Dan Rather Dismisses Media Bias on Re-aired CBS Special
Dan Rather: "One way a reporter in this country should be judged is how well he or she stands up to the pressure to intimidate. I remember the first time someone accused me of being an 'N-lover.' [video of Rather in the middle of a crowd of black people and video of civil right protests] There was a lot of that during the '60s when I covered the civil rights movement. Then you move forward from civil rights into the Vietnam War."
Rather, in video from Vietnam: "How can so many die in a war that's supposed to be so small?"
Rather, back in present day: "'We're going to hang a sign around you which calls you some bad name: 'Anti-military, anti-American, anti-war.' Then, when Watergate came into being-"
Rather, old footage with White House in background: "How high up in the White House does it go?"
Rather, picking up rest of remark: "-was the first time I began to hear this word 'liberal' as an epithet thrown my way."
Viewers then saw a montage of video clips and shots of Web sites with text accusing Rather and CBS of being "liberal," including shot of the Media Research Center's logo and an MRCs page on Dan Rather:
Pat Buchanan: "He is the quintessence to millions of Americans of liberal bias on the network news."
Unidentified man's voice: "He's the personification of liberal media bias."
Joseph Scarborough clip #1: "Bias."
Scarborough clip #2: "Bias."
Scarborough clip #3: "-bias and CBS and Dan Rather-"
Rather claimed: "People who have very strong biases of their own, they come at you with a story: 'If you won't report it the way I want it reported, then you're biased.' Now, it is true about me, for better or for worse, if you want to see my neck swell, you just try to tell me where to line up or what to think and mostly what to report."
-- Dan Rather, Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers, CBS, broadcast March 9, 2005 and Sept. 1, 2006
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