Rather Response; Rotten Ratings
CBS (Dan Rather) has been losing the ratings war for a long time. Here is a recent set of ratings:
Network News Ratings:
August 11, 2004
NBC: 5.9 / 13 share / 6,349,000 HH / 8,271,000 viewers
ABC: 5.5 / 12 share / 6,014,000 HH / 8,071,000 viewers
CBS: 4.8 / 10 share / 5,207,000 HH / 6,687,000
I wonder how the Rathergate scandal is going to effect these ratings?
From a random sampling of Republican sites and Blogs, it appears to me that Dan Rather's slender credibility has evaporated. Apparently, Rather no longer cares if any Republicans watch his show.
Dan is standing by his story. He says that althought the Memoranda that formed the evidence for his attack piece on President Bush may have been forged, that doesn't matter. What matters is that he knows that the story is true, based upon the fact that he is Dan Rather and we're not.
Dan is using an old trial lawyer trick: since CBS can find two experts who vouch for the credibility of the disputed documents, the fact that dozens of independent experts disagree means that this is simply a matter of "dueling experts." Sorry, CBS, the fact that one can find "experts" who will testify that the earth is flat does mean that the question of whether the earth is round is a question subject to reasonable doubt.
The documents are forged, but CBS won't reveal where it got them. CBS even went so far as to label liars the experts that CBS itself retained. This is because these experts did not give the opinion CBS wanted to hear. Instead of thinking twice, CBS simply ignored them and did not include their opinions in the piece.
CBS says the opinions of experts outside CBS who say they are 100% sure that the documents are obvious forgeries are unreliable because they are based upon "scanned, downloaded, faxed or re-copied copies". No, CBS is not going to provide high quality copies for review so that their opinions might have a better foundation.
1. CBS is making itself a laughingstock.
2. CBS will lose the last of its Republican viewers as a result of this farce.
Network News Ratings:
August 11, 2004
NBC: 5.9 / 13 share / 6,349,000 HH / 8,271,000 viewers
ABC: 5.5 / 12 share / 6,014,000 HH / 8,071,000 viewers
CBS: 4.8 / 10 share / 5,207,000 HH / 6,687,000
I wonder how the Rathergate scandal is going to effect these ratings?
From a random sampling of Republican sites and Blogs, it appears to me that Dan Rather's slender credibility has evaporated. Apparently, Rather no longer cares if any Republicans watch his show.
Dan is standing by his story. He says that althought the Memoranda that formed the evidence for his attack piece on President Bush may have been forged, that doesn't matter. What matters is that he knows that the story is true, based upon the fact that he is Dan Rather and we're not.
Dan is using an old trial lawyer trick: since CBS can find two experts who vouch for the credibility of the disputed documents, the fact that dozens of independent experts disagree means that this is simply a matter of "dueling experts." Sorry, CBS, the fact that one can find "experts" who will testify that the earth is flat does mean that the question of whether the earth is round is a question subject to reasonable doubt.
The documents are forged, but CBS won't reveal where it got them. CBS even went so far as to label liars the experts that CBS itself retained. This is because these experts did not give the opinion CBS wanted to hear. Instead of thinking twice, CBS simply ignored them and did not include their opinions in the piece.
CBS says the opinions of experts outside CBS who say they are 100% sure that the documents are obvious forgeries are unreliable because they are based upon "scanned, downloaded, faxed or re-copied copies". No, CBS is not going to provide high quality copies for review so that their opinions might have a better foundation.
1. CBS is making itself a laughingstock.
2. CBS will lose the last of its Republican viewers as a result of this farce.
Comments
I agree that CBS has created a big mess for itself, but the jury is still out about the core of the story. The fact that some of the documents are bogus (apparently), doesn't mean that the entire story is.
Contrary to what Bill O'Rielly is saying as I type, the real story is Bush, not Rather.
Remember the NY Times is still in business, even though it took a credabilty hit. O'Rielly is still on the air, and so is Limbaugh? The spew bullshit...very partisan bullshit all the time.
I am not sure I agree. Bush was discharged honorably from the National Guard. I have not seen evidence that he did anything wrong. How could he be discharged honorably if he was simply AWOL?
He flew hundreds of hours for four years. Flying jets is a risky business, even when you are not in combat. Assuming he got permission to leave early to go to school or participate in a political campaign, is this news thirty five years later?
On the other hand, I do think it is important if a Network anchor broadcasts a story attacking the President based upon forged documents that were not properly authenticated. Rather excluded from his broadcast witnesses that tended to cast doubt on the story. He refuses to back down despite the evidence. He is acting like an arm of the Kerry campaign, not an impartial news man. That is a remarkable current event. That is news.
Obviously if John Kerry's bronze star could be "faked", then the commanding officer could cover up Bush's failure to attend meetings.
I hope to hell, Dan Rather manages to salvage his name some how. Maybe a big mea culpa.
I have been listening to every right-wing talk show host run with this story. The Repubicans....probably at Karl's direction are loving this.
"Elite Media", "lying Democrats", "you can't trust the mainstream media"...
Meanwhile, no one is hearing one word that Kerry or Edwards have been saying for a week.