence a Presidential Election. I thank...

Just a note to let you know Bill Sammons new book "Strategery: How George W. Bush Is Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media" makes mention of a certain evil/wicked/extremist rightwing site. Dealing with how these terrible people exposed Dan Rather (Remember him? He used to be somebody.) use of fraudulent memos.