The Cable Gamer will admit that she didn't always like Dan Rather when he was anchoring CBS Evening News. But although we had our disagreements, Rather was always known as a believer in hard news, and an advocate for same. And that's to be admired.
But of course, one always has to admire a good media brawl! Anytime that a former anchorman says that his ex-boss's words are "insulting...disappointing," you know that you are in the beginning of a good rumble.
In addition, of course, one should always watch Neal Cavuto, because he presents business news the best. In this case, today, it was David Asman filling in for Neal, and he scored an interview with Rather in which Rather really put the wood to his old boss, CBS chief Les Moonves, accusing Moonves of undercutting CBS News by promoting "entertainment" over "news." As Rather put it, "They don't know what hard news is. They know about entertainment." Pow!
Rather had been critical of the way that CBS had changed CBS News in the two years since he left, saying that the Eye network was "dumbing it down and tarting it up."
Those words of Rather's gave Moonves an opening--he accused Rather of being "sexist," suggesting that Rather was referring, specifically, to Katie Couric.
Well, of course, Rather wasn't being sexist--he was stating the obvious about the new news, without regard to the gender of its evening news anchor. TCG knows sexism when she sees it, and Rather is no sexist. Indeed, Moonves and other CBSers have gotten in the habit of excusing the poor ratings by throwing around the "s" word. The low ratings of the Couric show--much lower than those of Rather or interim anchor Bob Schieffer--they like to tell themselves, are the result of the sexism of the American people.
Now you might say that such an approach is not such a good way to gain audience loyalty--one doesn't slime the audience one wants to attract--but evidently Moonves & Co. figure it's better to shift the blame (and hurt the show) rather than admit that they made a mistake in bringing in Couric, who would not be a good or authoritative anchor, even if she were "Keith Couric."
As Rather said, "This doesn't have to do with Katie, and her gender. It has to dowith corporate leadership." And when Asman asked, "So the buck stops there?" Rather replied, "The buck starts there." Ouch!
This fight will continue. One can only assume that Moonves is welcome to come on Fox air and respond, although he probably won't. Maybe Moonves has a little strategery in mind: Unleash Chen. That is, Julie Chen, whose TV career at CBS has prospered under Moonves' close supervision.
Down the road, I am getting increasingly excited about the Fox Business Channel. Aside from the reality that money and business are important, there's plenty of good drama and human interest in business stories!
