[Infidel_Kastro]

Rather to Step Down From 'CBS Evening News'

24 minutes ago Top Stories - AP


By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - Dan Rather, embattled anchor of the "CBS Evening News," announced Tuesday that he will step down in March, on the 24th anniversary of taking over the job from Walter Cronkite.

The veteran anchor has been under fire in recent months for his role in a "60 Minutes Wednesday" story that questioned President Bush (news - web sites)'s service in the National Guard, which turned out to based on allegedly forged documents.


Rather, 73, said he will continue to work for CBS, as a correspondent for both editions of "60 Minutes."


He made no mention of the National Guard story in announcing the change, saying he had agreed with CBS executives last summer that after the Nov. 2 election would be the right time to leave.


"I have always been and remain a `hard news' investigative reporter at heart," he said. "I now look forward to pouring my heart into that kind of reporting full time."


CBS did not mention a potential successor for Rather, who has been at CBS for more than four decades and made his name as a reporter covering the Nixon White House.


"He has been an eyewitness to the most important events for more than 40 years and played a crucial role in keeping the American public informed about those events and their larger significance," CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said.


A report on what went wrong with the National Guard story, from a two-man independent investigative panel, is due imminently. Rather anchored the story and initially defended it when it was criticized.


Rather's announcement comes eight days before his NBC rival, Tom Brokaw, steps down as "Nightly News" anchor and is replaced by Brian Williams.


The triumvirate of Rather, Brokaw and ABC's Peter Jennings has ruled network news for more than two decades. Rather dominated ratings after taking over for Cronkite during the 1980s, but he was eclipsed first by Jennings and then by Brokaw. His evening news broadcast generally runs a distant third in the ratings each week.


His hard news style was mixed with a folksy Texan style that led him to rattle off homespun phrases on Election Night. But odd incidents dogged him: In 1987 he walked off the set, leaving CBS with dead air, to protest a decision to let a tennis match delay the news. And his claim that he was accosted on the street by a strange man saying, "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" led rock band R.E.M (news - web sites). to write a song with the same name.

[linskyjack]

Just read that---the guy is 73 and third in the ratings--Its time.

[SexyTech]

I guess it's time that the Liberal FREAK known as Dan Rather step aside!

Especially since he got caught with his pants down over the forged documents!


Oh Danny Boy...The Pipes, the pipes are calling!




.

[linskyjack]

Sexytech---if you had half his brains you would actually be able to get out of the trailler park.

[Infidel_Kastro]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

Sexytech---if you had half his brains you would actually be able to get out of the trailler park.

And you'd still be there.

[linskyjack]

Nah---I'm living big!

[Infidel_Kastro]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

Nah---I'm living big!

Oh, got yourself a double-wide.

[linskyjack]

Lol--Touche!

[angelize56]

MSNBC Breaking News

Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their
role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National
Guard service.

[Infidel_Kastro]

*heehee Forgot I started this thread. Thanks Angel!*


CBS Fires Four Staffers After Memo Probe

55 minutes ago Top Stories - AP


By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - Four CBS News staffers were fired Monday following the release of an independent investigation that said a "myopic zeal" led to a "60 Minutes Wednesday" story about President Bush (news - web sites)'s military service that relied on allegedly forged documents.


The network fired Mary Mapes, producer of the report; Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday" and his top deputy Mary Murphy; and senior vice president Betsy West.


Dan Rather, who narrated the report, announced in November that he was stepping down as anchorman of the "CBS Evening News," but insisted the timing had nothing to do with the investigation.


Rather "asked the right questions initially, but then made the same errors of credulity and over-enthusiasm that beset many of his colleagues in regard to this segment," top CBS executive Leslie Moonves said.


Given Rather's apology and announcement that he was stepping down, Moonves said further action against Rather was not warranted.


CBS News President Andrew Heyward kept his job. The panel said Heyward had explicitly urged caution before the report aired.


The report cited documents purported to be from one of Bush's commanders in the Texas Air National Guard. The documents say the commander, the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, ordered Bush to take a medical exam and the future president. Killian also reportedly felt pressured to sugarcoat an evaluation of then 1st Lt. Bush.


Questions were quickly raised about the memo, with some document experts saying it appeared were written on a computer not invented at the time they were supposedly written.


The independent investigators — former Republican Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and Louis Boccardi, retired president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press — said they could find no evidence to conclude the report aired two months before the election was fueled by a political agenda.


The network's drive to be the first to break a story about Bush's National Guard service was a key reason it produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet CBS News' internal standards, the investigators said.


Although the panel said it couldn't prove conclusively the documents were forged, it said CBS News failed to authenticate them and falsely claimed an expert had done so when all he had done was authenticate one signature.


After questions were raised, CBS launched into a "strident defense" of its report without adequately probing whether the criticism was merited, compounding the damage, the panel said.


Howard was only months into his job as the executive responsible for "60 Minutes Wednesday," and gave too much deference to Mapes and Rather, the panel said in its 224-page report.


Two days after the report, Heyward ordered West to review the opinons of document examiners and confidential sources who had supported the story — but no such investigation was done.


"Had this directive been followed promptly, the panel does not believe that `60 Minutes Wednesday' would have publicly defended the segment for another 10 days," the panelists said.

[Clownfoot]

Things which cannot be adequately documented or proven can and may just the same be true. Personally, I believe that the allegations that Mr. Bush had the benefit of political string-pulling to land a coveted and safe stateside military posting during the Viet Nam war are indeed true. I also believe that he was indeed technically AWOL and was therefore not entitled to the honorable discharge he was granted nonetheless. The winners get to write history. Metaphorically speaking, a lot of dead bodies lie buried on this one. The ultimate irony is that although CBS staffers probably have been rightly fired, strictly in terms of the documentation 'validity' for items cited in their news piece, it is entirely and reasonably quite possible the story was- and is- actually true. There is enough surviving documentation to make a compelling case for this. I suppose that in time, that too will get suppressed and lost. I have looked at the contemporaneous documentation which still exists, and it looks like a pretty damning case. As the saying goes, 'this story still has legs'. The admin is no doubt continuing to whack away at any surviving 'limbs'. You can completely bury truth, but you cannot destroy it. They have done a heck of a good job of whitewashing it, however. This is all the same as the lies during the election that were successful in making Mr. Kerry look like a wimp for his Viet Nam service. That was totally untrue, but the lie often wins. It did in this past election.

[Infidel_Kastro]

Speculation is one thing. Proof is another.

[iltos]

methinks that rather just fell off his pedestal....err, stool....and nobody bothered to help him back up.

[Clownfoot]

Notice carefully that three out of four of those 'decapitated' were women? What is the prevalence of women in the general population? About 50-51 percent. What is the percentage of women in the true corridors of power? Miniscule! What is the percentage of women fired over this debacle at CBS? 75 percent.

Yeah, heads rolled, all right- and how much you want to bet that these four were mainly scapegoats? Rather wasn't fired. Interesting. If these folks were, why wasn't he? I believe the story is actually true, in any case. I believed it long before Mr. Rather tripped over it. Usually, the truth eventually comes out. These days, that means after a fifty year gag order expires.

[Infidel_Kastro]

Originally Posted by Clownfoot

Notice carefully that three out of four of those 'decapitated' were women? What is the prevalence of women in the general population? About 50-51 percent. What is the percentage of women in the true corridors of power? Miniscule! What is the percentage of women fired over this debacle at CBS? 75 percent.

Yeah, heads rolled, all right- and how much you want to bet that these four were mainly scapegoats? Rather wasn't fired. Interesting. If these folks were, why wasn't he? I believe the story is actually true, in any case. I believed it long before Mr. Rather tripped over it. Usually, the truth eventually comes out. These days, that means after a fifty year gag order expires.

Realistically, what does gender have to do with this at all?