Abstract

In Re Rather: The Target Is Journalism

The article argues that former CBS News anchorman Dan Rather resigned because of a journalistic mistake rather than a liberal bias. That the resignation of Dan Rather from his CBS News anchor job is a humiliation for the so-called liberal media is taken as a given across the conservative and mainstream press. Yet the premise that Rather is a liberal and is therefore representative of the dread disease of liberal bias rests entirely on complaints not about liberalism but about journalism. The indictment against Rather rests largely on a few deliberate misreadings of historical events. Unarguably, Rather screwed up on the National Guard story, but former Associated Press president Louis Boccardi and Attorney General Dick Thornburgh concluded in their official investigation that alleged liberal bias played no role. Rather's successes and failures were those of a dogged and decidedly overzealous journalist, not an ideologically driven liberal.