Archive » Dan Rather

Last night, I blogged about Reuters’ inaccurate reporting on the CBS/Dan Rather story:
Um, when did CBS ever “retract” its report? And when did Dan Rather ever say he was “duped by bogus documents?”
…Will Reuters correct its bogus report?
The answer is yes, partially. Today, Reuters “clarified the story.” Here it is.
Thanks again to reader Pastor [...]

Look closely at this Reuters article covering the Thornburgh/Boccardi report on CBS:
A “myopic zeal” led CBS News to disregarded basic principles of journalism and air an erroneous story about President Bush’s military service record, said an independent report released on Monday, prompting the network to fire four employees for their roles.
The panel was convened [...]

I’ve done tons of CBS blogging below, but make no mistake: I’m still steamed about the Armstrong Williams/Department of Education payola mess. Williams’ apology is terribly disingenuous. First, he mischaracterizes the nature of his contract. It wasn’t just about running “a paid ad” on his TV show. It was about going on other TV shows [...]

Dan Rather’s replacement?
Ace of Spades reads between the lines of the Thornburgh/Boccardi report, which notes on p. 55 that CBS White House correspondent John Roberts told the investigative panel that he thought Rather/Mapes’ source, Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, was “unreliable:”
Contrived or not, juiced up or not, the report seems to struggle to find a hero [...]

Dick Thornburgh and Lou Boccardi may not believe that there is “persuasive evidence” of CBS’s political bias, but the section in their report (pp. 106-107) on Dan Rather and Mary Mapes’ attempt to include a Bush-bashing interview with Col. David Hackworth in the infamous Memogate segment is unequivocal evidence of their bias.
In the spring of [...]

Bloggers are taking note that the Thornburgh/Boccardi report on CBS does not seem to take a position on the authenticity of the Killian documents. On p. 14 on the report, the authors note:
The Panel has not been able to conclude with absolute certainty whether the Killian documents are authentic or forgeries.
This shouldn’t be interpreted as [...]

MSNBC: Four let go over Memogate. The producer and three executives asked to step down…but not Andrew Heyward. “10 serious defects” identified.
CBS News’ coverage…

(CBS) Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service.
The action was prompted by the [...]

Gearing up for the rumored release of the CBS Rathergate report today or early next week, here are some quick, handy links:
Buckhead: “I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old.”

Power Line: The sixty first minute
Little Green Footballs: The document experiments (I II)
INDC Journal: Are [...]

Today’s column is a very simple one dedicated to conveying one clear, unqualified sentiment to the men and women of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group:
Thank you.
Somebody better say so, because Kofi Annan and Jan Egeland and the Sri Lankan government aren’t going to do it.
Modern super carriers like the Lincoln are amazing American [...]

From Ana Marie Cox’s interview with Newsweek’s Richard Wolffe:

What did you think of the bloggers’ role in the Dan Rather affair?
Answer: I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the documents and not about the president of the United States. There was another half to that story that [...]

Right Wing News delves into the fever swamps of the Democratic Underground and pulls out the 10 Worst Quotes from rabid libs.
John Leo compiles the 2004 awards for over-the-top rhetoric.
Quin Hilyer highlights the invaluable Media Research Center’s top examples of media bias.
And keying off the news that “blog” is the word of the year, here’s [...]

I don’t usually link to Fark (great stuff, but often too risque for my admittedly prudish tastes), but they have a funny Photoshop contest envisioning how Dan Rather will spend his retirement. Here’s one from Fark poster Chuckless:

And another from Fark poster bargirl24:

More contest winners here.

Browsing through the “New Non-Fiction” section at my local Borders today, I came across the following cover:

Yes, believe your eyes! It’s the latest publication from the trustworthy narrators of history at CBS News–who are cravenly attempting to cash in on President Reagan’s death in time for the holiday book-buying season. I just about spit my [...]

Thanks for all the great e-mails. Keep ‘em coming. Here’s a sample from the night owls who checked in with me throughout the wee hours:
On media bias:
I’m watching tv wondering why CNN, ABC, and CBS have all called PA for John Kerry when these channels say that Kerry has less than a 125,000 lead [...]

Once again, see-BS and Dan Rather display their utter ignorance of the blogosphere. Ace of Spades caught this exchange between Rather and Ed Bradley:
DAN RATHER: One would expect that the blogging machine which the White House and the Bush-Cheney campaign has used for any number of purposes over their four years will start now, if [...]

377 tons… 3 tons… What’s the difference?
CYA Update: WaPo’s Howard Kurtz writes,
The principal uncertainty about the story involves the timing of the ammunition’s disappearance. The White House says the explosives may have gone missing while Saddam Hussein still controlled Iraq.
“Sure there’s a possibility” that happened, [New York Times Executive Editor Bill] Keller said, “and I [...]

David Broder, the elite of the liberal media elite, shows in the Washington Post that MSM journalists still don’t get it:
We don’t yet know who will win the 2004 election, but we know who has lost it. The American news media have been clobbered.
So far so good, but keep reading.
In a year when war [...]

Jack Douglas Jr. of Kinght-Ridder reports:
During a single phone conversation with Lockhart, Burkett said he suggested a “couple of concepts on what I thought (Kerry) had to do” to beat Bush. In return, he said, Lockhart tried to “convince me as to why I should give them the documents.”
As sharp-eyed reader Mark Landers notes, Lockhart [...]

The bloggers at SgtStryker.com (now known as “The Daily Brief”) have launched a new charity. They’re asking you to send your old pajamas to Dan Rather:
In order to offer an olive branch to show that we wish to assist in bringing CBS into the 21st century, I propose that we unite the blogging community and [...]

Don’t you hate it when politicians go on TV and use the verbal crutch “to be perfectly candid?” Or some other variation: “Candidly speaking, blah blah blah.” Or “In all candor, blah blah blah.” You know whatever blah-blah-blah that follows is almost certainly the opposite of honest.
The CBS media executives’ version of this annoying [...]

Nope, not Dan Rather. Not Mary Mapes. Seattle’s CBS affiliate radio station, KIRO-AM, has fired radio talk show host Brian Maloney for criticizing Rather.
According to the Seattle P-I:
SEATTLE — A radio talk-show host said Saturday he has been fired for criticizing CBS newsman Dan Rather’s handling of challenges to the authenticity of memos about [...]

My new column is here. Intro:
Dan Rather, Professional Journalist, and CBS News, Professional News Network, want us to keep believing that they are the ordained purveyors of truth. They are the mature and responsible mavens of media ethics. They are the information gatekeepers with unparalleled judgment, dedicated to the high principles of The Craft [...]

Dan Rather and his supporters are spinning so hard and in so many different directions that they are starting to contradict each other.
Rather says the bloggers who broke the Forgerygate story are savvy “partisan political operatives” presumably affiliated with the Bush campaign and/or RNC, but Jonathen Klein says they are a bunch of guys sitting [...]