Dan Rather: Can Democracy Survive?

Photo from source, RawStory.com

I was never a huge fan of Dan Rather, former anchor of the CBS Evening News. I didn't dislike him, I was just more likely to tune in to Peter Jennings on ABC or Tom Brokaw on NBC. There was no conscious decision involved, but the unconscious may have been at work. After all, I still remember "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" the odd salute, "Courage," Rather walking off a live set, and his bizarre, folksy adlibs.

But after the 2004 elections, and the 60 Minutes II story about George W. Bush's National Guard service, I really thought Rather got a raw deal. The gist of the situation was this: many people (including me) believe that W got into the Texas National Guard due to his father's connections, to avoid service in Viet Nam. W also is believed to have shirked even that duty, for reasons suspected, but unknown and unproven.

Shortly before the 2004 election, documents came to light that "proved" the story, and Dan Rather's 60 Minutes II ran with them. Very shortly after (spurred by the right-wing blogosphere, collecting one of their first pelts), the documents were reported to be fakes. Whether they were really fake or not, they are now universally believed to be, and whether the story is ultimately true or not, it is now swept under the protective cover of the "fake" documents. Several CBS News employees connected with the story lost their jobs, and Dan Rather was quite obviously squeezed out.

Rather is now speaking his mind, and suing CBS News for $70,000,000. Here's a bit more story.

[Excerpt]

Dan Rather : 'Somebody's got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive... with government interference in news'

. . .When Rather appeared on Larry King's program Thursday, King began by showing him a 2005 clip of himself saying, "I'm not a victim of anything except my own shortcomings."

But he added, "Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big government interference and intimidation in news."

"I've learned a good deal since that time," said Rather. "It's reported that Sumner Redstone [president of Viacom] ... was described as being enraged that the news division, this story, had cost Viacom and CBS in Washington, and he wanted Dan Rather and everybody connected with it out.". . .

Read the rest at: RawStory.com