Comments on: Rather Leaves CBS News

[brian5064]

Dan Rather used to drive me crazy sometimes. His "Ratherisms" during a nerve racking yet chaotic election night would make me laugh, yet I also felt compelled to smash the TV! In all seriousness, this is a sad day for the enterprise of journalism and for CBS News. I'm afraid this is another step on the Moonves/McManus road to making the news more "entertaining" and devoid of substance. I've watched the CBS Evening News and other CBS News programing since I was a child. Despite his flaws, you always knew that Rather would give the viewers an honest effort to tell them the relevant news of the day. CBS can have it's fluffy "Assignment America" stories back. Give me back the hard hitting newscast I grew up with in the 80's that covered the world. I'll stick with CBS for now because Bob Schieffer is still one of the best, but I fear for the future of CBS News. It's in dangerous hands now. I wish Mr. Rather the best of luck.

[steigejh]

People like "cathmurrell" frantically try to rewrite history regarding the abject career of Dan Rather. Rather has been making serious mistakes for decades. I remember when he did a radio commentary on the Zapruder film and informed the viewers how Kennedy's head "snapped forward," when the film showed it snapping back. Real convenient for LBJ and Dan's career. RatherGate turned into a scandal when the arrogant Rather tried to stonewall an obvious error. The original error, occurring in the midst of a Presidential election, was unforgiveable. Rather apparently still thought he was living in the 1980's, when the strict liberal control of the media could drown out the truth. He thought nobody would know! Poor Dumb Dan. Even now, he appears at festivities like the Emmy Awards, where brainless Hollywood elites give him standing ovations, and Rather responds by getting teary and giving eulogies to his own shabby career. Sorry Dan, and sorry Cathmurrell. You made your bed, and now you'll lie in it. And, by the way, cathmurrell --- Bush's National Guard Service was vastly more honorable, and more dangerous, than that performed by tens of thousands of young Americans during that period. Where was Bill Bradley? Where was Bill Clinton? I rest my case.

[illumen8]

It is with disappointment and disgust that I read the news of the marginalizing and forced exit of Dan Rather from not only CBS News, but from 60 Minutes in particular. To replace a journalist of his stature with the current pop stars of entertainment reporting, Katie Couric and Anderson Cooper, is a sad testament to the deterioration of what was once the flagship of responsible reporting in America. Whatever the internal politics are of the 60 Minutes production, however egos might have collided and with whom, more respect should be afforded for not only Dan Rather, but for the legacy of what he represents in the history of television news. I certainly hope that a public show of support for your colleague is being prepared for your audience. Although I would like to see Ed Bradley, Leslie Stahl, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Bob Simon, Andy Rooney, et al walk off the show in protest, that kind of courage has all but left the arena of news reporting in this country. Instead of the allegiance to the Fourth Estate, allegiance has become more to the corporations that own "the news", the advertisers that own the corporations and the old political guard that dictates that news in the first place and who they deem safe enough to report it. Except for perhaps the unbridled frontier of the blogosphere, what has the Fourth Estate become after all in the age of the "(im)moral majority", but the State itself. Edward R. Murrow must be rolling in his grave.

[Rockboy106]

Good riddance Dan!! One of the worst sins any journalist or newsperson can commit is losing their objectivity and not presenting a fair and balanced story. CBS News always had a political agenda and was "rather biased" because of Dan. It is not surprising that in his fervor to get revenge on George Bush, he fell flat on his face, thus deserving the the cold send-off he is getting. Dan's ego and political agenda came before all else and was more important for him to get his version of the story out, rather than for the story to get accurate. Because of Dan, I switched to ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings a long time ago. His tirades and over the top drama was just too much for me. I hope that future journalists will learn from his many mistakes. He never was, nor will he ever be, on the same scale as Walter Cronkite (the most trusted man in America). Dan was more like the most mistrusted man in America. Goodbye and good riddance.

[rochester_ny]

Many people have strong opinions of Dan Rather, but I was surprised that there is a "weird comments by Dan Rather" web site out there. I found it when I was trying to recall the bizarre story about Dan Rather where someone kept asking him "What's the frequency, Kenneth". I found the site with a Google search for What is the Frequency Dan Rather. The unfortunate journalistic incidents with both the elder and younger Presidents Bush may have made people forget the other things that have happened to Mr. Rather! http://www.ratherbiased.com/bizarre.htm#weirdStatements This web site says the rock band R.E.M. even made a song after the "frequency" incident, a song called "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?". They also say that Dan Rather later appeared onstage with R.E.M. on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman. What an interesting career Mr Rather has had !

[nunuvyer]

There was nothing brave about Rather (and Mapes) putting fake documents on the air. They were shooting for the big target and the gun backfired - that's the risk they took by going on the air with such flimsy proof - photocopies of faxed documents provided by a partisan nutcase without provenance. They WANTED to believe that the documents were real and ignored all evidence to the contrary, though there was plenty of reason to be suspicious. The idea that the documents were some kind of Karl Rovian plant, while amusing, is totally without foundation, but it might as well be true given how badly their effort to "help" Kerry backfired not only on them but on their favored candidate as well (and who doesn't think that Rather and Mapes voted for Kerry?). As bad as their original sin was the refusal to back away after it became obvious to everyone but them how obviously fake the documents were. Rather could have perhaps salvaged his career with an abject apology but he was too proud to admit that he had been fooled because he wanted to be fooled.

[cathmurrell]

Dan Rather has much to be proud of - and CBS much to be ashamed of. Rather's much publicized fall from grace was the result of nothing more than a good reporter being misled by a source into believing the authenticity of a fake document. That's a risk faced by any reporter who is actually doing his or her job and going forth bravely into the terrain where mainstream media fears to tread. Examining all the other, authenticated data pointing towards a shameful Bush service record - including the black lines crossing out much of the information on official documents (who knew that the service records of an individual who didn't even make it overseas could contain so much sensitive information?) - a reasonable observer might wonder if Rather were purposefully fed a fake document by Bush supporters fearful of the impact of Rather's reporting on the issue. Regardless, I have to question the credibility of a news organization that overreacts to an honest error while paying so very little attention to the deliberate lies and deception emanating from the most powerful office in the world today. If CBS applied the same standards to the Bush administration as it has to Dan Rather, the network would have come out loudly and emphatically in favor of impeachment years ago.

[roger6895]

After never accepting responsibility for the fake documents fiasco, I think this a fitting send off to a hack journalist who was more concerned with being first than with being right.

[sanfelz]

Dan Rather could give a revealing interview to John Roberts or Howard Stern and scoop CBS on its own story and increase the ratings of two former CBS stars. I speculate on how a young Dan Rather would report on the war in Iraq. My guess is that he would refuse to be embedded Dan Rather was unafraid to ask the inconvenient unanswered questions about Iran-Contra that Daddy Bush still has not answered.

[CBSTV]

I feel that Dan Rather was miscast as an anchorman. He is a reporter, and an outstanding one at that. The undignified treatment that CBS News afforded Mr. Rather after he stepped down from "The CBS Evening News" is indeed a disgrace. I suspect that corporate CEO Les Moonves is a major factor in this. This serves as another example of why the News Division ought function independently from the rest of CBS. Whether intentional or not, here is the message that Messrs. Moonves and McManus are sending to journalists both inside and outside CBS News: You can crawl on your stomach through the jungles of Viet Nam with bullets flying over your head, devote your life and soul to a company for 44 years, be on call 24 hours a day to go anywhere in the world where important news is happening, and at the end of the day, we'll let you twist in the wind. This is an ignominious conclusion to a remarkable career.