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Erasing Dan Rather
Henny Ray Abrams / AP Photo
The epic legal battle between CBS and its estranged ex-anchorman has taken a nasty new turn. Rather's camp accuses the network of holding footage of him hostage.
The titanic legal struggle between Dan Rather and CBS seems to get pettier by the day.
The trouble started with Rather’s much-criticized, ultimately career-ending 60 Minutes II report on President George W. Bush’s military record, just before the 2004 election. It resulted in his 2007 breach-of-contract and fraud suit against the network and its parent company, Viacom. But as the $70 million suit heads for possible trial in January—with yet another preliminary hearing scheduled next Monday in New York State Supreme Court—the tone has grown increasingly bitter, and the shrapnel is flying thick and fast.
Cronkite, who quit the anchor chair in 1981 of his own accord, subsequently came to believe, according to many, that Rather kept him off the air. A CBS insider described the drama surrounding Cronkite’s memorial service as being “like Brutus complaining that he wanted to be invited to Caesar’s funeral—and in this case he actually was.”
The latest contretemps involve such momentous issues as: whether the forced-out anchorman, who held the job for 24 years, would be welcomed at the recent funeral and memorial service for his legendary predecessor, Walter Cronkite; whether the 77-year-old Rather was sufficiently represented in a CBS News special celebrating Cronkite’s life and times, or in photos displayed during the memorial service at Avery Fisher Hall; whether an independent filmmaker hoping to make a Rather documentary would be granted access to CBS News archival footage; and whether CBS, in Orwellian style, is trying to make Rather a non-person and erase him from the corporate memory.
• Dan Rather reports on Iran’s weapons procurement. Several of these questions, floated by the Rather camp, are open to varied interpretations depending on who’s answering them—the journalistic equivalent of a Rorschach ink blot. The CBS loyalists reject them as unfounded. But as with nearly everything regarding the congenitally controversial Rather—who anchors Dan Rather Reports on Mark Cuban’s HDNet and occasionally writes for The Daily Beast—the reality is a tangled web woven by tangled people.
A case in point: Was CBS, which supervised the guest lists, willing to provide Rather with tickets to the two Cronkite events? It’s understandable that CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, a key defendant in the lawsuit along with Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone, had no wish to run into his antagonist at either venue. But after a thorough internal discussion, top executives reached the conclusion that it would look bad if they tried to bar Rather. So they hit upon a clever solution: If, and only if, Rather asked CBS for tickets—a circumstance about as likely as ice-fishing in Hell—he’d get them.
"Tickets were made available to Dan both to the Cronkite funeral and to the memorial,” a CBS spokesman told me, “and he was seated in appropriate places in both events, although we can understand why he was disappointed with his position out of the spotlight." (It turns out that tickets were not issued for the funeral, which anyone could have attended.)
If that isn’t snarky enough, a “CBS insider” offered up a quote alluding to Rather’s famously tense history with Cronkite, who quit the anchor chair in 1981 of his own accord but subsequently came to believe, according to many, that Rather kept him off the air. "This is like Brutus complaining that he wanted to be invited to Caesar's funeral—and in this case he actually was."
Rather declined to comment for this story. But his attendance at the Cronkite funeral clearly had gotten under someone’s skin. A few weeks after the service at St. Bartholomew’s Church, the New York Post’s Page Six column ran an item headlined “Dan Rather’s Shameless Ways.” It read: “Dan Rather has some nerve. Although he helped force Walter Cronkite out of the CBS anchor chair in 1981, and then kept the popular newsman off the air to avoid unfavorable comparisons, he had the chutzpah to attend Cronkite's funeral.” It looked to many like a high-level CBS plant, never mind that company execs are shocked, shocked that anyone would think so. What’s more, several CBS partisans stressed to me this week that “the Cronkite family absolutely despises Dan Rather.”
So how did this proverbial skunk at the garden party obtain his tickets to the events?
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John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
I always thought that Dan Rather was absolutely right about Bush Senior pulling strings to get Junior into the Champagne Union of the Air National Guard. I thought so then and I think so now, because that went on all the time back then, and that unit was full of rich boys who had the opportunity to get out of that long and unpopular war.
I can understand that, since we should never have been involved in Vietnam anyway, going back to 1946 when it was struggling to get independence from France and we backed the French.
So I don't resent him trying to get out of teh war, but only for lying about it, and trying to pretend afterwards that he was some kind of Republican Super Patriot--who got us involved in another long, drawn out war in Iraq.
Junior was one of the worst presidents we ever had, and a man for far less character and honesty than Obama. Dan Rather was right to call him on his hypocrisy, especially since he swift-boated John Kerry, who has really been over there then come home to protest against it--and justifiably so.
In both 2000 and 2004, the worst man won the elections.
umm... more 'credo ut intelligam' maybe?
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Whats odd is today stories far less credible or even outright lies are run against Obama on major networks on an almost nightly basis yet no one seems to loose their careers over it or are even held accountable in any way what so ever.
Most people get their news today from the radio and cable news from people who call themselves commentators, not journalists. And it seems like calling oneself a "commentator" is in reality a license to lie. I could never figure out why Rather was fired, the powers that be were either afraid of the Bush administration or just plain didn't like Rather. I don't know him personally, maybe he's a pain in the neck in real life but I really enjoyed him on television. If "stretching the truth" on television is a basis for being fired than why are Hannity, O'Reilly and Beck still on the air?
CBS news and Rather are becoming increasingly irrelevant by the week. So is Lloyd Grove.
concerning mcmchugh99 comment: Bush Junior might be the worst president if you make believe Carter wasn't a president too. And if you wait a few more years we can put Obama into the mix.
Did you forget about Carter in your assessment of worst presidents? And in a few more years, Obama?
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Dan was indeed correct. If people would just decide to be really honest, fair, and respectful, they would admit the truth as well. There are so many individuals of the priviledge who take advantage of the oppotunities that best suits them, i.e. avoid fullfilling required responsibilities. To be fair, this does not only ocurr among the "priviledged," because it happens among many people, at various times, when they have friends in positions to do certain "favors" to just "help them escape situations" that are unpleasant, or get things by "easy means," thus "by-passing" the rules, process, or procedures. Many of you know this to be true. So, let's admit the truth, Dan Rather did not lie about Bush's National Guard record.
Yes, maybe, but you think it was fine for Rather to use false information to discredit Bush? My guess is yes. Using facts would have made making his/your case harder to make.
The information was true. Rather was set up.
Rather's downfall at CBS was a clever, painstakingly orchestrated plot by Bush & Company to "stick it to him." What is disconcerting is that Rather a seasoned newsman fell for the information packaged by an enemy camp and didn't smell a rat ready to devour him.
The whole thing had the stink of the Rovian tactics so effectively used in other instances to deform truth, smear, and destroy any opposition to their "plan for the Universe."
CBS is a corporate giant who will do anything to stymie Rather's fight to see justice served. They'll mess with him and mess with him in ways large and trivial and by so persevering hope to demoralize him, and just plain wear him down.
Dan Rather, keep up the good fight!
Rather seems like a bitter man who refuses to get off the stage.
Right, he had his job for 24 years. He had a nice run, move on. Some folks aren't at the same for 24 mos.
Right, he's a typical bitter left-wing media type who misses what all elitists miss: They adore being adored by one another...never mind the majority around the country who feel they are biased liars who hijack the national debate away from what the voters vote for.
jpelhamtn: The majority of conservatives, perhaps.
Voters picked Obama in 2008. Have you forgotten already?
jpelhamtn: Hopefully you're able to distinguish your left hand from your right hand, because you don't seem to recognize that media power brokers are feeding you the "news" and opinion they think fit for public consumption on a daily basis.
Whoever wields POWER whether, Left, Right, or indifferent is a member of an elitist group.
The media especially serves to consolidate and promote conservative right-wing agendas, as generally this is where corporate interests are focused. They've played the game so well, they've achieved their goal of muddling the difference between fact and fiction.
Their success at selling corporate bias is identifiable by those who so readily parrot their "word-speak" phraseology like "left-wing media type," without any intermediary analysis.
You've absorbed their mind-set admirably and speaketh the language well.
Call it: troll
According to O'Reilly nobody watches so-called mainstream news nowadays. If everyone is watching Fox, how did Obama win? Maybe the Republicans would have a better chance of winning back some seats if they stopped the name calling. Equating liberals with everything evil only appeals to a lunatic fringe. I won't even consider voting for a Republican until they stop kowtowing to Rush and his ilk.
You got that right, sophia
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Makes me wonder if this Ballabon guy isn't the person who set Rather up with the truthful but fake Bush Guard papers.
Hmmm...maybe that's why CBS was suddenly so unwilling to come to his defense on that.
Epic?
This all seems to boil down to a battle of gargantuan egos--Moonves, Ballabon and, most of all, Rather. The only one who comes off with some class is Chris Cronkite. The rest of them are trogladites and I imagine Uncle Walter would be alternately appauled and amused by their accusations and machinations.
If Rather's only motive for attending the memorial and the funeral was to pay tribute and say goodbye to friend and cherished colleague, why would he care where he sat?
As to the Bush story--Rather showed himself to be something less than a third-rate journalist when he snapped that up without verifying it. I'm no Bush fan, but it seems to me his haste, sloppiness and perhaps downright deception put another nail in the coffin of objective journalism and helped get one of the worst Presidents in American history elected.
That would be re-elected (2004).
Sorry roadhunter, you wasted time with your reply as carouzer had it right.
Elected not re-elected in 2004. In 2000, Gore was the winner!
Yes, jojo12, the Republications stole the election in 2000 with the complicity of the court system. And Gore and company put up only a whimpering protest. I voted for Gore, but after conceding defeat so easily, I realized he would have made a lousy president.
The worst disappointment came from America itself. America should have raised en mass and called "foul play." Even Iranians who live under a theocratic dictatorship had the guts to take to the streets in protest recently when they suspected their election was high jacked.
We all sat on our hands in 2000, and look what the inertia brought us!
Who says Rather cared where he sat? CBS, that's who. How do we know if that's true? They though him calling for his tickets was as likely as "ice fishing in hell", but he apparently did ask for them.
As for footage of Rather, it belongs to CBS, and they can burn it if they wish. Rather was well compensated for his time at CBS, and his former employer owes him nothing.
With the bogus Bush story CBS became the laughing stock of news organizations. Mr. Rather pretends it never was so.
Most of today's news organizations are laughing stocks. A bit of news peppered with loud mouth opinionated asses who think their just or more important then the story. Long gone are the times when the news was just an account of what happened.
piktor: One piece of evidence was faked, but the story itself was true.
Yes, it's important to remember that Bush failed the entry exams for TANG and would have been shipped out to Vietnam in 1968 had someone -- his father was serving in the House that year -- not pulled strings and gotten him into the "champagne unit" of the guard. After he completed training that cost taxpayers $1 million, he simply stopped showing up for duty, even though he had two more years to serve. His last flight was in in April 1972, the same month that the military started requiring pilots to take drug tests with their physicals and around the same time it ordered random drug tests to begin. Bush never again submitted to a physical -- and without the physical he couldn't fly, so he was grounded. At that point, he evaporated. After failing to show up for duty for a year, someone arranged an honorable discharge for him in 1974.
roadrunner:
Sure Dan Rather was well compensated financially over the years he sat in the prestigious anchor seat.
Filing a lawsuit for a money settlement is a way of serving justice. If Rather wins a cash settlement it will be a vindication of his reputation and a verdict against the less than stellar corporate culture exhibited by CBS.
Morally CBS owes him plenty. Dan Rather's professional legacy was trashed, partly by his own bad judgment, but not without the not insignificant intervention of CBS who directly or indirectly had a dirty hand in the whole affair.
CBS like all media giants will never bite the hand that feeds them and played "the game" with their overlords to get rid of Rather. Rather was on the government's sh*t list and he got sh*t on.
I knew Walter and I know Dan. They both worked their asses off for a company that in the end had no more regard for either of them than they had for Ed Murrow.
The game is really about money. When people are done at CBS, they're done. It's shameful the way they've trumpeted Walter's contributions, when they really didn't want to see him doing anything else at CBS again.
Has anyone seen Walter on CBS between 1982 and his memorial last week? That's 27 years of wasting the talent of their most trusted resource.
It's Chip Cronkite who has the class to honor his father's legacy and be magnanimous to Dan. That's what Walter would have done. The family stands proud. Can't say the same for CBS News anymore.
Kuralt said it best, and with the same amount of class when
he exited CBS News on his own terms. They've never been able to replace him either, although they are making futile attempts to return him to their air.
Does anyone think CBS is paying his family any residuals?
Not very likely!
Rather is like the cop who stops a speeder, finds a kilo of coke in the glove compartment, but has the case tossed on a technicality. Anybody believe that crap being peddled by Bernie Goldberg that Bush really, really, really wanted to fight in Vietnam, but somehow, he got turned down?
Dan Rather is high-stress/high-maintenance and self important. . . Having muffed opportunities to function well and be well-received by his colleagues, he is now demanding personal attention, yet again.. a sad case, indeed.
Let's set politics aside. From a journalistic standpoint, Rather is underwhelming and overwhelmed with self. Whatever his former record, he is not to be taken seriously, any longer.
This is not about politics, insults and lies from the "right" or the "left." It is about the need to revive moribund standards of reportage and meet responsibities to "tell it as best we can" to a public who deserve better.
its funny how conservatives can bash obama to any extent with little repercussions but if someone printed a true story about bush that wasn't flattering it was possible career suicide. kinda shows how conservative this so called "liberal media" is. Oh yes of corporate owned media would lean to the left, that's such a reasonable assertion (sarcasm)
As much as Rather has sabotaged himself with his boorish behavior, I believe no one has done an adequate investigative job into the whole issue of the Bush military records debacle. It seems pretty clear that he was set up. But by whom? Was it Rove? No one seems to have followed a trail on that. Maybe the talented investigators at CBS felt Rather got his bad Karma back and let it drop.I still think ther's a story there, Rather's personality aside.
"Boorish behavior..." I'd say that Dan Rather has chosen, and rightly so, not to go quietly into the night. He had the distinction of being a public figure singled out to suffer the wraith of the tyrannical Bush regime. I agree. Whether you watched Rather, didn't watch him, like him, don't like him...isn't the issue. This was mostly about the deception and dishonor of George W .Bush, morphed to turn those very condemnations onto Rather himself.
"Kuralt said it best, and with the same amount of class when
he exited CBS News on his own terms. They've never been able to replace him either, although they are making futile attempts to return him to their air"
Huh? Charles Kuralt "exited" CBS News when he died, on July 4th, 1997. CBS is trying to raise him from the dead?
Charles Kuralt left CBS News to retire and write a book, which he did. He then narrated a number of feature news pieces for "An American Moment",
a short form series of television stories, that were sold in syndication to local TV stations around the country. The series continued for a while after he died, with James Earl Jones narrating the work.
CBS News has in fact been revisiting old Kuralt On The Road stories, done mainly in the 1980's, with Steve Hartman locating the subjects, and updating the stories, by incorporating fresh material as blended endpieces on Friday Evening News.
This enables them to capitalize on Kuralt's enduring popularity with the core CBS News audience, while simultaneously saving some production costs.
It enables them to "team" Hartman with Kuralt by association, although
Hartman no doubt has his own following, fans who probably appreciate his own "style" of storytelling.
Just straightening the record, Mr. Lefty.
Totally agree with dundeedle post....
Bushes military career is reminiscent of Bushes 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' in Iraq.
Never was!
here's what I don't understand about Rather: he was basically fired for buying into what turned out to be a fraudulent document related to Bush's military service (probably set up by Rove's slime machine). OK, i can live with the consequences. And OK, I realize someone like Glenn Beck is not a "journalist", but what about what he puts down as "truth", but which in fact are total fabrication/lies. What happens to Beck? NOTHING. I repeat, NOTHING. Is there not some sort of double standard equivalence here? Tell me I'm wrong-- one, (Rather) pushes a Bush story which is essential true but fabricated, and he gets fired. Beck pushes outrageous and indeed dangerous (promoting assassination) lies, and he is celebrated. Something wrong with this picture?
avacado: Well said! Something is very wrong with this picture.
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If only Rather had lead of the segment with those magic three words "Some people say. . . " then all that trouble could have been avoided! I'm mean, come on! Fox has been doing it every day for years now, and they get all the love!
I noticed CBS erasing the history of Rather immediately like Rameses II chiseling former pharohs off pyramid walls! His absence in all prominent deaths has been conspicuous, Ed Bradley and Dan Rather for example were practically the signature visage of the Viet Nam era, replacing the signature foreign correspondent/trench coat with the obligatory bush kahki jacket, wind blwoing in helicopter baldes, yet after his much esteemed colleague died...nothing. Same thing after Don Hewitt--Dan with 60 Minutes team at the meat packing plant with Inspector marks visible, and his visit to the auto mechanic, bustin oil pans as travelers drive in--vintage Hewitt gotcha tapes, and made the show what it was. Wher in the world is Dan Rather?...gone with the heiroglyphics.
I believe Rather was set-up by someone in the Bush admin. regarding the National Guard story about W. Why? Who knows, old scores to settle?
When it comes to Les Moonves & Sumner Redstone, contrary to his belief, Redstone isn't going to live forever & Moonvees isn't the young honcho he used to be or thought he was. No one is irreplacable , as witnessed by the number of people who have held the title "anchor" of the evening news.
Kudos to Chip Cronkite, the only person in this story who displayed any class.
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Rather was surely right about Bush and military service. Good to see Chip Cronkite not joining the hate brigade. Rather did his best to get the truth unlike the Becks of today
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Troll.
Looney-Left Kool-Aid? You've been watching O'Reilly? Go ahead and hold your breath, it's okay with me!
jonponder........I agree with you , but was it ever proven and if not why can't it be?
......
Hooray for Dan Rather! I hope he wins.
And I hope someone uncovers how Rather was tricked by a fraudulent document into reporting a nevertheless true story about Little Bush. Who authored the document, and who made certain Rather got a hold of it? Who are the people keeping quiet about the forger's identity, methods, and enablers for all these years? Why did the CBS heads not excoriate them instead of Rather? Journalist, like police, get lied to and spun all the time; it's not surprising that some percentage of lies and spin succeed. Dan Rather made only a rare mistake, and CBS execs, like police captains, should have understood that. Yet somehow the execs decided to wreck Rather's career. Ha! If every person who ever made an honest mistake on a job were fired for it, we would have 100% unemployment!
The central story is conservatives destroying reputations and careers in journalism because they can't get p-o--w-e-r any other way. (I'm still shaking my head over the right's successful, vast manipulation of all logic that the draft dodger/National Guard slacker Bush was more "patriotic" than the Vietnam vet Kerry. Sheesh! That's another story I'd like someday to read.) The right wing is at its work lying and colluding not just at Fox but also at the head of news corporations like CBS.
Investigative journalism was something Dan Rather was good at. Investigative journalism just isn't dome anymore.
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