Tonight is the final broadcast of Dan Rather as anchorman on the CBS Evening News, an event most conservatives justifiably greet with a certain degree of satisfaction and sense of delayed justice finally being done.
Since the dawn of the electronic media age, the TV network news anchor desk has been among the most influential pulpits in the country. Due to the high proportion of Americans relying on this source for their information, the course of wars, elections, and national priorities could be, and were, affected according to what the three selected high priests of TV journalism had to say. A rather awesome responsibility, the extent of which you would hope would be fully appreciated by those handed the reigns of power. And, for the much of the history of the medium, it was
But at some point, this sense of responsibility to be fair and to inform the American citizenry on the facts was trumped by other motivations. The reasons why are a topic out of the scope of this blog post, but it's fair to say all networks have been accused to varying degrees of shirking their responsibilities to provide a non-partisan account of the daily news. None more so than Dan Rather.
The arc of the criticism, according to his employer:
Although the [National Guard story based on fraudulent documents] was a low point in Rather's career, it was far from his only brush with controversy. There were well-publicized run-ins with two top Republicans, Richard Nixon and President Bush the elder. And in 2001, he made an embarrassing appearance at a Democratic fundraiser in Texas hosted by his daughter. These events contributed to Rather's status as a lightning rod for conservative critics who view him as a symbol of what they see as the media's liberal bias.
Sure, there were all those "brushes with controversy." But those were merely the most overt manifestations of Rather's partisan activism corrupting his ability to fulfill his role as an objective arbiter and disseminator of information. Also contributing to so called "conservative critics" viewing him as a symbol of "what we see as the media's liberal bias" was his performance, night after night after night.
During his out-of-touch and out-of-control apex, one could watch any given show and point out egregious examples of partisan spin that would alternately cause "conservative critics" to grind their teeth and laugh out loud.
For a sampling of that, check out the Media Research Center's account of the greatest hits of Dan Rather. Excerpts:
"The new Republican majority in Congress took a big step today on its legislative agenda to demolish or damage government aid programs, many of them designed to help children and the poor." - Leading off the March 16, 1995 CBS Evening News.
"Republicans kill the bill to clean up sleazy political fundraising. The business of dirty campaign money will
stay business as usual." - CBS Evening News, February 26, 1998.
"There was no doubt Republicans in the House had enough votes tonight to pass another key item in their agenda to rip up or re-write government programs going back to the Franklin Roosevelt era. It is a bill making it harder, much harder, to protect health, safety, and the environment." - CBS Evening
News, February 28, 1995.
There's nothing inherently unethical about holding these extreme partisan views or communicating them. People have a right to be dead wrong about anything they like. The problem is communicating them under the guise of presenting the impartial news, in a powerful forum dedicated to that very principle. A facade Dan Rather and his sympathetic supporters (that is, most professional media critics in this country) have clung to until this very day.
For years he was virtually untouchable and wholly unaccountable for his activities. His critics criticized, his fellow traveling media establishment supporters mocked and demonized the critics, and Rather went blithely on. With ever declining ratings sure, but still influencing the opinions of millions of Americans, many of whom entirely unaware of the partisan fervor they were being subjected to. A cozy little arrangement, which Rather must have thought would go on forever.
Then a bunch of average citizens (in their pajamas) started to communicate their views over a new medium, that allowed easy access to publishing and access by readers. These views often included criticism of the established media, for all the ills detailed above. The best and the brightest of these citizen Internet editorialists began to draw an audience, based solely on of the strength of their arguments, the quality of their analyses, and the refreshing openness of their political perspective.
And when Dan Rather blindly attempted another partisan attack, this time during a closely contested Presidential election, these citizens raised doubts, gathered evidence, and comprehensively exposed this report as a fraud. And the entire nation took notice and agreed with them. Six months of denials, stonewalling, mocking of the critics, and independent panel investigating later, Dan Rather is resigning his influential position, forever.
It is this amazing series of events which will be recognized and honored this evening by the Center for the American Experiment. They're hosting a Dinner Forum, with guests of honor, John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson of Powerline. Those two were among the average citizens who raised the questions which proved to be intolerable for Dan Rather to continue his work.
According to sources, the C-SPAN cameras will be documenting it all. I don't believe it will be broadcast live, but there's a chance it will be later this evening or perhaps later in the week. They are entitling the broadcast "Influence of Internet Columnists" which shows they have the correct perspective on the phenomenon.
The event is tonight at the Downtown Mpls. Marriott and runs from 5 - 7 PM. An early start, but intentionally scheduled that way to allow for a live viewing of Dan Rather's last CBS News broadcast. In a partisan, festival atmosphere, this could be a riot (in a good way). This is not an officially sanctioned Northern Alliance event, but some of us will be down there to honor John and Scott and their extraordinary work. And I'm personally hoping Kenneth makes a surprise appearance, to finally tell us what that frequency is.
I think tickets are still available, and I hope to see other bloggers or blog readers down there. Let's all say goodbye to the stone age and ring in the Stone Phillips age together! (Or whoever it was they hired.)
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