WHAT??? Dan Rather biased? Whoda known.
I particularly liked this line:
"In April, Mr. Rather had to apologize publicly for speaking at a Democratic fund-raising event in Austin, Tex., for which his daughter, Robin, was a host. "
nytimes.com
Why Dan Rather and CBS Limited
Coverage of Levy Case
By JIM RUTENBERG
ast Wednesday night, "The CBS Evening News
With Dan Rather" presented an exclusive report on
the disappearance of Chandra Ann Levy.
The report was news — not so much because of what was
in it but because it was delivered at all.
For 11 weeks, in a rare if not unique case of a news
program marching to the beat of its own drummer on a
rolling, long-running case, "The Evening News" had
steadfastly refused to report the Levy case. Mr. Rather's
decision provided an intriguing subplot. It also isolated
his program from the rest of his news division, frustrated
some CBS producers and, by week's end, left nerves
frayed at Black Rock, CBS's headquarters.
And the drama at CBS is not likely to end soon. As long as the Levy case drags on in this summer's slow news cycle, how
Mr. Rather covers it will also be a point of interest. Is it a principled stand by an anchorman racked with angst over the
entertainment values of modern news coverage? Or is it a case of gross negligence in shutting down coverage of the
behavior of Representative Gary A. Condit, who, by his reticence in coming forward, may have hindered the investigation
into the disappearance of Ms. Levy, 24, who is from Mr. Condit's district and had just completed an internship at a federal
agency.
The case could also go far in defining the legacy of Mr. Rather, 69, whose homespun
language and willingness to express anguish over the frailties of news coverage has
made him the most noticeable of the three network news anchors in wrestling with the
demons of his job.
It has been a rough going recently for Mr. Rather. Though far from alone in calling the
presidential election too early, he became perhaps the disaster's most visible confessor,
with such quotable statements as: "We've lived by the crystal ball and learned to eat so
much broken glass tonight that we're in critical condition."
In April, Mr. Rather had to apologize publicly for speaking at a Democratic fund-raising
event in Austin, Tex., for which his daughter, Robin, was a host.
His speaking engagement and his reluctance to report on Mr. Condit, a California
Democrat, have revived criticism that he has a liberal bias.
As anchorman and managing editor, Mr. Rather shares decision-making power with his
executive producer, Jim Murphy. Their decision to hold back on coverage of Ms. Levy
brought considerable debate and hand-wringing within CBS News.
Producers of "The Evening News" said they had hoped their restraint would shine a
light on what they considered to be the horrendous reporting of others, many of whom
were implying that Mr. Condit was a suspect even as police denied that.
Ms. Levy was last seen on April 30, but news coverage of her disappearance did not begin to gather steam until mid-May,
when questions arose about her relationship with Mr. Condit. He said she was a good friend. Ms. Levy's family and friends
said they believed she and Mr. Condit were romantically involved.
Mr. Murphy said he had misgivings about coverage of the Levy case from early on.
"Basically we decided that we needed to show restraint with this story," he said. "What we were seeing, what we were
hearing, wasn't always solid. Often it was rumor or gossip. We chose not to report that until we had something that we
thought was important to the story."
They decided that "The Evening News" would only report on the Levy case if there were a major development, if it could
find information that described what happened to Ms. Levy, or if it could divulge what was happening in the case, said
people familiar with the thinking at "The Evening News."
Meanwhile, developments in the case were fueling blanket coverage of it — the authorities wanted to interview Mr. Condit's
wife, Carolyn, and later did; Ms. Levy's aunt, Linda Zamsky, said Ms. Levy had told her she had been dating Mr. Condit;
Mr. Condit's lawyer, Abbe D. Lowell, submitted Mr. Condit to a lie-detector test that he said showed Mr. Condit was telling
the truth about not knowing Ms. Levy's whereabouts.
The case became fodder for the 24-hour news channels — Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC — always searching for
news that also provides material for their talk shows.
"For us, it's a good story," said Bill Shine, executive producer of the Fox News Channel. "You have interesting elements:
you have a missing person, you have a congressman, you have politics, you have sex."
Cable news was not alone in covering the case. As details continued to emerge, ABC's "World News Tonight" and NBC's
"Nightly News With Tom Brokaw" also covered them.
Peter Jennings, the anchor of "World News Tonight," said he also saw too much innuendo involved in the news media's
coverage of the case. Mr. Jennings said that if the disappearance was solved without implicating Mr. Condit, "there are
going to be an awful lot of people in this business who will look like absolute fools." Still, he said, he decided the case
warranted coverage.
NBC's "Nightly News," has covered the case heavily. Its executive producer, Steve Capus, said there were "any number of
reasons why this is a legitimate story."
Increasingly, Mr. Rather and Mr. Murphy were becoming isolated even within their own news division. "Face the Nation,"
"The Early Show" and the weekend edition of "The Evening News" — with its own team of producers — all reported on the
case.
But Mr. Rather would not budge.
"Without passing judgment on anybody else," he said in an interview late on Friday, "I've tried to stand for what I believe
in — decent, responsible journalism."
He added: "When rumors, gossip, speculation and all this other stuff began swirling, and other people began reporting it —
frequently, I'm sorry to say, reporting it as fact — my question always was, and continues to be, what do we know on the
basis of our own reporting?"
As the case developed, Mr. Rather and Mr. Murphy dug in, especially in light of what they considered unacceptable
speculation on cable TV talk shows.
"The Evening News" came under the most intense internal pressure to cover the Levy case on July 11, when police
searched Mr. Condit's home, with Mr. Condit's permission. People familiar with the discussions at CBS News said that Mr.
Rather and Mr. Murphy decided not to report the news despite the protestations of some CBS producers, who put together
a segment that was not shown. The reasoning, these people said, was that Mr. Condit had not been named as a suspect.
By then, the lack of coverage by "The Evening News" was becoming grist for the cable news talk shows. (This from Laura
Ingraham, a former defense lawyer, on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Thursday: "I think the only person across America who
doesn't think Gary Condit is a suspect in this case is probably Dan Rather.")
Even some media critics who ordinarily criticize television news for breathless coverage began castigating Mr. Rather.
So why did the "The Evening News" finally report on the case?
Mr. Murphy said he and Mr. Rather decided that their exclusive was legitimate news — that the F.B.I.'s cold case unit had
taken over the case, an acknowledgment, the report said, that investigators had no serious leads. In a vague statement later,
the F.B.I. seemed to deny the report, but CBS stands by its reporting.
Mr. Murphy said "The Evening News" would continue its policy about the Levy case. Which could make it a long summer
for CBS, a unit of Viacom (news/quote).
On the other hand, it may eventually work in Mr. Rather's favor. Some consider the wall-to-wall coverage to be a car
speeding on an icy road, bound to end in a crash caused by mistakes and poor judgment.
If it does, Mr. Rather could end up in a safe perch, high above the wreckage. |
