I think Dan Rather speaks for all of us. Update: Roger Ailes has died.

Courtesy of Rather's Facebook page:  

I end each of my days with a silent prayer for my country. It has been a ritual for some time, but as of late I feel an anxiety gripping my heart and a sadness permeating my soul that seems unlike anything I have felt before. 

I hope against hope as I slip off to sleep that our rapid descent into governmental chaos has hit a nadir - only to awaken to a new set of incoherent tweets or explosive headlines from top-notch reporters. And with that, we are falling once again. As I fall, we fall, even further, I pray again that our Constitutional government, the great gift of our Founding Fathers, will provide a safety net to catch us before everything we hold dear is no more. I believe that is the case, but the slowly rising level of uncertainty is not to be ignored. 

I see recklessness where we need leadership... and I am deeply saddened. 

I see politicians putting power and politics over principle... and I am incredulous. 

I see lies treated as truths... and I am disgusted. 

I see justice denied and likely obstructed.... and I am fearful. 

I see norms flaunted... and I am angry. 

I see global challenges going unaddressed... and I am worried. 

I see the press under attack... and I am furious. 

I see this, and more, so much more... and I am exhausted. 

I find myself returning in my mind to dark days from the past, trying to remember how we as a nation felt, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, when Kennedy was shot, when Watergate took down a President, when terrorists rained terror from the skies. We somehow overcame. And I do believe that we shall overcome, someday. Perhaps, hopefully, someday soon. 

But in the end, prayer will not be enough. Action, sustained action, will be required.

I could not have said it better. 

Update: Yes Roger Ailes, founder of Fox News, and the man who almost single- handedly destroyed journalism in this country has died. 

I find it somewhat ironic that he died on the same day that I scheduled this Dan Rather post to publish, since Ailes was instrumental in helping to destroy Rather's career.

I imagine it is somewhat satisfying for Rather to have lived long enough to see Bill O'Reilly fired, Roger Ailes pass from this earth, and the president that Fox News helped to elect facing possible impeachment.

Dan Rather takes his fellow reporters to the wood shed.

Courtesy of Rather's Facebook page:  

Donald Trump’s disdain, mockery, and antagonism of the press, whose freedoms are enshrined in the Bill of Rights and whose presence has provided ballast to our democracy since its inception, raises very serious questions about his fitness for the presidency of the United States. 

For a long while, these thoughts have been coursing through my veins with concern and disbelief, and yet my abiding loyalty to the notion of fair, accurate and unbiased journalism held me in check from saying it out loud – much as I suspect it has muzzled the true feelings of many of my colleagues. But we must remember that Donald Trump knows this and cynically plays the press corps’ deep desire for fairness to his undeserved benefit. The latest, barring the traveling press from covering an event and using them as ridicule in a speech, are but the most recent chapters in a novel full of outrageous acts. And this sentiment apparently extends to members of his own family as witnessed by his daughter Ivanka’s actions in an interview with Cosmo. 

I am well aware that I will be met with bile and venom for saying this, called a communist, a liberal in bed with Hillary Clinton, a washed-up joke. To quote Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind, “frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Let others attack my motives. My conscience is clean. This is not about partisan politics, about who is right on immigration or gun control. This is about the very machinery that has allowed our American experiment to persist and thrive, a machinery which is far more fragile than we would like to believe. 

Trump’s relationship with the press is at the heart of so much that is troubling about his candidacy - the secrecy, the lack of transparency on something as normal as tax returns, the flaunting of the very rules by which we elect our leaders, the appeasement of hate groups. And his embrace of Roger Ailes and Breitbart, institutions who have polluted press freedoms, is a further dangerous sign of decay. And yet when presented with this challenge, too much of the press has been cowed into inaction. This is a man who can be fact-checked into obscurity by any second grader with an Internet connection. 

And yet when he issues a mealy-mouth non-apology about President Obama’s obvious pedigree as an American, here we are with too many in the press not acknowledging his years of lies (check your Twitter feeds about how the New York Times initially covered this event). All of this of course sets the stage for Trump to lie again about somehow birtherism being Clinton’s fault. 

I fear that this mindset will infect the debates. Trump is already setting the stage for that. If you are moderating and are not going to fact check him, you might as well just roll campaign speeches live - far too many of which have been shown on television without being subjected to journalistic context. If these debates will be debates in name only, another opportunity for Trump to flout fairness by spewing his venom and bullshine, I say cancel them. 

Enough is enough. It is a reality that every reporter must come to grips with. Trump is not a normal candidate. This is not a normal election. He will set a precedent that other demagogues will study and follow. Fear, combined with the lure of ratings, views, clicks and profits, have hypnotized too much of the press into inaction and false equivalency for far too long. I am optimistic the trance is being broken. Fear not the Internet trolls. Fear instead the judgement of history.

Very, very well put.

By the way if you are one of those who wants to dismiss Rather as a former journalist with a damaged reputation, you should take the time to watch the movie "Truth" and learn a little about the terrible injustice done to this man.

He is in fact a brave man and a national treasure and he should be treated as such.

"Truth." I have every intention of watching this movie, and I think perhaps you should as well.

Courtesy of the 5 Minute Movie Guide:

When Mary Mapes a senior Producer at CBS who was responsible for the prestigious 60 Minutes TV Program led by veteran newsman Dan Rather, got wind of a potential story about Bush managing to avoid even his easy stint with the Guard, she started a whole investigation. With the approval of the Network's bosses, and encouraged by Rather, she got together a small very experienced team to check out documents purportedly from the files of Bush's commanding officer, the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B Killian that confirmed that Bush had been been AWOL for most of his alleged military service. Mapes had learned that the then-Texas Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes had admitted making phone calls to get Bush into the Guard, as he claimed to have done for the children of several other influential Texans. The story was that Bush had received preferential treatment in passing over hundreds of applicants to enlist in the Texas Air National Guard in order to avoid being drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam after he had graduated from Yale in 1968. 

When the 60 Minute team had gathered substantial evidence supporting the claims their aired their findings in a special edition of their show, but before Rather and Mapes could even celebrate their major news coup, they were immediately subject to some to some very virulent criticism. It all focused on the actual authenticity of the documents that they had received from Bill Burkett, who was a retired Lt. Colonel with the Guard. Suddenly there was a very aggressive and effective campaign mounted to discredit the entire 60 Minute Team by some very influential and important political figures simply by rubbishing the validity of the evidence. It eventually resulted in Rather prematurely ending his distinguished career in disgrace and ignominy, and Mapes and her entire team being fired.

One of the things that I find fascinating about this whole episode was the revelation that Mary Maples had been in possession of this story back in 2000, BEFORE George W. was ever elected President, and did not pursue it due to the death of her mother.

Just imagine how different the world might have been if this story had come out before Bush was President, and had so many tools to suppress damaging stories at his disposal.

If you are looking for deep background on the allegations made about W's National Guard service, and the aggressive attacks that were launched to discredit Dan Rather and his team, you can visit Who, What, Why and read more about it here and here.

For the record I watched this whole thing unfold and have ALWAYS believed that Dan Rather was completely right in his reporting, and that what happened to him was one of the most shameful things to happen in American journalism.

Here is Bill O'Reilly's entire "Talking Points Memo" for tonight. Dedicated exclusively to denying the Mother Jones article about his Falkland war exaggerations and attacking liberals. Update!

Courtesy of Fox Nation:

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly ... thanks for watching us tonight ... more proof the American media is corrupt. 

That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points memo. 

This man ... 56-year-old David Corn ... who works for the far left magazine ... Mother Jones ... smeared me, your humble correspondent, yesterday ... saying I had fabricated some war reporting. 

(Humble?)

Mother Jones ... which has low circulation ... considered by many the bottom rung of journalism in America. 

however ... in this Internet age ... the defamation they put forth ... gets exposure. 

and so I have to deal with this garbage tonight. I’m sorry. 

basically David Corn ... a liar ... says that I exaggerated situations in the Falklands War ... and Salvadoran War. 

Here's the truth ... everything I’ve said about my reportorial career ... everything ... is true. 

33-years ago in June ... Argentina surrendered to Great Britain ... ending the Falklands War. 

I was covering the conflict from Argentina and Uruguay for CBS News. 

After learning of the surrender ... angry mobs in Buenos Aires ... stormed the presidential palace ... the Casa Rosada ... trying to overthrow the government of General Leopoldo Galtieri. 

I was there on the street ... with my camera crews. 

The violence was horrific. ... as Argentine soldiers ... fired into the crowd ... who were responding with violent acts of their own. 

My video of the combat ... led the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather that evening. 

(Dan Rather? Wasn't that the nightly news guy whose career Right Wing blogs and Fox News helped to destroy back in 2004? Anybody noticing a pattern?)

and later on ... I filed a report ... that ran nationwide. 

That's what happened. 

I never said I was on the Falkland Islands ... as Corn purports ... I said I covered the Falklands War ... which I did. 

(I beg to differ: In a 2004 column about US soldiers fighting in Iraq, O'Reilly noted, "Having survived a combat situation in Argentina during the Falklands war, I know that life-and-death decisions are made in a flash." Sounds like he is describing being caught in a fire fight to me.)

Now ... in what I consider to be a miracle ... I found this CBS internal memo from 33 years ago ... praising my coverage that day. 

The cable was sent to the CBS bureau chief in Buenos Aires ... by the news desk here in New York City: 

"Doyle, O'Reilly didn't have the time last night but would like to say many thanks for the riot piece last night. WCBS-TV and WCAU-TV both took the entire piece, instead of stripping it for pix. They called to say thanks for a fine piece.” 

"Thanks again. Your piece made the late feed, a winner last night." 

Want more? ... here it is: 

Shortly after my crew and I ... escaped grave danger on the streets of Buenos Aires ... I wrote to CBS News boss Ed Joyce ... praising the crew’s bravery. 

I have the letter: "The crews were great … the riot had been very bad, we were gassed, shot at, and I had the best vantage point in which to report the story." 

(So a memo that he himself, sent to his bosses, is proof of that he is not lying about an incident that no other news crew reported ever happened?  Here is how the Mother Jones described that discrepancy: O'Reilly's account of the protest in Buenos Aires is at odds with news reports from the time—including the report from his own bureau. The CBS Evening News that night aired about a minute of video of the protest, apparently including some of the footage that O'Reilly and his camera team had obtained. It showed angry Argentines yelling and denouncing the junta that had lost the war. The only act of violence in the spot was a man throwing a punch against the car of a Canadian news crew. On the segment, Schieffer reported, "There were arrests throughout the day. The police threatened to use tear gas at one point. Several North American television crews were jostled…An ABC camera team's car was stoned before the crew escaped." The CBS report said nothing about people being killed. It does not match O'Reilly's dramatic characterization of the event in his book; the video on the broadcast did not depict "major violence up close and personal.")

So we have rock solid proof ... that David Corn ... smeared me ... and some websites that picked up his defamation ... did as well. 

(No, no we don't have proof of anything of the sort.)

Now ... I had to spend hours last night ... on the phone with various reporters ... and crawling around my basement covered with dust to find documents from 33 years ago. Again, it was a miracle I found them. 

(Again does ANYBODY believe that O'Reilly is the one who did the crawling? I think he has people for that.)

all because an irresponsible ... guttersnipe ... a far left zealot ... who has attacked Fox News many times before ... spit this stuff out on the net. 

and you know what? ... nothing is going to happen to David Corn. 

Mother Jones and the far left websites ...couldn't care less about the truth. 

They are in business to injure. This is a political hit job. 

At this point ... TV coverage has been scant, but CNN tried to exploit the situation because a guy over there named Brian Stelter ... is another far left zealot ... masquerading as a journalist. CNN can do a lot better than this guy. 

(So to be clear EVERY journalist who reported on this is a "far left zealot." Now that is some fair and balanced reporting.)

Real journalists ... knew this story was B-S from the jump. 

They knew Corn was trying to take the Brian Williams situation ... and wrap it around my neck ... for ideological reasons ... because he has a history of attacking Fox News. 

(Every responsible journalist SHOULD have a history of attacking Fox News in my opinion.)

In addition ... Corn actually wrote that I hammered Brian Williams ... when everyone knows ... I went out of my way on Kimmel and the Factor ... to be compassionate to the man. 

Corn must think the folks ... are as dumb ... as he is. 

The whole scandal ... reminds me of another guy who got completely away with it. 

That man is Al Franken ... who years ago ... accused me of faking my working class upbringing. 

(What is the hell does Al Franken have to do with this story?)

He actually said in public many times ... I was not raised in Levittown ... he ran around telling that to the media ... who gleefully printed his words. 

The despicable Franken ... perhaps the biggest liar I have ever known ... wouldn't even retract it when I produced this: 

The deed to my parent's house ... it says Levittown, Al 

... but you, a dishonest smear merchant ... wouldn't retract your false story. 

And I'm sure Corn won't either. 

and what happened to Al Franken? 

He was elected a senator from Minnesota. 

And that's the memo ...

So to sum things up we are asked whether we believe Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, or David Corn and Senator Al Franken. 

Boy that's a tough one. 

It should be noted that Fox News tried to sue Franken for using their "Fair and Balanced" trademark, and lost. And tried to stop the publication of the book, and lost.

Update: I just now watched O'Reilly deliver the diatribe that I wrote about above.

Afterward he had Bernie Goldberg and Geraldo Rivera on to back him up.

At one point he mentioned that he was extremely lucky to have a cable news show where he could talk about this publicly, unlike many other people who have to suffer attacks from the media without the opportunity to refute them or tell their side of the story.

Oddly I found myself agreeing with him on that.

In fact back in 2009 when HE went after me personally on his show and accused me of being a "nutcase" and of making things up about the Palin divorce, and then took old blog posts out of context in order to misrepresent me, I would have loved to have had a more public platform to defend myself.

Point in fact is that this is the kind of thing that O'Reilly, and the rest of Fox News have been doing for years.

Only unlike David Corn, who used O'Reilly's own words against him, THEY simply make things up out of whole cloth in order to destroy anybody who dares speak out against them or a public figure who they support.

But when the tables are turned, who Nelly, do they get upset.

Dan Rather calls out the war hawks urging Obama to start another conflict overseas.

Courtesy of Mediaite:

 “All of these people on television, some of whom I have enormous respect for, it unsettles me to hear them say, listen, we the United States have to ‘do something’ in Ukraine, we have to ‘do something’ in Syria, we have to ‘do something’ in the waters around China, we have to ‘do something’ in Iraq, we have to ‘do something’ about ISIS. What they’re talking about are combat operations. 

“My first question to anyone who’s on television saying ‘We have to get tough, we have to put boots on the ground, we have to go to war in one of these places’ is: I will hear you out if you tell me you are prepared to send your son, your daughter, your grandson, your granddaughter to that war for which you are beating the drums. If you aren’t I have no patience with you, and don’t even talk to me.”

Yes, exactly this. 

I think Dan Rather has been treated terribly by his colleagues who should have come to his aid when he was being railroaded after he reported that George W. Bush had received preferential treatment to get into the National Guard and avoid being drafted, and that once there had shirked his responsibilities. 

In fact though the documents used for the report have been challenged, the allegations are in fact correct.

Personally I think we need more prominent newsmen like Rather to say it like it is and point out over and over that those beating the war drums the loudest are those who know their children, and children's children will never have to bleed to death in the sands of a foreign land.

Dan Rather explains the significance of HBO's "The Newsroom." and why YOU should be watching it.

Courtesy of Gawker:

 In this episode, the most important, most interesting, most revealing scene is where the owner of the corporation (played superbly by Jane Fonda) tells the head of her news division, "I have business in front of this Congress!" She's complaining about her anchorman and his newscast covering news in ways she knows will displease Congressional leaders whom she needs for business advantage. 

Her news division president (played equally superbly by Sam Waterston) answers, in effect "You can't possibly expect us to tailor the news to your corporate agenda." 

She shoots back, "I have business (she hits the word hard) in front of this Congress." And she flatly says she'll fire the anchorman if he doesn't stop putting on the air what he has been. 

This, friends, is drama taken from real life. Yes, this is fiction. But it's based on some recent history in the news business. 

This whole episode is something I wish every American could see and ponder, especially in the context of the two preceding installments. They would then understand how a combination of big business and big government, working for their mutual benefit — not the public interest but rather their own interests — affects the news we see and hear.

You know I think that Dan Rather can be correctly labeled an expert when it comes to reviewing how well a television program depicts the relationship between journalists, their producers,  and the corporate bosses at the top. 

As a matter of fact, considering how he lost his job while trying to expose the truth about Bush's National Guard service, he may be THE expert on the conflicts between journalism and the politics of the corporations that employ them.

He is dead right, EVERYBODY with an interest in how news is gathered and disseminated to the public, and that should be ALL of us,  should be riveted to this program.

And you can tell how well this show is doing its job t=by the fact that it has already drawn the wrath of at least ONE Teabagger Senator.