Rather: Protestor Trumps Cheney Address.
Ratherbiased blog
September 02, 2004, 02:58:35 EDT
At the end of CBS's coverage of the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, Dan Rather put on his donkey suit for peculiar coverage that lasted only fifty seconds.
Normally after a big political speech, the TV reporters covering the event will restate what was said, and after a few minutes go back to normal programming. But on Wednesday, Rather decided to devote no time to what Cheney said, and instead focused all his attention on a protestor who managed to get into the convention. The activist didn't get close to the vice president, but the anchor decided the protestor, Gayle Murphy, was more important than the speech of Dick Cheney, in which he accepted the party's nomination.
The aging anchor did say ten words after Cheney's address, all of them obligatory: "Vice president of the United States seeking re-election, Dick Cheney."
After this, it was time to focus on what piqued Rather's interest and ate up most of the fifty seconds:
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"Protestors have made it into this Republican convention for the third night in a row before being arrested by police and hustled out of the world's most famous arena.
"Earlier this evening a woman identified as Gayle Murphy, 50 years old from Washington, D.C., is said to have been to Iraq four times to spread the message of, quote, peace. Her banner said, 'Cheney and Halliburton made a killing in Iraq,' unquote. Republicans are outraged, saying that is not only unfair, but absolutely--- untrue."
Rather reported that Republicans were outraged at the activist's message. Of course they disagreed with her words, but at that very moment they were occupied with something else, applauding Dick Cheney's speech.
What's peculiar is the pause he had to make when claiming he was describing Republican reaction to the protestor. "Republicans are outraged, saying that is not only unfair, but absolutely---" It's quite possible that Rather was making things up as he went, having to fill in what a Republican would likely say about her banner's message. He finished the sentence, "---untrue."
The other major speech CBS carried that night was by Georgia Democratic Senator Zell Miller. The speech mainly criticized the stances of the Democratic Party and John Kerry on national defense. But out of a 1,600-word speech, Rather found only one newsflash:
"Democratic senator Zell Miller earlier this evening moved these Republicans to boo John Kerry."
Perhaps Rather was shaken up by a particular line spoken by Miller: "It has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press."
From an address of that length, many portions of which will be quoted in newspapers and news shows around the country, the only highlight Rather could find was that delegates at a Republican convention were booing the Democratic candidate for president.
All of this took fifty seconds. Setting a record for the shortest post-speech analysis, with only fourteen words--about booing--that could only generously be called "analysis," Rather signed off. Both ABC and NBC continued their coverage, with various reporters on the floor and in their respective booths. Just like that, Dan went home.
Fortunately, with today's technology you no longer have to rely on activists-journalists to get the news, and you can read the entire text of Zell Miller's as well as Dick Cheney's speeches online.
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