Rather Steep Learning Curve

Campus Report ^ | June 12, 2008 | Bethany Stotts

[bs9021]

Rather Steep Learning Curve

by: Bethany Stotts, June 12, 2008

Some might have thought that the 2004 election scandal would have ruined the career of Dan Rather. Instead, he was given his own show at HDNet.

Now, four years later, Rather’s show, Dan Rather Reports, offers viewers a glimpse into what the former CBS news anchor considers good reporting: not citing sources, overlooking conflicts of interest, and sensationalizing material to promote marxist class-warfare perspectives. All this is touted as news, even when Rather relies solely on anecdotes and ignores publicly-available statistics.

“And college admissions also strike at some of the most controversial issues facing the country—questions of race, wealth, privilege, and economic class,” said Rather in a recent episode of his show, Stress Test. “Fact, fiction, or hard to tell that the current system clearly favors wealthier students?,” he asks his star guest, Lloyd Thacker. Thacker answered yes.

Lloyd Thacker is the President of the Education Conservancy, a non-profit which opposes the growing commercialization of higher education. Aware of Thacker’s activist agenda, Rather describes him as an activist who “leads a movement to change the status quo,” starting with the ranking system.

Like Thacker, Rather is intent on demonstrating that the system of higher education is broken and governed by elitist, wealthy interests. Rather claims that these views are widely shared among the educational community. “The process of applying to college has become so tortured and demanding that many people—students, teachers, and experts—say the system is broken,” he asserts.

But Rather’s “analysis” amounts to little more than the repackaging of quotes and the careful casting of Thacker’s supporters as independent sources....

Other sources promoted by Rather have given large sums of money to Thacker’s organization...

[bilhosty]

Is this show something anybody listens to?

[JimSEA]

“The process of applying to college has become so tortured and demanding that many people—students, teachers, and experts—say the system is broken,” he asserts.

Many years ago, the company I worked for held the horrid and disgraceful position that in order to be eligible for hiring, the applicant had to be able to fill out the job application completely and accurately. Of course, this was held to be egregious discrimination. I'm sure the college application situation is similar.