Rather Blasts Couric For Dumbing Down, Tarting Up Evening News

[ariesgem]

As already noted on NewsBusters, former CBS anchor Dan Rather appeared on Monday’s edition of "Morning Joe" and lobbied for a "a strategic withdrawal from Iraq." He also found time to twice bash his "Evening News" successor Katie Couric for dumbing down and "tarting up" the news. After giving the standard caveat that Couric is a "nice person," he went in for kill. Speculating on the program’s declining ratings, Rather complained to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough that "the mistake was to try to bring the ‘Today’ ethos to the evening news and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience."

Rather vociferously derided the media’s obsession with celebrities, in particular the hyperbolic coverage of the Paris Hilton affair. (This is a fair point, but it’s a little odd to be making it on MSNBC, one of the worst offenders in Hilton overkill.) For a second time in the 7:30am hour, he attacked the "superficial changes" made in his absence:

Dan Rather: "You know, she tried to change networks, which is always difficult and change the programs at the same time. They've done all of the usual things. They changed the set. They changed the executive producers. They changed the graphics person, lately, forced out a guy who had been there, Ned Steinberg, for many, many years. They make all those kind of the superficial changes. I do want to say that, I think, under Rick Kaplan, that they have tried to harden up the broadcast in recent days, but that is a relative phrase, harden it up. That , you know, the trend line continues, as I say, dumbing it down, tarting it up, going to celebrity coverage rather than war coverage."

http://newsbusters.org/stories/dan_rather_bashes_katie_couric.html

[Tom Joad]

1. It was hard to imagine the news coverage getting worse than Rather's

but yes, it does get even worse.

[WiseButAngrySara]

15. Rather was better than anyone on currently. And IMO was

the best then, except for Jennings. He speaks truth to power. That is what the purpose of the press is, and why a free press has to be defended and guarded. The press should keep the electorate informed, not pander to the powers that be. Rather fulfilled that role like no one else currently except for K.O., Helen T. , Moyers, the late Jennings, and few others. The internet is now serving the role of the press because the M$M has become prestitutes for the corporate and Israeli POV. They no longer represent the view of average Americans. I applaud all of those courageous enough to speak truth to power.

[Kokonoe]

2. Dan Rather pushed the edges and kept his job.

Up untill...... he pushed too far. God bless Dan Rather.

[WiseButAngrySara]

17. Ditto! God bless Dan Rather. ....n/t

[Captain Hilts]

3. She doesn't have the control over image and content that he had. nt

[catgirl]

4. She's an absolute bore.

[emilyg]

25. I agree.

[Dinger]

5. If CBS Had Any Nads (They Don't), They'd Hire, No BEG, Dan To Come Back, However

I have a feeling Dan likes it just fine right where he is.

[WiseButAngrySara]

20. Do you know that I started watching Rather solely after he

got into trouble? I had previously been watching my favorite at that time, Peter Jennings, only intermittently watching Rather. I never stopped watching him in total support of what he stoood for and was smeared for.

Do you also know that I have not once tuned in to Katie Couric, and I never will? The only time that I have viewed her was because of the interview with the Edwards ... I had to. And she did not disappoint me in my disappointment. I will never watch CBS news again, as long as Couric is on.

I wonder how many are out there like me?

[pretzel4gore]

6. but some people's lives depend on....tarting up the news!

junyer bush's, for one. rush limbah-humbug is another. tim russert would be executed if ever the NEWS got loose to where significant numbers of citizens were exposed to it- the same fate would befall the entire mob at fox 'news' and the gucci'ed criminals at cnn....john gibson is a DEAD MAN if 'the news' ever escapes its handlers/tamers/doctors/spinners....same with tom friedman, grover norquist, tony snow, bobs woodward novak your uncle...hell Dan knows full well that the news is TOXIC and the tender shoots of lying mediawhores aren't built to withstand the burning, the eating away and the bitter pain, he KNOWS THAT! Mr Rather is being nice, like Katie, like always. He's a nice man, who wants nice people to act nice, and all this mass murder and lying and criminal activity in high places corrupting our newsmedia and poisoning the future AINT NICE, and Dan Rather wishes someone would stop acting so darn unprofessionally, at least for awhile...
go Dan!

[upi402]

7. Uh YUP! Dumberer and dumberer. Just the way we like it!

:eyes:

[colorado thinker]

8. I have NO respect for her.

She could have played the job as a serious journalist but she chose to be fluffy while pretending to be a serious journalist. Women like her make it more difficult for the rest of us to be taken seriously, I'm afraid.

Christianne Amanpour, anyone?

[cami715]

9. I agree completely.

She is no journalist.

[colorado thinker]

24. Can you imagine her

standing on a street in Baghdad, with flat hair, no makeup, and a flak jacket?

[gollygee]

10. "Tarting up" ???

What did she do that was "tartish" ??

[SaveAmerica]

11. well, for starters...

(Charles Tart professor of psychology UC Davis)

All of which would make better news anchors than Katie Couric.

[gollygee]

12. The word "tart" suggests she was doing something sexual

was she doing something sexual during the newscasts? I think she's an awful anchor and therefore never watched her. But I hadn't heard about her behaving in a sexual manner before this.

[Seabiscuit]

14. I like my "tarts" with cherries or strawberries and cream.

[SaveAmerica]

22. Are you asking if she did something sexual during the evening news

newscasts? I don't think he's saying she's done something sexual during the evening newscast, his quote seems to be talking about the execs who made the decision to hire her; "Rather complained to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough that "the mistake was to try to bring the ‘Today’ ethos to the evening news and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience." They made the decision based on how she was on the Today show and her popularity (?) there. In the today show bits I saw in the past and some of her evening interviews she was very flirty and sexual when she interviewed men (unless they opposed Bush's policies - ie Kerry, she was very frosty during that interview). I don't think he's saying she's a tart, but they are trying to tart up the show with her sexuality.

[Seabiscuit]

13. "Tarting up"! ROTFLMAO! What a great phrase for him to use. n/t

[WiseButAngrySara]

16. It is a real Ratherism! I so miss his soft southern condemnation! ..n/t

[gollygee]

18. Tart means "prostitute" or "promiscuous woman". If he'd said she made the news slutty or whorish

would you think that was OK too? Why is it considered OK to call women these kinds of things? He chose that word not because of her great lack as a newscaster, but because she's a woman, and that's just plain wrong.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. I haven't watched her but to me the statement meant she was flirting her way

through the news. If she is indeed doing that then perhaps that was called for. Otherwise, it wasn't.

[supernova]

19. There are plenty of real women journalists

CBS could have recruited. Linda Ellerbee, Susan Stamberg, Judy Woodruff, Martha Teichner, ... I"m sure I'm leaving out a bunch. But those came immediately to mind.

Katy was only ever mildly amusing as a morning show host, she's not a real journalist. And CBS is now paying for their perfidy in selecting a fluffball over a woman of substance.

[UTUSN]

23. Well - he should have - FOLLOWED UP - on the Shrub AWOL story nt