thought i'd post this here. i actually like the guy so i'll be sad to see him go. now they will replace him with some dumb right winged personality http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20041123122109990034 Rather to Leave 'CBS Evening News' in March Anchor Will Stay on as Reporter for '60 Minutes' By DAVID BAUDER, AP NEW YORK (Nov. 23) - Dan Rather, whose nearly 24-year tenure as anchor of the ''CBS Evening News'' was clouded by a recent questionable report on President Bush's National Guard service, said Tuesday he will step down in March. Rather said his last broadcast as anchor would be March 9, the 24th anniversary of when he assumed the position from Walter Cronkite. The 73-year-old newsman said he will continue to work for CBS, as a correspondent for both editions of ''60 Minutes.'' ''I have always been and remain a 'hard news' investigative reporter at heart,'' he said in a statement. ''I now look forward to pouring my heart into that kind of reporting full time.'' Talk About It ยท Chat | Post Messages He made no mention of the National Guard story in announcing the change, saying he had agreed with CBS executives last summer to leave sometime after the Nov. 2 election. But he was forced to fight for his professional life after anchoring a September ''60 Minutes Wednesday'' story about Bush's service that turned out to be based on allegedly forged documents. A report on what went wrong with the National Guard story, from a two-man independent investigative panel, is due imminently. CBS didn't talk about potential successors. Newsmen John Roberts and Scott Pelley have long been considered in-house candidates, but the network will also probably look outside. Rather has been with CBS News for more than four decades and made his name as a reporter covering the Nixon White House. ''He has been an eyewitness to the most important events for more than 40 years and played a crucial role in keeping the American public informed about those events and their larger significance,'' CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said. Rather's announcement comes eight days before his NBC rival, Tom Brokaw, steps down as ''Nightly News'' anchor and is replaced by Brian Williams. The triumvirate of Rather, Brokaw and ABC's Peter Jennings has ruled network news for more than two decades. Rather dominated ratings after taking over for Cronkite during the 1980s, but he was eclipsed first by Jennings and then by Brokaw. His evening news broadcast generally runs a distant third in the ratings each week. His hard news style was mixed with a folksy Texan style that led him to rattle off homespun phrases on Election Night. But odd incidents dogged him: In 1987 he walked off the set, leaving CBS with dead air, to protest a decision to let a tennis match delay the news. And his claim that he was accosted on the street by a strange man saying, ''What's the frequency, Kenneth?'' led rock band R.E.M. to write a song with the same name.
I don't think there will much change in the editorial staff. CBS has been decidely left of center for a long while. After all, Rather was there for 24 years. There is little chance they will replace Rather with someone right of center. More than likely the next news anchor will keep their politics to themself and lock themself to the center and stay there. Should the ratings not improve, they will get some one else.
Well, it doesn't really matter who they replace him with, because the entire mass media is owned and controlled by the same corporate entities. The reporters pretty much just do what they're told to do.
One thing corporations understand is profit and loss. If the news corporations don't serve the marketplace, then they won't over the long run produce a profit. Fox News seems to have been serving the marketplace as their revenue is now matches CNN. Viewership for the traditional News outlets (CBS, NBC, ABC) are down. Remember it was the untraditional media, swift boat operators exchanging information from Internet bulletin boards and chat rooms, that forced CBS to admit the Bush National Guard faxes they recieved were forgeries.
I don't know, Ryan. They might. They're both paid a lot to do what they do, and how their networks want them to do it. Of course they are both very different on air personalities, but they're still both part of the corporate, controlled media, which is ultimately owned by the same military-industrial complex. Basically, I guess what I am trying to say is that I wouldn't trust the various network news sources as a primary source of news. Whether there is an apparent right or left slant does not matter much because you're ultimately being deceived either way. That's just how the corporate media works. This whole issue of a left/right slant in the media is very superficial and does more to create an illusion of the networks differing, when the entire corporate media is equally flawed regardless. You're not going to get the same in-depth reporting that you would from an independent, non-network media source like Salon or American Free Press than you will from Dan Rather and CBS.
Lou Dobbs is a rare case...and he's receiving some flack for it too. Just the other day, right before his show aired, he was in an ad that was seemingly mocking the topics he chooses to discuss on the air. I don't understand the deep context of this "ad"...but it didn't seem too flattering. Weird.
