Dan Rather Files $70 Million Law Suit Against CBS, Viacom
By Logan Murphy Wednesday Sep 19, 2007 10:50am
AP Via Yahoo:
Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit Wednesday against the network, former corporate parent Viacom Inc., and three of his former bosses.
Rather's complaint stems from "CBS' intentional mishandling" of the aftermath of a discredited story about President George W. Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, also names CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, and Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News.
Rather is seeking $20 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages.
The Wall Street Journal has a .pdf of Rather's filings.
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GO DAN GO!!! Get those rotten dirty bastards right in the pocketbook.
More power to him. I'm afraid a snowball in hell has a better chance at being successful, but damn it, go for it.
Dan: Just a bit late don't you think? Should have filed a law suit "back then"
when most of us realized that you were being slandered...timing would have been
more appropriate.
it should be $70 Billion
Three Questions that Dan should be allowed ask The Presider n Chimp.
Mr. Chimp:
You speak to a balanced budget by 2012, can you explain how you took a balanced budget in 2001 and squandered it?
Part 2 of this question: Can you explain how a surplus of apx 2 trillion dollars has been squandered by this administration?
Mr. Chimp:
Do you feel that this government's constitution is an effective and resilaint document?
Part 2 of this question: If by an act of god or just plain luck, if you and the proxi president were to leave our presence at the same exact moment for utopia, wouldn't we be better off letting the constitution kick in, assending a democratic, (elected) speaker of the people to the presidency, with a democratic (elected) congress to back her up and erase your mistakes and our memory of your and yours from our collective conscience?
And #3:
Mr. Chimp:
Why do you always refer to our Government as your Government? Doesn't that sound a little dictatorial?
Part 2:
Please explain how it is YOUR GOVERNMENT.
When you control the message you control the masses. We'll just blame the next advertising rate hike on Danny boy, SSDD
I honestly don't understand why anybody bothers to push forward with a claim for punitive damages, especially in a case like this. Why would the courts care to issue an implicit warning against ticking off the very select group that is national TV figures?
#5: And question number 4: Can you tell us and the entire World how you became
and why you are such a BIG prick and think your dishonesty and lies are to be believed
by anyone?
I miss seeing Dan on TV.
While CBS was fooled by phony documents, Bush did use influence to avoid serving in Vietnam and he did fail to meet his commitment to the National Guard.
Maybe Dan Rather should be sued by the American people for being one of the main cover-uppers and disseminators of disinformation regarding JFK's death. Did he think that his old Handlers were going to treat him much better when he all the sudden had a hankering for truth? He should be thanking God they didn't kill him too.
Doggiebobo @ 3:
Exactly... he's two years too late on this one.
From Dan Rather to Katie Couric--that shows just how bright the people at CBS are. Rather is and has been one of the best and the brightest of MSM journalist/anchors, and for the travestly of firing him (just when the U.S. needed him most!), CBS should pay through the nose, and pay and pay and pay. Good for Dan Rather--and I wish him all the success in the world.
CBS' official comment is that these are old allegations and the suit has no merit.
I'm not sure I buy Dan's 'even if there were errors, it doesn't land on my desk' argument.
If Katie Couric turned out the exact same story, would she have been canned? (Don't forget that her blog lifted a column from the Wall Street Journal, and only an unnamed producer was
asked to fall their swordfired.)Seems to me plagiarism is right up there with fronting a story based on questionable facts.
(And since I work for a CBS affil. ... the opinions are those of the author and not those of Viacom, CBS, or its affiliates.)
What about some footage from Jena, LA?
How about Danny taking responsibility for the bullshit Air National Guard story? This is crap, yet very expected given what an incredible egomaniac Dan is.
Let me make sure I've got the Rather saga straight -- he had to fall on his sword because the story contained some fake documents. NOT because what these allegedly false documents SAID, but because they were fake.
On the other hand, Busholini
leadslies the country into his war of choice based, at least partially, on FORGED DOCUMENTS purporting to "prove" that Saddam was buying yellowcake from Nigeria.Am I missing something here or should the Preznitwit have been impeached and imprisoned YEARS AGO???????????????????????
Dan doesn't have executive privledge Dr Acula.
mo_dems @ 14:
CNN is covering it. Badly. Kira Philips is acting like it's springbreak. Between that and Bush's speech, I'm feeling a little pukey.
Hmmm... I wonder if Dan as any new info relating to the National Guard story. Too bad his show on HD net isn't shown on other outlets.
r @ 15:
Rather made an on-air apology for the story. His suit pertains to his subsequent dismissal as anchor of the CBS Evening News and potential punitive actions by way of giving him 'less important' stories to cover on 60 Minutes & 60 Minutes II.
This is a potentially very sticky issue for CBS. If they refute Dan's claims, he is in a position to reveal any agreements or other incidents where a reporter was given a free pass even when a story turned out to be non-factual.
This story got Bush off the hook. He still hasn't explained his year long disappearance from the Air National Guard.
Remember through all this BS, it is easy to have a low opinion of Dan but the National Guard AWOL and preferential treatment story has not been disproven.
Gary Trudeau offered thousands of dollars to anyone who would vouch for having spent time in the national guard with george during the period in question. not one taker.
Second, when the white house released georges records, they put them on display under glass for the press to view. The media viewing them could not take notes or pictures, no copies were released.
Third, george bush is a habitual liar.
Good thinking Dan!! The last thing the Bush administration wants, is a court looking into Bush's military service.
I say - DO NOT SETTLE Dan. I want to see this case brought to trial - let's get the question of Bush going AWOL and missing his drug test, of how he avoided being sent into war, etc., answered for all to see.
Dan was the scapegoat - republican operatives gave the false documents to CBS, so they could silence a Bush critic by discrediting Dan. Quite the Rovarian manuever.
It's pay back time.
I hope Dan Rather comes here to read what others are saying about him:
Most of us know what CBS did to you, and we also know the absolutely stinking, amateur "journalist" they put in your place, further disgracing you.
Get 'em good.
U.S. Senate just voted on the Boxer amendment implying that the Congress does
not condon or approve of "any" negative ads run involving military persons(active
or otherwise)...and I cannot believe the closeness of the vote...being 51 Aye's
and 49 Nays, so amendment failed; requiring 60 votes. ALL Repigs' voted against.
I know you know that you are going to loose Dan. Look at how the judges have been picked. All the more reason I say thank you.
Shame on Dan for cheer leading the war early on. Actually reciting "the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air" during the opening coverage of the first bombs in "shock and awe".
However, he was one of the first journalist to admit to his bias, and he admitted it early on.
I wish him luck in his suit if it can disparage the administration and expose Bush for the lying unqualified brat that he is.
Go, Dan! And help set the record straight on W's activities in the Texas Air National Guard. The longer this suit survives in court, the more truth will come out.
I still think that memo was a deliberate plot to sink Rather's piece. The words in the memo seemed real. But the fact that it was re-created on Microsoft Word made it a bomb.
It was a huge victory for the right-wing bloggers. Three years later, look who's winning now.
Dood @ 10:
book'em Danno!!
Good for Dan. Now everyone will hear again the absolute truth about what a bedwetting, chickenshit, deserter Dumbya really was.
Ive often wondered why the documents werent just simply compared to the documents that were required to be filed with congress that would have included the typewritten documents - why were these documents never examined to see if they were possibly also done on a word processor?
Re:
"Rather made an on-air apology for the story. His suit pertains to his subsequent dismissal as anchor of the CBS Evening News and potential punitive actions by way of giving him 'less important' stories to cover on 60 Minutes & 60 Minutes II."
Why is demoting him incorrect given the National Guard story? Not to mention he was third (and dropping) in the ratings, and was a perpetual pain in the ass for the network....(how about the hissy fit of 6 minutes in the 80's?) They had every reason to fire him immediately. What was "punitive" ? Should he have been given the medal of freedom? What's the matter with accepting that the guy was not great, and got demoted as a result of his work? Crying that he didn't get enough time on 60 minutes? Good grief. He can ONLY feel better by getting 70 million out of it? By the way, Bob Schiffer who suceeded him was GREAT, got better ratings, and was then let go to pasture...if anyone has a complaint, it should be him...but the difference between Bob and Dan is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Rather had to fall on his sword because THE document that the story was based on was false. They asked the secretary of the officer who wrote the original, she said it was correct in content but was not the original document. Dan was made to fall on his sword because of that. And let us remember the reason dumbya went AWOL was because they started drug testing at the time he missed his physical. You don't go to your personal doctor as dumbja claimed you go to a flight surgeon which the National Guard authorized to do the physicals. I was in at the time and was told that my flight physical would include drug testing.
Rather is tardy in his filing. It maybe that CBS didn't fulfill its part of the bargain.
As a side not the insider trading that Martha got jail time for was done by dumbja not once, not twice, not three time but four times. His daddy was pResident at the time so he didn't even get a slap on the wrist.
Curtilingus @ 27:
That's hardly cheerleading. Gotta remember Dan's penchant for cliches (Ratherisms). Shock and Awe was billed as the liberation of the Iraqi people, so it is natural to think of the lines from our own national anthem.
Any failure of the press comes from the 'imminent' vs. 'grave and growing' tap dance that the White House pulled. Not one journalist, to my knowledge, ever asked 'If you didn't mean imminent, why didn't you correct the error or clarify your statement?'
(The answer, incidentally, may be in the Constitution, which says that States may not declare war unless invaded or under imminent danger so as to require immediate action.)
marval @ 31:
that may be why when the whitehouse released records to back up bush, they did not release paper or e files. the text was presented to the press underglass, in private, no photos or notes were allowed. I'm surprised no one remembers this.
Shadowgm @ 20:
Why can't he just go away. At 75 yrs. OLD he should just fade into the background and become an "elder staesman" of the media. Somewhat like Walter did. With no more axes to grind. I'll never forget the look on his face when he HAD to announce that Dubya won the White House!
Echoing what Curtilingus said:
Mr. Rather forever lost my respect when he said (on Letterman's show, I think) that he wanted to get in line behind Commander Bunnypants and do whatever was asked of him. He was suffering from post-9/11 myopia, confusion and dissonance, of course.
The fact that pResident Chucklenuts got a free pass on his coke-snorting, booze-swilling AWOL days while John Kerry's actual war heroism was brought into question by vicious partisan liars shows just how messed up this country is.
He should go after those assholes PERSONAL money too. The Bush Texas air guard is one of those stories we ALL KNOW IS TRUE, but much of the evidence has been intentionally destroyed or lost. We all know it. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
moniker @ 21:
Yep, and here we are talking about Rather when Dumbya and all his lies get another pass. This story helped the Swift Boat Liars for Fascism keep the focus away from Dumbya's about his phony military career.
With no Alberto Gonzales to hide bush's delinquent past, Rather has some more information he has gathered about bush's non-service in the Guard. Right on Dan, I personally always thought the Networks folded against the Whitehouses threats.
"Shock and awe" is a filthy, wicked, disgusting phrase -- especially when it applies to bombs raining down on the heads of innocent men, women and children. Yeah, it's a shock when your arms and legs are blown off (I'm often haunted by the photo of the little Iraqi boy swathed in bloody bandages, his face anguished, his dream of becoming a doctor forever shattered by our ordnance) ...
Of course, our slobbering whore media marketed the whole evil campaign to the hilt.
Yes, I hate what this country has become. Mr. Eisenhower, you were so right ...
Oops, from Dumbya's phony military career.
The fact is almost everything that drools out of Dumbya's mouth is a lie.
r @ 32:
I am not playing apologist for Dan Rather. The post to which I was responding in the comment you cited made it sound like Rather's suit was about the factual content of the story, and not CBS' subsequent decisions.
Neither am I privy to any agreement or understanding between Mr. Rather and CBS Management, which apparently culminated in his on-air apology, stepping down as anchor of the CBS Evening News, and to what degree he would continue in a visible role on other journalistic vehicles such as 60 Minutes.
Rather still believes the story is accurate, and that the documents were cooked up to destroy the story and his credibility.
(BTW, Bob Schieffer is a gentleman and a true professional. IMHO, he should be on the anchor desk, not Ms. Couric.)
The opinions above are those of the author, and not those of Viacom, yadda-yadda-etc.
I hope you win Dan - you were one of the last true journalists. But I am concerned about your timing. Hopefully its because you've spent the time building a solid case. Take 'em to the cleaners big fella.
The press is to blame for this too. This was a huge story and the whitehouse gave nothing but empty and conflicting explanations with out ever proving GB's attendence.
Does anybody remember the followup story Dan did two weeks later? Where the secretary to the commanding officer at the time backed up not the documents, but the essence of the accusation, that GB was treated with favoritism because of who he was, and that this was widespread.
It was a sad attempt to salvage the story. It did add weight to the accusations but was lost in the noise machine that followed.
Speaking of Bush's lies, Huffington Post already has an item from Chimpy's newser this morning, in which he claimed he got a B in Economics.
Someone dug up his transcript. He really got a C. (What a surprise.)
I really miss Dan Rather and stopped watching CBS News when he left. I have never been able to bring myself to watch Perky Katie. I met Dan Rather back in the early 70's. He was buying a house in Houston and I processed his loan application. He was a very nice, very normal guy. He's had a remarkable career and I wish him well in this lawsuit - he was treated very badly because noone wanted the truth to be told about this ne'er-do-well, shiftless brat of a Bush. Dishonesty is the best word to describe how America became mired in this Bush Nightmare.
Corporate media CBS will have an army of trial lawyers to go against Rather. The reich wing hates the trail lawyers that defend average Americans against big corportations, like John Edwards. However an army or corporate trial lawyers defending big Corp against us, they have no problem with.
Go get em Dan! Take em to the cleaners!!
Don @ 36:
So Don - when (if) you hit 75, I expect you to disappear as well. Hell you'll be OLD - why do anything, right? Don't come bitching for your social security from me, tough guy.
The problem with the story that killed Rather is that the story was unimportant. The fact that Bush was an AWOL was known and there was more than enough information available to prove the point without trying to make more of it with suspect documents. If Rather and the rest had just reported the facts of the war and what lead to it they would have done more for us then bringing up any one point of Bushes past.
Rather was an old tired white guy who should have retired as soon as he thought we would think more of him if he started to spout old Texas sayings and wearing suspenders. If he wants to do the court two step fine. But this is as worthless a story as the one he and the producers of the Bush story brought to us all those wasted years ago.
And that’s the way it is.
They did hand him the flaming bag of crap and ran in the other direction screaming "he did it he did it!" like frightened frat boys at the time.
Good luck with that Dan. You'll need it.
The whore house didn't prove a thing and shrub STILL has to answer for where the hell he was when he was supposedly "serving" in the national guard.
http://www.awolbush.com/
Dan Rather is acting like a little bitch.
He's like a little boy that got caught with his hands in the cookie jar and now he wants to blame his parents for punishing him. Dan Rather wrecked his own professional credibility by not following up on his facts. Whether or not Bush was guilty of the actions Rather's report accused him of is entirely irrelevant. Dan Rather went about it in the wrong way.
CBS did the right thing.
Zenrage @ 53:
So the by-and-large practice of stenography for Bush and the GOP is the right way?
Dan Rather may be the most visible victim, but if we're to whine about accuracy and facts, he's hardly alone in the offender's column. Where are the CBS executives now, when Katie's being led around by her perky little nose on a guided tour of General Petraeus' Fantasyland?
It may be a bit of a throw, but the folks who complain that Andrew Meyer should have just calmed down and submitted to authority ... a media that serves as stenographers for a corrupt administration is exactly what you get when you kowtow.
I have worked in litigation for about 27 years now as a secretary, and to those that say it's "too late" and he shouldn't sue for punitive damages should understand a couple of things.
First, in contract law (Dan's suing for breach of his contract with CBS) there is a four year statute of limitations for written contracts.
Second, if Dan can prove malice, oppression and/or fraud in CBS's actions he's entitled to an award of treble damages.
The b-e-s-t part of this lawsuit will be the discovery process. In a civil suit there's no such thing as taking the 5th amendment. This could get veeerrry interesting down the road in examining the origin of those documents. Can't wait! Grab some popcorn and a cold drinkee. (:>
Apparently Fox News thinks Dan Rather is more important than the Jena Six rally. Interesting.
Go Dan!!
Though I'm not that impressed with Dan (he's not anything like the greats in his field) at least he's right he didn't deserve to be railroaded out of the media by chimpy's media attack dogs
Watching the reaction from the so called Journalist friends of Dan Rather well now he knows he has no friends. CBS, ABC and even NBC news anchors turned on Rather like the Senator's turned on Craig. I thought these people supported one another but I was wrong. Dan Rather had the report right even Bush said he skipped out of serving the military and while on Oprah Bush said when he stopped drinking which was long after he was in the service. The Media Executives and Swift Boat group wanted the hid the truth. Dan was right and now they should pay. I looked at the 44 years Dan gave to Journalism and watched his so called friends turn their backs on him. I say what goes around comes around.
when powerline attacked the story because proportional spacing and superscript were not available, my brother, who works for ibm and is right wing , said thats not true. he named two models that could [ executive and something else ] and said he repaired them on bases, i also looked at an old whole earth catalouge that spent a page raveing about and thanking ibm for the typewriter with that capability
I hope Dan gets every penny from those General Baptiste firing pricks
*sigh* Can't we all just put this unfortunate event behind us? What's the point of digging up the pass?
i'm absolutely elated that someone of rather's stature is taking them on with the lawsuit. however, it does smack a little of geraldo rivera turning against fox when the immigration issue hit home. you only stand up when the issue strikes close to home. how much of the koolaid was rather drinking prior to his being fired. perhaps i'm asking too much for a major news anchor to speak forthrightly with the truth as he knows it before he essentially has been released and has nothing to lose. does that sound vaguely familiar to retired generals spewing forth the truth after they "leave" the service. i honestly don't wish to demean mr. rather, because from where i'm watching the news, he was the closest thing we had to a real news anchor reporting the news. Though i do have to say that Bob Schiffert (sp) really surprised me. for his being a bush golfing buddy, he wasn't afraid to ask the hard questions. his reward, i know he was only "interim," but wasn't he replaced by that bastion of hard-hitting journalism, katie Curic. i yearn for the days of trust with rather reporting the news.
What, we'd rather have Rather than Couric?
Pissed-American @ 40:
with apologiess to "cheech" maybe not his name in the godfather, bush has a lot of "buffers". gonzales was only one of thousands.
Dr. Acula @ 16:
Yup..funny thing is the charges in the documents were all true it turned out but the right wing bloggers kept this little bit of info from appearing. The "swift boats for truth" again't Kerry a real war hero had no such problems though..
XuYu @ 61:
*sigh*. Can't we just put Iraq, that other unfortunate event, behind us? What's the point of ever learning from history? What's the point of justice?
The National Guard story and letter were accurate - The problem was that Dan couldn't get the actual copy of the letter. Maybe he has it now.
Hope he gets every penny of it, because he was right in every detail. CBS defamed him in its eagerness to kow-tow to the WH.
Honest George @ 69:
He could probably get it from Michael Moore, who showed quite a good collection of unredacted documents in Farenheit 911.
I don't agree that it's too late -
you go Dan!! We're behind you!!!!!!!!!!
*
Hey Dan... It was bad reporting that got you fired! You need to hire the same lawyer as Senator Craig... Apparently, he specializes in re-creating history to favor his client despite facts to the contrary... I only lost a little respect for you when you were over-zealous in jabbing Bush with an erroneous scoop, but suing CBS because you ran with an unverified story, and repeated in during several broadcasts, has stripped away whatever respect that remained...
(_(_) @ 9:
Watch him now!
http://www.hd.net/danrather.html
Well, I hope he gets paid like Imus and gets the last laugh on those leaping lizards at the lgf.
Cool. I hope you're successful Mr. Rather.
Everybody knows that Bush was an AWOL cocaine addled drunkard and womanizer. There is plenty of evidence of Bush's whereabout 1968-1974. And who really cares about youthful indiscretions anyway? Certainly not Bush as he turned his life around at 40 when he found Jesus in his bong water.
Why Rather had to prove this is beyond me other than to sway the '04 electorate but $70M is way out of line. Now Rather will have to show irrefutable proof that 'W' was goofin' off instead of boots on the ground Da Nang. Proving defamation or loss of income will be even a tougher win in jury trial for Rather.
Good luck Dan. You're going to need it.
dan's the fuckin man!
Good luck. Hope he win.
An excellent book to read concerning this topic is Mary Mapes' book, "Truth and Duty". According to her story, the documents were not proven false and several of the allegations made by right-wing bloggers (adulteration of records, modern fonts, etc) were demonstratively false. Dan Rather was thrown under the bus NOT because he aired a report with falsified documents, but because he refused to recant and let Mary Mapes and her story face the wolves alone. He dared to air an inflammatory story, knowing it might mean his journalistic demise, and paid the price.
pissed off patricia @ 2:
I think Dan is going to get the last laugh.
Discredited story?
It was the truth about Bush.
So why was Rather pluked?
Cause it was the truth about Bush.
Sue their asses off.
post # 80 is right on. The book by Mapes is an eye opener.
Gives alot of inside baseball that I am sure Rather will use in
his legal pursuit. I believe and agree with him when he says
he wants to go after the Corp. overlords that didn't
and don't want to offend the administration that plays
hardball with the media (wow...2 refrences to"baseball in
one paragraph...it just happened... really)
The Air Guard outfit Bush joined was made up of sons of congressmen and Dallas Cowboys football players. That's the crux of the biscuit.
XuYu @ 63:
The point is that the "pass" can never be completely forgotton. Dont you think that a trial will bring out the truth about the cowardly prezfucksupalot's actuat TANG service? That alone is worth the price of admission!!
Go, Dan!
Vexed @ 73:
Hey, vexed, I think Mr. Rather can live without your respect, with all due respect.
Personally, I find it embarrassing that Dan Rather is still dragging his "anchor" around. You could say his leaking craft has run aground on the shoals. Or make that SCHORR. In any case, this morning, Daniel Schorr speaks for me on Rather.
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