New Dan Rather biography blasts CBS for "Memogate"

[DeepModem Mom]

Bloomberg News: Dan Rather Biographer Takes Shots at Hewitt, Moonves, Couric
By Dave Shiflett
"Lone Star: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Dan Rather'' by Alan Weisman is published by John Wiley & Sons

....According to Weisman, (Walter) Cronkite piled on Rather during the "Memogate'' scandal, which in Weisman's reading was a fairly minor error that sparked a gross overreaction....

***

Former "60 Minutes'' boss Don Hewitt is scorned for calling Rather a "coward'' for not resigning following his disputed report on President George W. Bush's military service.

Weisman also notes that as the "Memogate'' storm began brewing, Andrew Heyward railed that any guilty parties would be "phoning in from Alcatraz.'' "This,'' writes Weisman, "from the president of the News Division who had approved the story prior to air.''

CBS chief Les Moonves is another target. "Memogate,'' Weisman says, provided Moonves "with a convenient excuse to do what he wanted to do anyway: go younger.'' Rather was 73 at his departure and, according to Weisman, Moonves wanted more young, smiley faces on the air....

***

The author doesn't give Rather a free pass, though.

This, after all, is the fellow of "Kenneth, what is the frequency?'' fame who was also known for antic on-air observations such as, "This race is as hot and tight as a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach.''...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=awjAsiWH2rhg&refer=muse

[Yupster]

1. He sure did screw up

Whether he should have resigned, I don't know -- maybe.

But he went on air saying the memos had been checked by experts when in reality the memos were given to four experts to check.

One didn't get back to them on time.

One said he'd/she'd (?) only work with originals so could only analyse one single signature.

One gave them a list of problems she saw in the text and warned them she couldn't vouch for them.

One gave them a list of problems she called very serious, told them the memos were probably not real and e-maled them over and over till airtime pleading with them not to air the story.

Rather on air called that verified by experts.

He also did interviews with some of his experts and then didn't air them when they said they had serious concerns.

It was pretty awful.

[Warpy]

2. Well, you need to keep a few things in mind

One, the memos were never proven to be false, either.

Two, Killian's secretary, Mrs. Knox, verified that everything in the memos was true, although she couldn't verify the wording nor could she state with certainty that she'd typed them. According to her best recollection, those were not memos she herself had typed, although she had seen and typed similar ones.

Three, the real subject was Stupid's special treatment within the Guard, not whether or not Rather got burned by a pile of paraphrased but essentially true documents.

Four, the network bosses had wanted a more photogenic, younger anchor for a long time, but the separation of the news department from the entertainment department had limited their ability to force a change. They would have gone with any scandal, so they manufactured one out of what was essentially good reporting on the truth.

I don't think Rather screwed up. I think the basic information in those memos, which he did verify, was news that should have been brought to the public's attention in a close election race. That the network bosses colluded with Rove to get a good man fired for telling the truth is one of the most shameful things I've ever seen.

[Yupster]

5. So Rather should have run with the memos because

"they were never proven false." ??

Long ago I wrote for three different newspapers as a reporter. You learned journalism much differently than I did.

[Warpy]

6. No, but phrasing the story differently would have been a greater

service, something along the line of "We have come into possession of memos that were supposedly written during Stupid's Guard hitch. We cannot verify that these memos are anything but political dirty tricks. However, what we did verify is that the information within them is true." Cue Mrs. Knox.

[Yupster]

11. You can't do that either

If you can't verify the memos, you can't use them. If you think it might be a dirty trick you can't use it.

The best tack would have been to just keep asking for proof that Bush did serve.

Using Mrs Knox as the primary source wouldn't work very well either. She was too partisan and too elderly to stand up to any degree of scrutiny.

Rather's reporting on the memos helped Bush greatly though. He did great damage to the Kerry campaign and probably should have resigned for falling so far below expected journalistic standards.

[karynnj]

8. While I agree with you That Rather should have kept only what was provable

Consider that Carl Cameron was not even reprimanded for a totally false Kerry story where he made up Kerry quotes, such as saying he was a metrosexual - designed to hurt Kerry - that ended up on the air on not just Fox but many stations.

[Generic Other]

3. And the awol asshole got a free pass as usual

And nothing CBS has done has been right since.

[zbdent]

4. The irony is that one of the few pieces of evidence that Bush showed up

for duty is constantly and vehemently denounced by Righties as a FAKE DOCUMENT ...

The only other piece of evidence is that he, a child of privilege and wealth, had dental work done on the taxpayers' dime ...

[blm]

7. Then they should proceed to direct us towards all the real documents that

chronicle Bush's tour of duty.

[zbdent]

9. but remember

head of the CIA daddy had all that stuff shredded ...

[blm]

10. y'know.... I think Bush had it shredded himself.

I don't think Poppy has even been as willing to go as far as the dictatortot.