WITH RESPECT FOR DAN RATHER

When R.E.M. released "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" in 1994 Kevin Laffey and I were working at Warner Bros Records. Now we're just 2 public-spirited citizens trying to give back to and do what's right for the country each of us loves. Recently Kevin turned me on to a great holistic dentist and we celebrated my happy new dental situation Friday with a lunch at my favorite raw food restaurant, the Jade Cafe in Silverlake. A few hours later Kevin copied me on a letter he had written to CBS-TV and 60 Minutes and when I prodded him, he said it would be ok to publish it on DWT.

Dear 60 Minutes and CBS News,

It is with disappointment and disgust that I read the news of the marginalizing and forced exit of Dan Rather from not only CBS News, but from 60 Minutes in particular. To replace a journalist of his stature with the current pop stars of entertainment reporting, Katie Couric and Anderson Cooper, is a sad testament to the deterioration of what was once the flagship of responsible reporting in America.

Whatever the internal politics are of the 60 Minutes production, however egos might have collided and with whom, more respect should be afforded for not only Dan Rather, but for the legacy of what he represents in the history of television news. I certainly hope that a public show of support for your colleague is being prepared for your audience. Although I would like to see Ed Bradley, Leslie Stahl, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Bob Simon, Andy Rooney, et al walk off the show in protest, that kind of courage has all but left the arena of news reporting in this country. Instead of the allegiance to the Fourth Estate, allegiance has become more to the corporations that own "the news", the advertisers that own the corporations and the old political guard that dictates that news in the first place and who they deem safe enough to report it. Except for perhaps the unbridled frontier of the blogosphere, what has the Fourth Estate become after all in the age of the "(im)moral majority", but the State itself.

During the CBS Evening News which Leslie Stahl anchored tonight (June 16), that lack of courage was only too evident again. All the wonderful stories that Ms. Stahl, 60 Minutes and the CBS News division have reported in the past notwithstanding, a raging undercurrent of fear still runs deep in your editorial copy. A Republican bias hangs over each story like a pall, like a scythe. In a story on Bill Gates and philanthropy, the reporter used the term "liberal tree-hugger" pejoratively when speaking to a Christian activist. But even the word "activist" was apparently too strong as if even being an activist suggested something unsavory, something, God forbid, close to liberal. Instead, the reporter offered his guest a way to wriggle out of such a distasteful suggestion as an apology. Relieving the tension, you could almost hear the reporter sigh thankfully when she chose to refer to herself not as an activist and everything that word suggests, but as a "good neighbor". I think even Mr. Rogers would have gagged at the implication.

The media's demonizing of the words liberal, activist and even tree-hugger might benefit ad revenue in the short run, but in the long it is instilling in America's youth the notion that the ideas embodied by those words are inherently wrong and to use them is a shameful act. Shame on you, CBS, for allowing that mindset and for abusing the power you have for suggestion. It is the same abuse of power that the media used, yourselves included, to march a frightened American public over a cliff into the Iraq War like lemmings to the Bush Administration's beat. You could only wish that more of the populace of the United States should embrace liberal thinking, activism and, yes, the notion that hugging a tree is a healthy and loving thing to do now and then. To wit, I've included synonyms from the Merriam-Webster dictionary for the words Liberal and Conservative. Which of those would you be proud to be and which has left this country crippled with fear, extreme fundamentalism and shame in the eyes of the world?

LIBERAL
Synonyms - GENEROUS, BOUNTIFUL, MUNIFICENT mean giving or given freely and unstintingly. LIBERAL suggests openhandedness in the giver and largeness in the thing or amount given (a teacher liberal with her praise). GENEROUS stresses warmhearted readiness to give more than size or importance of the gift (a generous offer of help).

CONSERVATIVE
Synonyms - old-fashioned, orthodox, reactionary, traditional, unprogressive

Your treatment of Dan Rather has been indecent and shoddy. He deserved better than that as does the informed citizen. It drives one to find other sources for the news - unbiased news, not info-tainment as you would have it served up. Indeed, Edward R. Murrow must be rolling in his grave.

Sincerely,

Kevin Laffey
Los Angeles, CA

A TUESDAY AFTERTHOUGHT: CBS SLAMS RATHER ON THE WAY OUT

Maybe CBS hasn't gotten to Kevin's letter yet. Instead of honoring Dan Rather, they chose to slam him in their coverage of his departure. Classy!