Free Republic

I am warming up to watch the documentary Rather, celebrating the career of the disgraced former CBS News anchor. It is to be aired this coming Wednesday on Netflix. Apparently having access to a screener for media critics, the Star Tribune’s Neal Justin found the documentary to be wanting (“when it comes to the stumbles, like walking off the set when a tennis match went long, the legendary broadcaster goes missing”). Speaking of “stumbles,” we have the matter of Rathergate. However, “stumble” doesn’t quite capture it. “Disgrace,” “disaster,” and “fraud” are more like it. Award-winning CBS News producer Mary Mapes...

The trust and prestige that took prior generations of journalists decades to earn have been thrown away in just a few years by incompetents and partisans. CBS’s iconic 60 Minutes has had plenty of scandals and embarrassments in its long 57-year history, most notably the fake-but-accurate Dan Rather mess. Yet never has it found itself in greater disrepute than in 2024. Donald Trump, for good reason, recently declined to join 60 Minutes for its traditional election-year in-depth interviews of the two presidential candidates. Why? Last time he consented in 2020, anchor and interviewer Leslie Stahl attacked Trump’s accurate assertion that...

Former President Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false. 60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in...

An important anniversary [is today]. This anniversary carries implications for how we receive news, how political campaigns are conducted, and the credibility of almost everything we see or hear from the media.On September 8, 2004, CBS’s “60 Minutes” used forged government documents as the basis for a story that attacked the military record of then-President George W. Bush. It was bad enough that CBS used forged government documents, but what made it worse was that CBS aired this story during the presidential election and timed the airing to coincide with the rollout of Democrat John Kerry’s “favorite son” campaign theme....

Disgraced former anchorman Dan Rather is 92 years old, and CBS, the network that fired him for trying to rig the 2004 presidential election, has joined the shameless rehab campaign. During the waning weeks of the 2004 presidential election, Dan Rather was determined to ensure incumbent Republican president George W. Bush did not win reelection. And so, on 60 Minutes II, he ran a story that claimed Bush went AWOL during his time in the Texas Air National Guard. The story was true, and Rather had the documents to prove it. The story was also phony and timed to devastate...

NEW YORK — Dan Rather returned to the CBS News airwaves for the first time since his bitter exit 18 years ago, appearing in a reflective interview on “CBS Sunday Morning” days before the debut of a Netflix documentary on the 92-year-old newsman’s life. After 44 years at the network, 24 as anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” Rather left under a cloud following a botched investigation into then-President George W. Bush’s military record. Rather signed off as anchor for the last time on March 9, 2005, and exited the network when his contract ended 15 months later.

The misconduct hearings on efforts to oust Fulton County DA Fani Willis from the Trump RICO case have come to a close. Both sides delivered final arguments Friday, each arguing where the bar should be set for the judge's looming disqualification decision. ... Trump defense attorney Steve Sadow said an "appearance of impropriety" is "enough" to disqualify her under Georgia law. ... Sadow raised rhetorical questions about who has the strongest motive to lie: "Who has the best motive of anyone to lie? They do. Who has the most at stake to lie? They do. Who wants to stay on...

Atlanta attorney Harry MacDougald is our old Rathergate friend. He helped us get the ball rolling in “The 61st minute” on the morning of September 9, 2004. Writing under the screen name Buckhead, Harry observed in comment number 47 of Free Republic’s Rathergate thread: “I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old. This should be pursued aggressively.” Life has never been quite the same since we took his cue and followed up. Harry is the managing partner of Atlanta’s Caldwell, Carlson, Elliott & DeLoach law firm. He represents defendant...

An important anniversary [is today]. This anniversary carries implications for how we receive news, how political campaigns are conducted, and the credibility of almost everything we see or hear from the media.On September 8, 2004, CBS’s “60 Minutes” used forged government documents as the basis for a story that attacked the military record of then-President George W. Bush. It was bad enough that CBS used forged government documents, but what made it worse was that CBS aired this story during the presidential election and timed the airing to coincide with the rollout of Democrat John Kerry’s “favorite son” campaign theme....

CBS NEWS — Only 30 percent of U.S. weapons sent to Ukraine reach destination……

Maybe a new slogan for Fox News should be: “For those who can’t handle the truth.” -Dan Rather, today on Twitter

After initially putting the first chapter of fired CBS producer Mary Mapes's book, Truth and Duty, on its web site, Amazon.com has apparently pulled the plug on the enterprise. Visitors to the online book retailer can no longer read the excerpt as it no longer shows up in listings for the print or audio versions of the book.Was the excerpt yanked because of the several objectively incorrect assertions it contained, and the subsequent blog firestorm their exposition caused? Only Amazon or Mapes's publisher, St. Martin’s Press knows for sure.

Former CBS News anchorman Dan Rather was reminded of his past Wednesday night, receiving an onslaught of criticism after citing “truth” when mocking the popular phrase, “Let’s Go, Brandon.” Rather, who was fired from his post as the anchorman in the early 2000s after infamously running a hit piece on former President George W. Bush which was later revealed to contain forged documents — received backlash on social media when he tweeted, “#LetsGoBrandonReallyMeans ‘You can’t handle the truth.’”

On September 8, 2004, CBS’s “60 Minutes” used forged government documents as the basis for a story that attacked the military record of then-President George W. Bush. It was bad enough that CBS used forged government documents, but what made it worse was that CBS aired this story during the presidential election and timed the airing to coincide with the rollout of Democrat John Kerry’s “favorite son” campaign theme. CBS thus provided the “news” upon which the Democrat candidate based his attack ads. The CBS story was quickly disproven and eventually forced CBS into personnel changes and investigations. Dan Rather...

Do a good job and report the truth, and you're probably going to catch hell. The challenge is being willing to do it anyway. — Dan Rather The Dan Rather Medals for News and Guts honor the process of journalism as much as the end product. They will be awarded to professional and collegiate journalists who go the extra yard — overcoming obstacles like stonewalling and harassment — to get the story that tells truth to power. The Medals are named for Dan Rather, the legendary reporter and anchor who went far afield from his Texan roots but never forgot...

An important anniversary passed this month and predictably received no attention. *** On September 8, 2004, CBS’s “60 Minutes” used forged government documents as the basis for a story that attacked the military record of then-President George W. Bush. It was bad enough that CBS used forged government documents, but what made it worse was that CBS aired this story during the presidential election and timed the airing to coincide with the rollout of Democrat John Kerry’s “favorite son” campaign theme. CBS thus provided the “news” upon which the Democrat candidate based his attack ads. The CBS story was quickly...

In the interest of the historical importance of things that happened on this forum last week and, most importantly, to try to provide and document an accurate record of exactly what happened here on the evening of September 8, 2004, and the following morning, I have compiled a listing of ALL of the postings that occurred on Free Republic concerning CBS and Dan Rather 60 Minutes show from 8:00 PM EDT on Thurdsay, September 8, 2004, up until about 9:00 AM EDT on the morning of Friday, September 9, 2004, when the rest of the internet "caught up." I am...

Ex-'CBS Evening News' anchor Dan Rather blasted President Trump Thursday, calling him the "biggest purveyor of fake news" amid Trump's ongoing feud with the media. During his appearance on "The Dan Abrams Show" on Thursday, Rather admitted that journalists "make mistakes," but insisted that was different from "fake news." ....... Rather, 87, retired from CBS in 2005, months after airing unverified documents in a report about President George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard prior to the 2004 election. He now makes frequent appearances on CNN and MSNBC.

one of the great things about the internet is that we can hear from an actual expert in destructive testing of gas cylinders in a controversy where condition of gas cylinder is of critical importance. Not just from NGOs and neocon think tanks. Dan Rather's downfall came because (as I recall) a typewriter specialist was able to recognize that fonts in forged document were not available in 1970s. An expert in relevant narrow topic observed detail that eluded the news reporters and think tanks. outing of Dan Rather was cool and one of first examples of outside eyes on establishment...

Appearing on MSNBC Thursday morning to defend Democrat Stacey Abrams’ refusal to concede the race for governor in Georgia and hurl accusations of voter suppression against Republican Brian Kemp, Abrams campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo touted support from disgraced former CBS News anchor Dan Rather and MSNBC’s own Joe Scarborough. . . "GROH-WARGO: And that is a very clear effort really exposing these issues. Because here’s the deal, whatever happens with our campaign, we’ve got to fix the system here in Georgia."