buuh bye dan
Let the spin begin. The San Francisco Chronicle weighs in on Dan Rather's decision to allow himself to be forced out of the anchor chair. To say that Dan wanted them to pry the chair from his cold dead hands is to understate how much he wanted to stay. Here's the spin.
Try this one on for size:
THERE WILL be a temptation, especially among Dan Rather's legion of critics, to attribute his departure to a forged-documents scandal. It does seem likely that Rather's presentation and vigorous sustained defense of the discredited September story about the young George W. Bush's National Guard service -- or lack thereof -- hastened his retirement.
It was a serious mistake, which Rather eventually acknowledged and apologized for. But it also should be weighed in the context of a remarkable career that helped redefine the role of a network news anchor.
Count to 10. Good.
Now let me say it for you, Dan Rather lied, and presented obviously bogus information to discredit the President during a closely contested election. They overstepped their bounds and betrayed their public trust. Dan Rather should have been fired immediately. That he wasn't says more about his career (and careerism) and his stature in the world of broadcast journalism then anything he did in the previous 23 years.
In a concession to the Chronicle, we at TetreaultVision agree, Rather did change the way we look at network news anchors. Rather's abrasive, yet folksy style has created an army of information leaders who do not hesitate to let their bias shine through, without maintaining fidelity to the role of observer/reporter. Rather became the symbol of the petty, vain spoiled fair haired boy of stories. Especially, when he walked off the set immediately prior to a network newscast unsatisfied as he was with the pittance of time allotted him by sportscasts that had run long. One can imagine Dan in the makeup room, looking into the mirror speculating on the Neanderthals who must not know that he has a newscast to do, and that's really why the people watch CBS, now isn't it?
He had no answer for that charge when George H. W. Bush laid the smack down on him with that recollection, after Rather had gone into full-bore partisan mode against the him. Rather became a caricature of the news media, and often the favorite whipping boy of conservatives who disliked his apparent bias.
Rather also made media bias the issue it is today. His former colleague at CBS Bernard Goldberg was forced out at CBS for daring to admit the obvious, that the media, and CBS in particular, were biased. Goldberg wrote about a news organization that had become Chairman Dan's cult of personality, and was molded and shaped to reflect his feelings and biases. If you wanted to climb the ladder at CBS, you either had to be a true believer or you had to be able to fake it. Squirting
This is not news. This is opinion reporting. And this is what Dan Rather's legacy will be. His work took an already left of center trade, and wandered leftward with it. Until, he could no longer separate reality from his colored perception of it.
I met Dan Rather once. When I was a young radio producer. He was polite and affable. A touch pretentious, yes, and you felt there was a facade presented for the benefit of the folks with cameras and microphones and recording devices. He was in a safe element, among his own, camel toes where he was the story and the story showed a favorable side of him as the face of CBS News. You'd never guess behind the simple smile and folksiness was a man who would subvert his treasured craft to support his partisan beliefs. He valued the defeat of George W. Bush more than he valued his own career. Sad. When you think about it.
Good luck Dan. We won't have you to kick around anymore.
Try this one on for size:
THERE WILL be a temptation, especially among Dan Rather's legion of critics, to attribute his departure to a forged-documents scandal. It does seem likely that Rather's presentation and vigorous sustained defense of the discredited September story about the young George W. Bush's National Guard service -- or lack thereof -- hastened his retirement.
It was a serious mistake, which Rather eventually acknowledged and apologized for. But it also should be weighed in the context of a remarkable career that helped redefine the role of a network news anchor.
Count to 10. Good.
Now let me say it for you, Dan Rather lied, and presented obviously bogus information to discredit the President during a closely contested election. They overstepped their bounds and betrayed their public trust. Dan Rather should have been fired immediately. That he wasn't says more about his career (and careerism) and his stature in the world of broadcast journalism then anything he did in the previous 23 years.
In a concession to the Chronicle, we at TetreaultVision agree, Rather did change the way we look at network news anchors. Rather's abrasive, yet folksy style has created an army of information leaders who do not hesitate to let their bias shine through, without maintaining fidelity to the role of observer/reporter. Rather became the symbol of the petty, vain spoiled fair haired boy of stories. Especially, when he walked off the set immediately prior to a network newscast unsatisfied as he was with the pittance of time allotted him by sportscasts that had run long. One can imagine Dan in the makeup room, looking into the mirror speculating on the Neanderthals who must not know that he has a newscast to do, and that's really why the people watch CBS, now isn't it?
He had no answer for that charge when George H. W. Bush laid the smack down on him with that recollection, after Rather had gone into full-bore partisan mode against the him. Rather became a caricature of the news media, and often the favorite whipping boy of conservatives who disliked his apparent bias.
Rather also made media bias the issue it is today. His former colleague at CBS Bernard Goldberg was forced out at CBS for daring to admit the obvious, that the media, and CBS in particular, were biased. Goldberg wrote about a news organization that had become Chairman Dan's cult of personality, and was molded and shaped to reflect his feelings and biases. If you wanted to climb the ladder at CBS, you either had to be a true believer or you had to be able to fake it. Squirting
This is not news. This is opinion reporting. And this is what Dan Rather's legacy will be. His work took an already left of center trade, and wandered leftward with it. Until, he could no longer separate reality from his colored perception of it.
I met Dan Rather once. When I was a young radio producer. He was polite and affable. A touch pretentious, yes, and you felt there was a facade presented for the benefit of the folks with cameras and microphones and recording devices. He was in a safe element, among his own, camel toes where he was the story and the story showed a favorable side of him as the face of CBS News. You'd never guess behind the simple smile and folksiness was a man who would subvert his treasured craft to support his partisan beliefs. He valued the defeat of George W. Bush more than he valued his own career. Sad. When you think about it.
Good luck Dan. We won't have you to kick around anymore.
posted by bergy at 6:34 AM
