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Wednesday, September 22, 2004
The end of Dan Rather?
Is Dan Rather toast over the National Guard memos?
Possibly. Probably. CBS will make somebody pay the price for losing credibility, and Rather is not only the anchor of CBS News, he was the reporter on the ill-conceived “60 Minutes” report alleging President Bush failed to meet his Guard requirements during the Vietnam War era.
We’ve tried to talk with Rather, by the way, but right now, he’s not talking. Maybe later …
The original report aired Sept. 8. Rather’s on-air mea culpa aired Tuesday night. During the weeks in between, Republicans screamed for blood and insisted there was collusion between CBS News and John Kerry’s campaign.
The revelation this week that “60 Minutes” producer Mary Mapes had called Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart to urge him to contact Bill Burkett, the supplier of the memos, is arguably the worst offense in a series of journalistic blunders. If Mapes, who did a lot of the legwork on the story, isn’t fired, CBS can kiss its credibility goodbye.
But what about Rather? The Texan anchor, who turns 73 next month, has been a lightning rod for controversy from the get-go. Back when he was a reporter, he had that testy exchange with Richard Nixon (“Are you running for something?”) that sealed his fate. From then on he was seen as a Big Bad Liberal, especially after he spoke at a Democratic fund-raiser in Texas in the ’80s. He apologized for that, too. He also had a testy relationship with President Bush the Elder.
So, apology or not, right or wrong, Rather’s goose is probably cooked. He should have thoroughly authenticated those memos; he should have triple-sourced every charge, knowing the report would set off a firestorm during a hotly contested campaign.
The fact that the White House has not directly disputed the report’s contents — that Bush got into the Guard in ‘68 on preferential treatment from Ben Barnes and then failed to fulfill his commitment in Alabama, despite receiving an honorable discharge — has fallen by the wayside. It doesn’t matter any more. Memo-gate has taken precedence.
CBS News is said to be roiling in a deep funk. The competing staffs of the two “60 Minutes” programs are hissing at each other: Sunday (in the furious voice of Steve Kroft) says it never would have rushed to air the report that ran on Wednesday’s edition. Wednesday is said to be miffed that colleagues at Sunday are criticizing them.
“The CBS Evening News” has been third in the ratings, behind NBC and ABC, for years. Rather, a 42-year veteran of the network, has been at the helm since 1981, when Walter Cronkite retired. Rather’s current contract runs through ‘06, but that may not mean much if news president Andrew Heyward decides he’s damaged goods.
Rather will not want to end his long and mostly distinguished career on such a sour note, but he may be willing to resign rather than be fired.
But then CBS News has to decide who comes next? Unlike NBC, which has groomed Brian Williams to replace Tom Brokaw, or ABC, which has a stable of stars to step in when Peter Jennings steps down, CBS has no obvious replacement for Rather.
The network is appointing a panel of experts to investigate what happened with Memo-gate and how it happened. The investigation is expected to take a matter of weeks rather than months, and the findings will be made public.
All this will come smack dab in the middle of an election season — at a time when conservatives blame CBS for siding with the Kerry campaign. It’s all very bad news for CBS News — and it could send Rather to his Lake Travis retirement homestead well before Thanksgiving.
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