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In light of Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS/Viacom, I'm going to coin a Rather-esque saying: Writing about this story while working for CBS is tougher than playing Operation while traveling down a bumpy Lubbock road.

But here goes anyway.

By now we've all read and/or heard that former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather has filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS, as revealed in yesterday's New York Times:

Dan Rather, whose career at CBS News ground to an inglorious end 15 months ago over his role in an unsubstantiated report questioning President Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service, filed a $70 million lawsuit this afternoon against the network, its corporate parent and three of his former superiors.

Mr. Rather, 75, asserts that the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on “60 Minutes” after forcing him to step down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005. He also contends that the network committed fraud by commissioning a “biased” and incomplete investigation of the flawed Guard broadcast and, in the process, “seriously damaged his reputation.”

According to the lawsuit, Rather's complaints revolve not only around the investigation but also the fallout surrounding the infamous "60 Minutes" story which looked into President Bush's national guard duty (uncreatively nicknamed "Memogate") – including his not having been assigned to cover Hurricane Katrina despite being "the most experienced reporter in the United States in covering hurricanes" and a disagreement over the definition of "full-time."

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In light of Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS/Viacom, I'm going to coin a Rather-esque saying: Writing about the story while working for CBS is tougher than playing Operation while traveling down a bumpy Lubbock road.

But here goes anyway.

By now we've all read and/or heard that former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather has filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS, as revealed in yesterday's New York Times:Dan Rather, whose career at CBS News ground to an inglorious end 15 months ago over his role in an unsubstantiated report questioning President Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service, filed a $70 million lawsuit this afternoon against the network, its corporate parent and three of his former superiors.
Mr. Rather, 75, asserts that the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on “60 Minutes” after forcing him to step down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005. He also contends that the network committed fraud by commissioning a “biased” and incomplete investigation of the flawed Guard broadcast and, in the process, “seriously damaged his reputation.”According to the lawsuit, Rather's complaints revolve not only around the investigation but also the fallout surrounding the infamous "60 Minutes" story which looked into President Bush's national guard duty (uncreatively nicknamed "Memogate") – including his not having been assigned to cover Hurricane Katrina despite being "the most experienced reporter in the United States in covering hurricanes" and a disagreement over the definition of "full-time."

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Well, this is officially ugly.

On Monday, speaking about the CBS "Evening News," Dan Rather told Joe Scarborough that CBS executives had been "dumbing it down and tarting it up, going to celebrity coverage rather than war coverage." He also criticized CBS for trying "to bring the 'Today' ethos to the 'Evening News'…in hopes of attracting a younger audience."

CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves called Rather's comments a "cheap shot" the next morning – and characterized them as "sexist."

Rather responded on Fox News. "What [Moonves] is trying to do is change the subject," said Rather. "And I find it insulting, and I find it disappointing -- that's a better word, disappointing -- that Les Moonves, who knows a lot about entertainment, would try to mask the real point with that line of attack."

He added: "These days, they don't know what hard news is, the top corporate leadership. They know about entertainment, but they don't know about news…I do think that there is an audience for quality news of integrity, including on the "Evening News. And there is no empirical evidence that, by dumbing it down, by going with the Paris Hilton story, by softening things up, that it attracts younger audiences. There's no empirical evidence for that. But the corporate leadership, people such as Les Moonves, believe that. And they put the pressure on down below. And that is -- the result is what we have now, which is not a good result."

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Now that the media world has had a week to digest all the drama surrounding the acrimonious departure of Dan Rather from CBS News, a little perspective may be in order. Of everything written and said about the end of this long, illustrious and often bumpy relationship, two particular quotes stand out to me. The first came from Rather himself. In a statement demonstrating his displeasure with the manner in which his tenure at the network ended, the former anchor hit upon something when he said, “too much is made of anchors and their personalities, their ups and downs.”

The other important note was sounded by NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who said, “somewhere in Pennsylvania a father of four with 19 years under his belt came home after getting his notice at the factory today, and he would give anything for one week of Dan's compensation. Dan would be the first to counsel massive amounts of perspective on this story."

The media itself is notoriously obsessed with itself and all the maneuverings happening in their business. Far more ink and airtime is devoted to media personalities, their contracts, job changes and off-air comments than the actual journalism they’re supposed to be representing. Their names appear in gossip columns far more often than in straight news stories. And the average person is probably more likely to be able to provide a one-word description of an anchor’s personal attributes than any particular news event with which he or she was involved with.

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Dan Rather has released a press release concerning his departure from CBS News. (hat tip Romenesko.) Rather has kind words for the people he has worked with over the years, but he also offers criticism of CBS News for the opportunities that he was being offered within the organization. "My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS's final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there," he writes. "As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing."

The full release is below.

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I appreciate the words and gestures contained in today's press release by CBS.

I leave CBS News with tremendous memories. But I leave now most of all with the desire to once again do regular, meaningful reporting. My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS's final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there. As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing. So I will do the work I love elsewhere, and I look forward to sharing details about that soon.

As I go about deciding where and with whom that can best be done, I want to say how grateful I am to have worked with so many outstanding CBS men and women over the years. From producers, to correspondents, to technical crews, it has been my great fortune to have had some of the best pros in journalism at my back and at my side. They are the true heart of CBS News, and they will always have my respect.

Too much is made of anchors and their personalities, their ups and downs. The larger issues—the role of a free press and of honest, real news in a democracy, the role of technology in supporting a free press, the "corporatization" of news and its effects on news content—all deserve more attention, more discussion and more passionate debate.

I'll see you soon.

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It's official: After 44 years, Dan Rather is leaving CBS News.

“With the utmost respect, we mark the extraordinary and singular role Dan has played in writing the script of not only CBS News, but of broadcast journalism," said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports, in a press release. "There will always be a part of Dan Rather at CBS News. He is truly a ‘reporter’s reporter,’ and he has helped to train several generations of broadcast journalists. His legacy cannot be replicated.”

CBS has been criticized for the way it has handled Rather's departure, which first leaked with a Howard Kurtz story last Thursday that was sourced to "CBS executives." Jim Lehrer told Kurtz, "I think the man deserves better than this." Wrote David Blum: "it seems coldhearted and callous for CBS to cast Rather out so mercilessly, and so publicly, in the twilight of his career." An anonymous former CBS executive told Gail Shister that Rather's treatment has been "disgraceful. He's a legend. He gave his life to that company. Even though he made a big mistake, he did 43 years and 11 months' great work."

According to the release, "CBS News is currently finalizing plans for a primetime special on the newsman’s legendary career at CBS News." There will also be a story on Rather on tonight's "Evening News." The release, somewhat curiously, does not include a statement from Rather, who has already publicly commented about his departure.

It's important to remember that we don't know the backstory on how the Rather news first came out. Kurtz, in his "Media Notes Extra" column, noted Blum's piece, which suggested an organized leak on the part of CBS News, and suggested otherwise, writing: "sometimes stories aren't just handed to you." Rather had this season been a contributor to "60 Minutes," though with the arrival of contributors Anderson Cooper and Katie Couric, who join an already crowded group of correspondents, many of whom came over from the now canceled "60 Minutes II," there wasn't going to be a lot of space for him next season.

Rather is reportedly considering becoming host and producer of a weekly news program for high-definition television channel HDNet, which is owned by a company owned by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. The full CBS press release is after the jump.

UPDATE: According to Rather's assistant Kim Akhtar, Richard Leibner, Rather's agent, will be releasing a statement later today.

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Yesterday's Washington Post included a piece by Howard Kurtz with the following lede: "CBS executives have decided there is no future role at the network for Dan Rather, making it certain that the man who sat in the anchor chair for 24 years will depart by this fall." The Associated Press yesterday reported much the same: "CBS executives and Rather's representatives appear close to a deal that will end Rather's association with CBS News after more than 40 years, according to an executive knowledgeable about the situation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Thursday."

The sources for the stories were anonymous, and the speculation nothing new – for months there had been talk that Rather would be leaving CBS News in the near future. But two major news organizations, citing CBS executives, had thrown their weight behind the story, and it took off, becoming one of ABCNews.com and CNN.com's top stories and appearing on the
MSNBC.com homepage.

The development left CBSNews.com in a tough position. “We talked it over [yesterday] morning, and decided that because the story is about CBS News, we have to be more thorough," says Mike Sims, CBSNews.com director of news and operations. "The story carries more gravity than it does on other sites because it's about CBS News. I asked our folks to call the CBS News press office, do reporting on it, and include that.”

They did. According to Mary-Jayne McKay, senior producer at CBSNews.com, “we went to CBS publicity and got a comment on it from [CBS spokeswoman] Sandy Genelius, which was no comment. We were working from the AP story -- we had no inside information, even though some people might assume we do.”

A story about Rather went up yesterday on CBS News’ recently-launched entertainment site, Showbuzz. None was posted on the main CBSNews.com site. "It was not a must run, because there was no advancement," says Sims. "For the past two months there was speculation about this. I tend not to be big on speculation stories."

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Last night's "60 Minutes" featured a report from correspondent Dan Rather about ethanol. The tone of the story was suggested by its title: "The Ethanol Solution." Rather and producer Michael Rosenbaum's story largely presented ethanol in a positive light, lauding it as a potential solution to America's reliance on foreign oil.

At the top of the piece, Professor Daniel Kammen is quoted on the topic of Brazil's embrace of ethanol. "They made it work — and it wasn't even that hard," he says. Rather then says that ethanol solved both of Brazil's problems, including the fact that "their economy was being strangled by the high price of imported oil."

The story is not an unqualified celebration of ethanol, but it does focus on the positive. Here's one quote from the piece, from Pine Lake Processing Plant board member Polly Granzow: "Ethanol has been one of the best-kept secrets that is out there. We know it’s a good product. We know it's good for the economy. We know it’s good for the environment."

Later, Kammen speaks again: "Ethanol provides a wonderful short-term option because we can use corn today to make it, and have significant savings in terms of off-setting gasoline, and modest savings on a greenhouse gas level. The big plus is it’s available today, so we could make this transition starting tomorrow, if we wanted." When oil companies' position on ethanol is discussed, Rather is shown asking, "Why shouldn't I think, well, this is just a way for the oil companies to slow or snuff out the growth of ethanol, and other alternatives?"

The piece closes with this quote from farmer Larry Meints: "It's a win-win thing for the nation, and for our local economy here to create jobs locally, rather than sending the money overseas, and sometimes to people that really don’t like us very well."

Back on April 18, Wyatt Andrews covered ethanol on the CBS "Evening News." His story was part of a "Reality Check" segment, and the tone was markedly different than the tone of the "60 Minutes" piece. After a brief discussion of how ethanol production is booming and how one farmer thinks "it's the first step towards [energy] independence," Andrews sounds an alarm:

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Last Wednesday, Dave Winer wrote a post on his "Scripting News Annex" blog about a conversation he had with Dan Rather at the National Association of Broadcasters convention. Winer wrote that when he asked Rather about becoming a blogger, Rather said that "his employer discourages it." He also wrote that Rather said that "he may leave CBS, and if he does, may start blogging."

In November, we posted CBS News' rules concerning personal blogging. They remain as follows:

In this time of the exponential growth of blogs, there are CBS News employees who are creating and maintaining personal blogs. Before any such blog is created, the [Senior Vice President] of Standards must be informed and must approve the blog. For those of you who are already in the blogosphere, you must contact the SVP of Standards. There can be no messages or information posted on these blogs that is potentially damaging to CBS News if made public.

In an email, Linda Mason, CBS News Senior Vice President, Standards and Special Projects, told me that no one had contacted her to discuss the possibility of Rather blogging. She also wrote that "we neither encourage nor discourage" the practice.

Rather, for his part, declined to comment for this post.

Mike Sims, CBSNews.com Director of News and Operations, said he was not approached concerning Rather blogging for the Web site. Sims told me that "we’ve done blogging and we continue to do so when it adds to the story." He pointed out that the CBSNews.com Web site has carried blogs during events like political campaigns and conventions, and presently is running a blog written by Sharyn Alfonsi as part of the "Eye on the Road" series. He also noted that many correspondents use Public Eye as an outlet for blog posts – a David Martin dispatch, for example, was posted this morning.

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