Rather: “I have a very strong bias toward…”


Fallen from grace. Photo credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes

“…independent journalism.” In other words, no more darned interference from the pesky corporate brass that insists on fact-based reporting:

Former CBS newsman Dan Rather says he’ll have complete editorial control over the content of the weekly newsmagazine he will kick off for Mark Cuban’s HDNet in October.

“News at its best is a wake-up call, not a lullaby, and I’m not in the lullaby business,” Rather told reporters Tuesday at Summer TV Press Tour 2006.

Three weeks after being shown the door by the broadcast network’s news division, Rather appeared before TV critics here to discuss details of his new three-year pact with billionaire Cuban.

Rather, 74, said he was relieved to be moving from news “defined by the economics of the corporation presenting the news” to “independent journalism.”

The longtime anchor, who left CBS News last month after he and management could not agree on his future role there, said that “nothing I say here is designed to be critical of CBS.”

Then he came out swinging.

“CBS is a large organization . . . with a chain of command that looks like the wiring of a nuclear plant. . . . The difference [at HDNet] is that the chain of command begins and ends with me. With ‘Dan Rather Reports’ I have creative and editorial control.”

When he left CBS, Rather already had relinquished his anchor chair at “CBS Evening News” and was reporting for “60 Minutes”; his final year had been marked by controversy over the network’s discredited story on President Bush’s National Guard tenure.

Rather acknowledged he comes to HDNet with “baggage.”

“Yes, I have baggage — I have the baggage of being a graduate of the journalism school of South Vietnam,” he said.

He also acknowledged he was “biased — I have a very strong bias toward independent journalism.”

“Some of what you describe as ‘baggage,’ ” he told one critic, “comes from people who have the following view: Their view is, ‘You report the news the way I want it reported or I’m going to make you pay a price and hang a sign around your neck saying you’re a bomb-toting Bolshevik or something.’ “

Or, you could report the news the way it should be reported. You know, like retracting stories that are based on forged documents rather than insisting the underlying story is true despite the fact that the evidence supporting it is blatantly erroneous. Just an idea.

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Greg Tinti
About Greg Tinti
Greg started the blog The Political Pit Bull in August 2005. He was OTB's Breaking News Editor from June through August 2006 before deciding to return to his own blog. His blogging career eventually ended altogether. He has a B.A. in Anthropology from The George Washington University,

Comments

  1. Maggie says:

    Good grief! He’s using the John Kerry playbook.

    Never let Vietnam die.

  2. I hope he has a call in portion to the show. Maybe he can break the news that 9/11 was an inside job.

  3. DaveD says:

    Wow!!!! That Dan is sure madder than a pig caught in the barnyard gate!!!!

  4. randall says:

    WOW!! Another news outlet for the left. Dan, your worth millions, give it up and take a vacation.