Dan Rather
Last week, CBS popular newsman, Dan Rather, announced that he is quitting his
job as anchorman of the CBS Evening News, as of March 9, 2005 – which is the
24th anniversary of his career with the media outlet. Dan Rather, who is
73-years-old, was hoping to be able to work till the 25th year.
Dan Rather’s departure is yet another event that was caused by the CBS
network’s investigation into a “60 Minutes” broadcast that was narrated by
Rather, that, apparently, was based on false documents and not enough of
research that claimed that George W. Bush was treated with special attention –
read, favorably – when he was serving in the Air National Guard during the
Vietnam War.
The codpiece was broadcasted on September 8, during the election, and it was
almost immediately questioned by reports that have appeared on the Internet
blogs that were written by right-wing politics reps and activists that were
connected to the Bush campaign. The writings showed that the documents
were defective, pointing things like typography – they couldn’t have been
written in the early 1970s – and claiming that they were falsified, simply
through using Microsoft word processing program. Dan Rather was asked to
discredit the program in a statement read during an evening news broadcast.
The media bias and the lack of effective journalism – there was little if
not, none fact-checking done on the piece – was a big blow to the supposed
left-wing leaning CBS with Dan Rather as its editor-in-chief. Rather’s
departure was celebrated in the right-wing circles.
Dan Rather started as a local television reporter in Texas and was first
exposed to the national attention during the assassination of John F. Kennedy,
in November 1963. Shortly after that he became a national affairs reporter
for CBS, later on assigned to covering the Nixon White House.
According to his supporters, Dan Rather never really associated himself with
any criticism of U.S. politics, despite the fact that his questioning during the
Watergate was unusually aggressive, according to critics.
Since Rather’s fallout in September, and his announcement that he was
stepping down as anchor, stock in CBS news employees has been quite
favorable. A few days after Rather’s announcement, CNN hired former CBS
News executive Jonathan Klein to run its operation.
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