NEW YORK – Beleaguered CBS News anchor Dan Rather might be under attack from bloggers, political conservatives and some of his fellow journalists, but on Saturday he got an outpouring of support from a public audience that brought tears to his eyes.
Two of his prominent peers also jumped to his defense, with NBC News’ Tom Brokaw decrying the “kind of political jihad” against Rather and CBS News as “highly outrageous.” It was a poignant moment at a time when some people have speculated Rather, 72, could lose the job he has had for more than two decades as anchor of “CBS Evening News” because of mistakes made in a Sept. 8 report on “60 Minutes.”
ABC’s Peter Jennings drew applause when he said, “I don’t think you ever judge a man by one event in his career.”
Rather, and his NBC and ABC counterparts, had agreed to participate in a panel discussion about campaign coverage, for which The New Yorker magazine served as host, long before CBS News became embroiled in the scandal over unverified photocopied documents it used to substantiate the “60 Minutes” broadcast. The report, anchored by Rather, alleged President Bush received favorable treatment and shirked responsibilities while in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s.
Immediately, bloggers pointed out technical problems with the documents – concerns, as it turns out, that were shared by some of the experts CBS had consulted before airing the report – and other sources came forward to call the documents fake, even as Republicans and Democrats tried to mine the controversy for political advantage. In particular, some conservatives have used the report as evidence of their long-held belief that Rather has a liberal bias.
CBS News and Rather apologized, and the network launched an independent investigation into the matter, asking employees not to discuss it until the report is concluded in the next several weeks. Rather hasn’t yet gone before the investigators.
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