Dan Rather got dangerously close to telling the truth last night.

[aden_nak]

CBS has done it's share of cheerleading for Bush and the NeoCons since 9/11, but I often find them to have slightly LESS bias than the other non-cable outlets (NBC, ABC, FOX). So it was with considerable satisfaction that I caught Dan Rather reporting on the Sandy Berger incident last night on the 6:30 news.

He specificly said that the information was leaked, not released, and also noted that its timing was pure political maneuvering. He also made no mention of the "stuffing his socks" claim, most likely because the anonymous source that made the accusation refuses to come forward. In short, the Sandy Berger story was still on the news, but Rather was quick to note that it was only in the news because Bush's poll numbers are slumping.

[livetohike]

1. Yes I heard that too and he also

said that we were losing soldiers at a rate of two per day since the Iraq war began. I was cooking dinner at the time and stopped to look at the TV. I think I was surprised he said that, because it is the first time I have heard any comments like that other than the reporting of the latest deaths.

[MaryH]

2. Good Ole Dan Rather

I watch him every nite.

I wish I could just hear him talk sometime - just say what he really thinks.

[Demoiselle]

19. I like Rather...

CBS news is still more likely to let us know the bad stuff than many news orgs, and more likely to offer an unspun pov. And of course his take on the Berger flap is right on. At this point my nightly news digest watch includes Lou Dobbs at 6,(I love it when he talks outsourcing) Rather at 6:30, and the BBC at 7. I find I am less likely to scream obscenities and hurl things at the set if I cling to this regimen.

[New Dem]

3. msn.com

on msn.com they had a headline like "900th US soldier dies today". i was surprised by that.

[Beetwasher]

4. The Story Is Just About Over Already

By the end of the week it will be a memory...

[Baltimoreboy]

20. Not likely

Berger was NSA to Clinton and an adviser to Kerry.

[Beetwasher]

22. So What?

9/11 report and the Dem convention will throw it to the back burner. The worst that can happen to him will be a fine. The only one's outraged are Republicans and many commentators are questioning the timing as political. It'll be gone by the end of the week...

[maggrwaggr]

27. nothing like a severed head found in a fridge to change the headlines

[Massacure]

5. ABC have bias?

I always haved liked Peter Jennings. He's done a fair share of government bashing in my opinion. I don't watch any of the other news shows though.

[New Dem]

7. i agree

I prefer ABC news to CBS and NBC or I should say I prefer Jennings and Koeppel.

[aden_nak]

8. It depends who is on at what time.

A lot of the older anchormen, I think, are annoyed with how the news is being presented. I think Rather is pissed the most, but Coppel and even Jennings are not pleased, it seems to me. The younger guys are making a name for themselves, and if saying Bush Rocks gets them on the screen, they'll say it. That's what our journalism schools are spewing out lately.

But I have found that beyond just the anchormen, CBS in general presents fewer biased stories, and spends less time on the ones that they do present. That's just the evening news, though, I can't say one way or the other for their news magazine shows (60 Minutes, 20/20 and so on). I mean, they all have reasons to slant.

CBS = Westinghouse Power
NBC = General Electric
ABC = Disney
FOX = Lucifer

But I have to filter CBS the least, I think.

[merh]

13. Wasn't it a member of Jenning's office staff that received

the anthrax?

[bossfish]

16. No, Tom Brokaw's office got the anthrax...

[merh]

23. So did ABC ....

N E W Y O R K, Oct. 12 — An NBC News employee based in New York City has tested positive for anthrax, the network and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said today, and the FBI has opened a criminal investigation into how the woman became infected.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/US_anthrax011012.html


The baby of an ABC news producer was diagnosed with a case of cutaneous (skin) anthrax, ABC News President David Westin said Monday.

He is responding well to treatment and his prognosis is excellent, Westin said at an evening news conference.

Westin said the child was on two floors of the building on September 28. Authorities have not yet determined the source of the anthrax infection. Westin said it is possible that the child was infected elsewhere.

Given the earlier anthrax episode at NBC, however, "it just seems quite a coincidence" that someone infected with anthrax elsewhere would also have been in the ABC building, he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/10/15/anthrax/

***************************************

[MsUSA]

25. Don't know if these means anything.....

Jennings is not an American citizen, he's Canadian, not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's always in the back of my mind.

[SoCalDem]

6. Write to CBS.. I hope Andrew answers my letter

A snail mail letter is more likely to be read.. I wrote this ion response to the award thing and the Daily Show..


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2028386&mesg_id=2028386


July 20, 2004

Mr. Andrew Heyward
President
CBS News
524 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019




Dear Mr. Heyward,

I understand that you are "unhappy", and "surprised" that The Daily Show won an award for news presentation...

There are a few things that you may not have realized about your "audience". The big-bucks you pay your focus groups, market researchers, poll takers, etc, are wasted, because you and your company have missed the most important thing... TRUTH...

It does not take a genius to figure out that what we get now-a-days is NOT news... It's "infotainment". We do not turn to the CBS Nightly news to be "entertained". We want to know what happened today... That's ALL we need... We do not want our news "spun" or "sanitized-for-our-protection".

To be fair, I must say that of all the current prompter readers, Dan Rather has started to tell a bit more truth. We realize that 'some' administrations are petty, vindictive and secretive, but that should be no reason for you and your news organization to capitulate and take your news report right from their faxes.

The fact that some 'journalists' are risking their lives in Iraq is very sad... To die for a lie is always a sad thing. They DO have one distinction though...They went for personal gain, fame, accolades, and maybe a book deal when they return. The soldiers, who went, have no such "treats" waiting for them.

The "in-bedding" (not a spelling error) of journalists was an especially egregious error on your part. The REAL story had you chosen to report it, was the fact that the military was so "eager" to accommodate the media... THAT was the story. It does not take a wild leap of imagination to know that "reporters", who were "suited up and encamped" with the same people who would protect their lives, would write glowing reports of their bravery and success.

CNN used to be the place to go for news... Why?? It was because they were "the fly on the wall", and we saw events unfolding, with little commentary. It is indeed sad, that instead of holding onto their principles ,even they have descended into the glitzy Fox-ified slimy journalism, like everyone else.

Those of us with satellite TV have left you and the rest in the dust, because we have found other, more credible sources for news. Example: This administration is the least respected worldwide, of ANY in hundreds of years. How do I know this? Not because I read US papers or listen/watch US networks. I go to the SOURCE... Foreign news. To read a paper here, or watch a broadcast, we would have to assume that because Afghan and Iraqi girls have pencils, all is right with the world...and that during protests here, even though an overhead shot showed that they filled the mall, "a few hundred" "anarchists and troublemakers" marched ....spin-spin-spin..

We were attacked on 9/11 , in some part, because you and your fellow news people have seen "trials of the century", shark attacks, missing blonde girls, feuding teenage divas, car chases, diet gurus, movie star shenanigans, and assorted other "fluff", as more important then NEWS , and have spoon-fed that trash to the citizens, instead of facts that we needed to know.

Globalization/consolidation of media had made it a very ugly situation. We, the public, GAVE you our public airwaves, in exchange for the obligation BY you, to inform us of the important happenings in our world. Instead of fulfilling your obligation, you and yours, TOOK those airwaves, and turned them into a cash-cow for yourselves and to HELL with us. There used to be investigative journalism, but that seems to have vanished. It's hard to investigate when the eventual target may be someone who controls the purse-strings of your own network. There is enough corruption and political evil to last a lifetime, if only some network were brave enough to dig into it. We won't hold our breath... Self-preservation and greed will win out, and we know it.


Your advertisers and corporate masters certainly have total control (even if only implied); over what you report, and more and more of us are realizing this... Notice your ratings/share dropping over the years?? Hmmm?

The Daily Show tells it like it is, and that is why it won and you didn't. They deserve to be recognized because they have the audacity to tell the truth and expose the nonsense the rest of you are serving up to us daily. Instead of getting your panties in a wad, because you were overlooked, perhaps a better tack would be to watch Jon Stewart... watch and learn.

A former viewer

[MuseRider]

9. NIce job!

May I use you letter as a base for one of my own to someone else? I like the way you presented it.

[SoCalDem]

14. certainly... I noticed a few typos..you might want to fix them

:)

[redqueen]

10. BRAVO!

:applause:

That should be sent to every media outlet really, with the personal stuff about his whining edited out. Brilliant job.

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Excellent! Send a copy to NYT LTTE and

WaPo too! (sorry, I don't have the links)

You ROCK!!!

[truthspeaker]

15. AWESOME letter!

[GCP]

28. EXCELLENT letter

One thing I would have included - "Here's a hint to those of you in the "news business", if you can do a trailer ad for the news coming up in the next week, IT ISN'T NEWS, BOZO".

By that I mean the fluff pieces we get every night, "Eye on America", "The Fleecing of America", "Your Money Your Choice", etc etc etc. We have to watch a few meager scraps of news sandwiched between ads for erectile dysfunction, indigestion and arthrits, and then they blow half their alloted time with this other crap. It's insulting.

[Catfight]

12. I WANT that bumper sticker, the Kerry/Bush, any questions!!!!

PLEASE...where can I get that as a bumpersticker? That's the best one YET!

[aden_nak]

18. It's not a bumper sticker.

It's just something I made in Photoshop while I was bored.

[Catfight]

21. It needs to be, I'll buy if off of you if you can produce it into a bumper

sticker. It's got my repug friends in an uproar here at work..I forwarded it to them. They are all saying Kerry looks silly on the bike in a suit..NOTHING about how dumbya is stupid is as stupid does. I love throwing out the dumbya pictures. Keep em coming.

[lovuian]

17. Whoo Hoo Dan

He's figuring the public is waking up!!!

[uncle ray]

24. amazingly, NPR said the same things!

they seemed to frame it as a non-story, mentioning its timing with the 911 report due thursday.

[Demoiselle]

26. aden_nak! Where and how can I get a copy

of your wonderful "Any Questions" graphic!
I'd pay real money.