Free Republic

When Dan Rather filed suit against CBS 14 months ago — claiming, among other things, that his former employer had commissioned a politically biased investigation into his work on a “60 Minutes” segment about President Bush’s National Guard service — the network predicted the quick and favorable dismissal of the case, which it derided as “old news.” So far, Mr. Rather has spent more than $2 million of his own money on the suit. And according to documents filed recently in court, he may be getting something for his money. Using tools unavailable to him as a reporter — including...

When Dan Rather filed suit against CBS 14 months ago -- claiming, among other things, that his former employer had commissioned a politically biased investigation into his work on a "60 Minutes" segment about President Bush's National Guard service -- the network predicted the quick and favorable dismissal of the case, which it derided as "old news." So far, Mr. Rather has spent more than $2 million of his own money on the suit. And according to documents filed recently in court, he may be getting something for his money. Using tools unavailable to him as a reporter — including...

NEW YORK - A New York City judge says he wants to see documents that passed between a law firm and a panel CBS hired to investigate a Dan Rather story on President Bush. Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman told attorney David Versfelt on Wednesday to let him examine the papers so he can decide whether Rather's lawyers may see them. Versfelt's law firm was hired to advise the panel. Versfelt says the papers are protected by attorney-client privilege.

Mary Mapes is in gloat over-drive. Dan Rather's erstwhile producer, the woman behind Memogate, is beside herself with joy at what she sees as the impending death of the conservative blogosphere. It's her expectation that Barack Obama will win the presidency that has Mapes so hopeful. Annotated excerpts from her HuffPo column, The Monster is Dying [emphasis added]: * This whole thing is starting to feel a lot like the climactic death scene at the end of a 1950s monster movie. * Palin actually resembles that old monster movie staple -- the beautiful-but-bookish brunette working as a lab assistant for...

Mary Mapes, the former CBS News Sixty Minutes producer who lost her job in the wake of the Rathergate scandal has published an essay entitled The Monster is Dying at the Huffington Post celebrating the pending victory of Barack Obama and the demise of her conservative internet tormenters, including Free Republic.Mapes likens the domination of conservatives and the McCain-Palin campaign to Fifties sci-fi flicks where the mad scientist gets it in the end but the pretty female assistant survives.Mapes, who was fired after forged documents were used in a Sixty Minutes hit piece on President George W. Bush in September...

Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit against CBS is getting whittled down like a redwood at an Alabama beaver party. A Manhattan judge yesterday threw out two more of Rather's claims against the network, including his charge that his former bosses committed fraud by falsely promising to help restore his reputation after he became a "scapegoat" for a discredited story about President Bush's military career. "We are extremely gratified that the court has now dismissed the vast majority of Mr. Rather's claims," CBS said in a statement. Rather's lawyer, Martin Gold, said that despite Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman's ruling striking...

A New York state Supreme Court judge Monday limited the scope of Dan Rather's $70-million lawsuit against CBS Corp., tossing out his claims that the network committed fraud and unlawfully interfered with his contract in his final months at the news division. But Justice Ira Gammerman allowed Rather to proceed with his claims that CBS broke the terms of his contract and breached its fiduciary duty by sidelining him in the wake of a controversial story about President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. The ruling "allows us to prove everything we need to prove to a jury,"...

The 'Throbbing Memo': Dan Rather, CBS News Not the Only Ones Put on NoticeBlogosphere Comes of Age Blogs Now Watching the 'Watchdogs' The famous "throbbing" memo at Little Green Footballs [NOTE: Our memo might not "throb"; for that you'll have to visit LGF.] A battle fought between the blogosphere and the Mainstream Media four years ago helps Sarah Palin's chances today in her battle with an MSM using the same tactics. "I opened Apple’s TextEdit word processor, and with default settings typed in the same text from the August 18, 1973 memo as found at CBS News, with the same...

The Media Mob has learned that a team of Hollywood insiders is currently working on a screen adaptation of Truth And Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power—the 2005 book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, in which she defends the 60 Minutes II story by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, which ran on CBS in September 2004 and eventually led to her ouster from the network. Who would want to turn "Rathergate" into a feature-length film? According to sources familiar with the situation, Producer Mikkel Bondesen,...

Monday, July 21, 2008A Rathergate Movie? Rather -- Ready for his closeup?If they’re really going to make a movie about the Rathergate scandal, and base it on the ludicrous book by moonbat pseudo-journalist Mary Mapes, it’s going to be a bad joke.==================================================== "The Media Mob has learned that a team of Hollywood insiders is currently working on a screen adaptation of Truth And Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power—the 2005 book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, in which she defends the 60 Minutes II story by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush’s time...

The Media Mob has learned that a team of Hollywood insiders is currently working on a screen adaptation of Truth And Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power—the 2005 book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, in which she defends the 60 Minutes II story by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, which ran on CBS in September 2004 and eventually led to her ouster from the network. Who would want to turn "Rathergate" into a feature-length film? According to sources familiar with the situation, Producer Mikkel Bondesen,...

Dan Rather’s $70 million lawsuit against CBS heated up in a Manhattan court on Wednesday as his lawyers sought to have several key documents in the case made public. Rather’s lead attorney Marty Gold asked Justice Ira Gammerman to release the documents, arguing that they would help refute CBS’s public characterization of Rather’s claims in the suit as a fantasy, the New York Observer reported. Gold said that Rather would like to give the public access to about 10 of the thousands of documents handed over by CBS. But Gammerman rebuffed the effort, saying he considered the request to release...

Paris To understand the al-Dura affair, it helps to keep one thing in mind: In France, you can't own up to a mistake. This is a country where the law of the Circus Maximus still applies: Vae victis, Woe to the vanquished. Slip, and it's thumbs-down. Not for nothing was Brennus a Gaul. His modern French heirs don't do apologies well, or at all if they can possibly help it. Why should they? That would be an admission of weakness. Blink, and you become the fall guy. So, in the case of Muhammad al-Dura-a 12-year-old Palestinian boy allegedly killed by...

Dan Rather may retire this Wednesday night as anchor of the CBS News. But before he does, the verdict on his tenure as one of America's leading anchors has already been fixed. Helping to seal that verdict is Mike Walker's new book "Rather Dumb – A Top Tabloid Reporter Tells CBS How to Do News."

First on TVNewser: Dan Rather's lawyers have served CBS with an amended complaint related to Rather's fraud case against his former employer. The complaint will be filed with the court tomorrow morning. TVNewser has learned the amended complaint contains details about Rather's last days at CBS including, we hear, particulars about that flawed National Guard Story. -snip-

On 4/11/08, The Newseum opened its new quarters in Washington, DC. I was specifically interested in an exhibit in the Internet, TV and Radio Gallery. The exhibit was "Bias at CBS" and it featured the September 2004 "60 Minutes II" Dan Rather report aimed at discrediting President Bush's service in the Air National Guard. This 9/04 report was meant to hurt Bush's re-election chances in November, 2004. Comments among FReepers quickly exposed inconsistencies in the documents and led to bloggers on the internet exposing the report as deeply flawed, as well as using forged documents. These inconsistencies ultimately forced CBS...

Friends at Black Rock say Looney Liberal Leslie Moonves may be on his way out the door at CBS. Moonves has overseen a number of CBS fiascos including The Demise Of The Dan (which Rather is about to play out again in a NY courtroom), the hiring of Ratings Remover Perkie Katie Couric as well as very bad ratings for the nightly entertainment (?) block. And of course, most important of all, stock prices are locked in deep declining do-do. Supposedly Moonves has lost the faith of Summer Redstone, and when you lose the faith of His Grace, The Chairman,...

Hi Hugh, I am a Professor of Computer Science at Rice University who has followed the evolution of word processing technology over the past 30 years. A cursory glance at the "Killian documents" shows that they are forgeries, the product of a modern word processing system. Even the most powerful word processing systems available in the early 70's were not designed to produce propotionally spaced documents. Moreover, no mechanical typewriter, even with variable letter widths like the IBM Executive typewriter, could produce precise propotional spacing comparable to a modern word processor. Precise proportional type-setting is a very demanding computational problem....

Breaking: The judge in Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS has issued a motion to dismiss most of the case. CBS News confirms. Developing... > More: TVNewser has learned most of issues of the lawsuit have been dismissed. What remains is the contract dispute: whether Rather was utilized appropriately in the remaining months of his deal as a correspondent on 60 Minutes. Jim Quinn, lead counsel for CBS tells TVNewser, "We're thrilled with the results. The core of the allegations of fraud and fair dealing have been thrown out. What's left is a garden variety contract dispute." In the meantime, the...

The problem with CBS and Katie Couric is not that the show isn't working. CBS Evening News is a mother on life support and Katie was just stillborn. She never had a chance. Ever since CBS lied about the Bush National Guard story, it has as much credibility as, well....a major news network that makes up news. Small disconnect in that strategy but overcomeable with time except for the fact that CBS, ABC, and NBC are running out of time. All three of the major networks have been losing evening news viewers for the past 10 years in a major...