The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Time for Rather to go
Michael Goodwin delivers a body blow to Dan Rather in the New York Daily News:
If Dan Rathergate was breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn't booted last week, he shouldn't exhale just yet. The latest sound coming out of CBS has the ring of a kissoff.
In an interview published Friday, network Chairman Leslie Moonves issued a double-barrel warning to Gunga Dan and the "60 Minutes Wednesday" show he is scheduled to work on after he abandons his anchor chair in March. In a beautiful bit of corporate doublespeak, Moonves said Rather would be on the show "provided the show continues."
If I'm Mr. Rathergate, I'm making vacation plans. Long ones.
Moonves' comment to The New York Times was ostensibly based on the fact that the show is a ratings bomb, down 17% this year. But it also had the added advantage of hinting to critics, including in-house ones, that the network is not done atoning for the fiasco that gave the news division the worst black eye in its storied history.
By wiping the slate clean of everybody involved and even axing the show that aired the phony story on President Bush's National Guard service, Moonves would be removing any doubts that he recognizes the severity of the screwup.
Those doubts center on Rather and CBS News President Andrew Heyward. That both survived even as four people under them were axed has brought CBS a fresh pounding and defeated its efforts to move beyond the debacle.
Rather and Heyward both participated in the preparation of the Sept. 8 show. More important, they were up to their eyeballs in concocting and approving the 12 days of half-truths and outright lies that followed. Only because each day brought new evidence from other journalists and bloggers that the documents were bogus did CBS finally appoint a panel to investigate.
Had it been left to Heyward and Rather, CBS still would be standing by its story. Indeed, to this day, Rather told the investigators, he believes the story "is on the money."
He is entitled to his beliefs, even if they are as loopy as a Texas yo-yo. But what does it say about CBS that such a man still gets to sit in the anchor chair at 6:30 p.m. for two more months to deliver "the news?"
Is it really the news, or is it Rather's slanted take on the news? Are we getting facts, or Rather's weird beliefs masquerading as facts?
Remember, investigators detailed how Rather's team edited interviews to distort quotations and ignored anybody who did not support the Bush story, before and after it aired.
These are not minor mistakes. They are not mistakes at all. They are willful distortions of the truth that damage any claim to integrity.
And what of Heyward's role? Although the report paints him as feckless - giving instructions everybody ignored - he bought into the story and directed the coverup, which included daily distortions from flacks. Why should we trust CBS as long as he's in charge?
Such questions show the problems Moonves faces in restoring his network's credibility.
Yet I don't underestimate the difficulty he has in dealing with Rather. As the face of CBS News for 25 years, and a popular man in some media circles, Rather is the baby and the bathwater rolled into one. Throwing him out before his planned March departure could plunge the network into even greater turmoil. And without having a strong replacement ready to go, Moonves would be turning up the heat on himself.
The best solution remains what it has been all along: Rather should solve the problem by taking one for the team. Do the right thing, Dan.
Just say goodnight.
If Dan Rathergate was breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn't booted last week, he shouldn't exhale just yet. The latest sound coming out of CBS has the ring of a kissoff.
In an interview published Friday, network Chairman Leslie Moonves issued a double-barrel warning to Gunga Dan and the "60 Minutes Wednesday" show he is scheduled to work on after he abandons his anchor chair in March. In a beautiful bit of corporate doublespeak, Moonves said Rather would be on the show "provided the show continues."
If I'm Mr. Rathergate, I'm making vacation plans. Long ones.
Moonves' comment to The New York Times was ostensibly based on the fact that the show is a ratings bomb, down 17% this year. But it also had the added advantage of hinting to critics, including in-house ones, that the network is not done atoning for the fiasco that gave the news division the worst black eye in its storied history.
By wiping the slate clean of everybody involved and even axing the show that aired the phony story on President Bush's National Guard service, Moonves would be removing any doubts that he recognizes the severity of the screwup.
Those doubts center on Rather and CBS News President Andrew Heyward. That both survived even as four people under them were axed has brought CBS a fresh pounding and defeated its efforts to move beyond the debacle.
Rather and Heyward both participated in the preparation of the Sept. 8 show. More important, they were up to their eyeballs in concocting and approving the 12 days of half-truths and outright lies that followed. Only because each day brought new evidence from other journalists and bloggers that the documents were bogus did CBS finally appoint a panel to investigate.
Had it been left to Heyward and Rather, CBS still would be standing by its story. Indeed, to this day, Rather told the investigators, he believes the story "is on the money."
He is entitled to his beliefs, even if they are as loopy as a Texas yo-yo. But what does it say about CBS that such a man still gets to sit in the anchor chair at 6:30 p.m. for two more months to deliver "the news?"
Is it really the news, or is it Rather's slanted take on the news? Are we getting facts, or Rather's weird beliefs masquerading as facts?
Remember, investigators detailed how Rather's team edited interviews to distort quotations and ignored anybody who did not support the Bush story, before and after it aired.
These are not minor mistakes. They are not mistakes at all. They are willful distortions of the truth that damage any claim to integrity.
And what of Heyward's role? Although the report paints him as feckless - giving instructions everybody ignored - he bought into the story and directed the coverup, which included daily distortions from flacks. Why should we trust CBS as long as he's in charge?
Such questions show the problems Moonves faces in restoring his network's credibility.
Yet I don't underestimate the difficulty he has in dealing with Rather. As the face of CBS News for 25 years, and a popular man in some media circles, Rather is the baby and the bathwater rolled into one. Throwing him out before his planned March departure could plunge the network into even greater turmoil. And without having a strong replacement ready to go, Moonves would be turning up the heat on himself.
The best solution remains what it has been all along: Rather should solve the problem by taking one for the team. Do the right thing, Dan.
Just say goodnight.
