Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather called on President Barack Obama to form a White House commission to help save the press Tuesday night in an impassioned speech at the Aspen Institute.
“I personally encourage the president to establish a White House commission on public media,” the legendary newsman said.
Such a commission on media reform, Rather said, ought to make recommendations on saving journalism jobs and creating new business models to keep news organizations alive.
At stake, he argued, is the very survival of American democracy.
“A truly free and independent press is the red beating heart of democracy and freedom,” Rather said in an interview yesterday afternoon. “This is not something just for journalists to be concerned about, and the loss of jobs and the loss of newspapers, and the diminution of the American press’ traditional role of being the watchdog on power. This is something every citizen should be concerned about.”
Rather, who has been a working reporter for more than six decades and currently hosts “Dan Rather Reports” on HD
Net, pointed out that there are precedents for such national commissions, which have been used to help other at-risk industries.
Corporate and political influence on newsrooms, along with the conflation of news and entertainment, has created what Rather called “the dumbing down and sleazing up of what we see on the news.”
It has also thinned the amount of investigative and international journalism. The latter loss of correspondents covering America’s two foreign wars, Rather opined, is both a critical detriment to the nation and a disservice to our troops.
Tears welled in the lifelong reporter’s eyes as he discussed the dwindling number of war correspondents.
“I feel particularly strong about coverage of the wars,” he said, noting that covering the war in Afghanistan is his top priority on his HDNet program. “No apologies, both as a journalist and as a citizen I just can’t stand to leave those guys out there, fighting, dying, bleeding, getting torn up and say, ‘Look, it’s page 14 news.’ Or ‘Sorry, not on tonight’s newscast.’ It’s an example of the problem, that and not having the watchdogs.”
The free press, as established by the First Amendment to the Constitution, ought to operate as a public trust, not solely as a money-making endeavor, Rather argued, and it’s time the government make an effort to ensure the survival of the free press. If not the government, he suggested, then an organization like the Carnegie Foundation should take it on. Without action, he predicted, America will lose its independent media.
“If we do nothing more than stand back and hope that innovation alone will solve this crisis,” he said, “then our best-trained journalists will lose their jobs.”
andrew@aspendailynews.com
what else should the gummint take over?!..egads!!!
ReplyDeleteWoman, I'm sure the airlines are next.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Dan... I have an old IBM Selectric in case you and your friends want to whip up a Birth Certificate for Barry.
ReplyDeleteOh, we have plenty of "free fair and balanced" reporting, through NPR. And to be frank, that gets too much attention as is. The "MSM" is not too big to fail, it already has failed, finances are simply finally catching up. When a service becomes a disservice, it needs to be replaced. The only way it can be replaced in a capitalist system, is for it to die. Let NPR start earning it's way, and let the rest go the way of "Air America". *grump* I could say a lot more, but that should do it.
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight…in order to preserve the watchdog of government we need to put the government in charge of the watchdog? That just makes my head hurt. Why don’t we put the prisoners in charge of the prisons, too? Shoot, the airlines can make a few extra bucks by allowing passengers to fly the planes and serve peanuts. That would give them five extra revenue generating seats. Taxi passengers can drive themselves to their destinations…
ReplyDeleteI’m tired of hearing Dan Rather bellyache about the demise of American journalism when he and his associates in the media are responsible for their own misfortunes. They chose to abandon their role as objective reporters of the news and now they’re paying the price for their bias.
ReplyDeleteDan who?
ReplyDeleteDan Rather is "getting on" so to speak and needs to have his priorities rearranged. To that end, William Tager should be released from Sing Sing (in Westchester County)so he can finish the job of fine tuning Gunga Dan's priorities.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Tage is the person who posed the question, "What's the frequency Kenneth?" while slapping the snot out of Rather on Park Ave on October 4, 1986.
Dan returns to the exact location on Park Ave. every year and shits himself to commemorate the occassion.
Mr. Tager is designated Inmate #96A7476 and has been in custody since 1996 when he was convicted of murdering Campbell Montgomery, a NBC technician for the Today Show.
Doomboy, you said plenty. I live for the day that NPR needs to make its own way without my tax dollars.
ReplyDeleteState funded news worked well in the Soviet Union, right Mr. Rather. Or how about the censorship in China that prevents the real news from being presented to the Chinese. Good thinking Dan!
ReplyDeleteArby, I could rent some weasels to guard my chickens. And, no, that's not a euphemism.
ReplyDeleteDan Rather is pushing the New World Order propaganda.
ReplyDeleteYes, Chick, Dan would like the government to support shitheels like him. The government already has too many shitheels on the payroll.
ReplyDeleteGeorge... Texas Dan, the truth-tellin' man.
ReplyDeleteWoody... And the one's that are fair and balanced will probably survive.
ReplyDelete"Dan returns to the exact location on Park Ave. every year and shits himself to commemorate the occassion."
ReplyDeleteSig... I respect a man who upholds traditions.
Bill, Danny stopped thinking years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnon, he's desperate and pushing whatever he thinks will make him important again.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere Richard Nixon is laughing at this buffoon.
ReplyDeleteThis fool actually did turn out to be the next Walter Cronkite.
ReplyDeleteZio, I'm laughing right along with His Trickiness.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's the way it is, Wetzy.
ReplyDeleteThe MSM isn't making enough money because it's reporting is so slanted that people don't bother with it. FOX News is doing fine...
ReplyDeletePerhaps Dan needs to put that in his pipe and smoke it instead of whatever he's puffing on now.
Rhod... at present, Dan is confined to the remnants of his reputation.
ReplyDeleteHaven't you heard.LL? FOX News id not news. It's political entertainment.
ReplyDeleteRather is mooning over the all too predictable results of a change in the way journalism is taught. Journalism is no longer a profession that provides an impartial, neutral chronicle of events. Journalists are now advocates - just a different flavor of community organizer who promote a specific social or political agenda.
ReplyDeleteMost Americans realize this and have fled to other media sources from which to draw information.
Nietzsche once said that God is dead. Brit Hume can now say that the MSM in America is dead. It is just quivering as the body cools.