Feeling Rather Left Out

A little gossip for your Friday:

Is CBS trying to wipe out all traces of Dan Rather’s history at the network? In a glowing story about Katie Couric’s “Eye on America” tour’s going to the Twin Cities, the CBS News Web site crows that the perky newsgal, who takes over Rather’s seat in September, “will be the first female solo anchor of a network weekday newscast, following such esteemed journalists as Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite and, most recently, Bob Schieffer.” There is absolutely no mention of Rather, who was unceremoniously dumped after 44 years with CBS following his notorious report on President Bush’s military record, which turned out to be based on fake memos. The glaring omission has prompted some observers to liken it to the Soviet Union’s erasing Josef Stalin from its history books. A network spokeswoman says it’s nothing as nefarious as that and fingers as the culprit its Minneapolis affiliate WCCO, which wrote the promo. But she could not explain why the station cut Rather out. “Dan is a valued part of CBS News tradition,” she insisted. Rather did not return calls.

Via Page Six.

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Greg Tinti
About Greg Tinti
Greg started the blog The Political Pit Bull in August 2005. He was OTB's Breaking News Editor from June through August 2006 before deciding to return to his own blog. His blogging career eventually ended altogether. He has a B.A. in Anthropology from The George Washington University,

Comments

  1. Christopher says:

    LOL! Dan Rather and Josef Stalin: together again!

  2. Eneils Bailey says:

    “Dan is a valued part of CBS News tradition.”

    And I expect Couric to continue with that same tradition.
    Fake stories.
    Declining ratings.
    Biased reporting.
    etc..etc..

    This comment should be considered fake but accurate.

  3. JKB says:

    I’m not sure I see the problem. They listed “esteemed” journalist and Rather didn’t make the cut. I would think that standing foursquare behind a news story based on falsified documents designed for all appearances to influence partisan politics would drop you out of the “esteemed” category.

  4. Elmo says:

    Who’s Dan Rather?