The night after Christmas, the PBS show "Tavis Smiley" reran the Smiley interview with Rather from October when he was plugging the launch of his show on HDNet. Aside from his boast that he found reporting from the field "more addictive than crack cocaine," (and, um, how would Dan know that?), the interesting part was that Rather made it sound like he didn’t seem to discover the injustice of racism until he was 31 years old, and then professed that seeing racial hatred face to face made him a different media professional.
"When I came to the civil rights movement, covering it for CBS News, when I first came to work for the network in 1962, I had no idea. I was dumb as a fence post about civil rights. I'd vaguely heard of Dr. Martin Luther King, heard some things about sit-ins. But it became my first major responsibility for CBS News was to cover Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, just as it was beginning to really take traction. They'd been trying to get it to take traction for a long while. And the education that was for me, if I hadn't been before, and you can argue that I already was, that I became addicted to field reporting. And once you get addicted, trust me, it's more addictive than crack cocaine."
Smiley asked what this "white kid out of Texas" learned covering "black folk in the South" then, and Rather professed that Martin Luther King set him straight:
"I grew up in a segregated society. Texas was segregated. I was born in Wharton, grew up in Houston. It was a segregated society. However, when I began covering the civil rights movement, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, I had never seen race hate to that extent. I was in shock and awe when one would go to, say, a Klan meeting. I never saw a Klan meeting till I got to Mississippi in 1962.
"But the depth of race hatred, and the fact that it was not just below the surface, it was on the surface at that time -- I know this will strike many people in the audience as sort of strange, because they're not of memory age [sic], they weren't there at the time -- but the savagery, the bestiality of Americans toward Americans, I've never gotten over it. I didn't come out of covering the civil rights movement the same person or the same professional that I was when I went into it."
The civil rights movement in the South became one of the real reference points for liberal bias in the news media, that in seeing racial injustice, the network news reporters decided that some ideas and causes were too important for even-handed reporting. That same belief can remain long after the original 1960s controversies led to real civil rights, from coverage of Jesse Jackson to Jesse Helms to the Willie Horton ads of 1988, all the way into today's news.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center



















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"the bestiality of Ame
December 28, 2006 - 13:52 ET by Dont_B_NVS"the bestiality of Americans toward Americans," WHAT?
Did I miss that in Mississippi Burning?
So then, it wouldn't be a for
December 28, 2006 - 13:57 ET by mattmSo then, it wouldn't be a forgery to use his quote as the basis for a story entitled: "Dan Rather admits to crack addiction," right?
Funny how these libs have to be confronted with blatant examples of racism before being aware of how wrong it is.
Dan Rather says,....' the n
December 28, 2006 - 14:08 ET by bigtimerDan Rather says,
....' the network news reporters decided that some ideas and causes were too important for even-handed reporting.'
...I was dumb as a fence post
Both statements still apply today Dan.
"If we ever forget that we are a Nation Under God....then we will be a Nation Gone Under." Ronald Reagan
When Dan attended his first K
December 28, 2006 - 14:18 ET by grammar_policeWhen Dan attended his first Klan meeting it gave him a bad case of the "buckwheats."
OK, I'll be the one to say th
December 28, 2006 - 14:28 ET by Chris NormanOK, I'll be the one to say the obvious: judging from some of Rather's infamous quotes and work, he must be intimately familiar with crack...
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
I'll be damned Chris, I think
December 28, 2006 - 14:32 ET by rimskyI'll be damned Chris, I think you've nailed, man! He MUST be.
I swore the guy who broke int
December 28, 2006 - 14:40 ET by Chris NormanI swore the guy who broke into my car and stole my stereo looked just like Dan Rather...:)
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
At least he didn't have time
December 28, 2006 - 14:59 ET by bigtimerAt least he didn't have time to get your hub-caps too Chris!
"If we ever forget that we are a Nation Under God....then we will be a Nation Gone Under." Ronald Reagan
BT, he tried, but was run ove
December 28, 2006 - 15:08 ET by Chris NormanBT, he tried, but was run over by "Kenneth" (remember him?)...
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
Kenneth must have been tryi
December 28, 2006 - 15:20 ET by WolfremKenneth must have been trying to find the "frequency" on the radio and not watching where he was going.
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
No Chris....I am lost when it
December 28, 2006 - 15:36 ET by bigtimerNo Chris....I am lost when it comes to Kenneth, must of missed this one...fill me in....if ya want.
"If we ever forget that we are a Nation Under God....then we will be a Nation Gone Under." Ronald Reagan
BT, it was several years ago
December 28, 2006 - 15:57 ET by Chris NormanBT, it was several years ago when Dan reported that he was mugged and that the mugger kept repeating, "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" It was just another episode in "Dan Rather's Calvacade of Weirdness"...
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
Okay..thanks Chris, I remembe
December 28, 2006 - 16:47 ET by bigtimerOkay..thanks Chris, I remember the mugging, seems like he got a gun or some kind of statement about the right to carry, may have that wrong,may have been the reverse... but I missed the Kenneth part somehow....too funny. Was it something he made up, just his imagination, or was he in the 'hood making his crack connection?
"If we ever forget that we are a Nation Under God....then we will be a Nation Gone Under." Ronald Reagan
bt,I believe Mr. Rather has
December 28, 2006 - 17:49 ET by Chris Normanbt,
I believe Mr. Rather has difficulty in going too long without doing something weird or reporting something weird has happened to him. I guess we can conclude that he's a weirdness addict.
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
Not that I'd want your to los
December 28, 2006 - 15:41 ET by FastEdNot that I'd want you to lose the car, but it's too bad he didn't steal it and then have the MassOrca take him for a ride!
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad
Ed, Sub-compact. Wouldn't fit
December 28, 2006 - 16:23 ET by Chris NormanEd, Sub-compact. Wouldn't fit.
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
Rather uses the expression "m
December 28, 2006 - 16:09 ET by Dave659Rather uses the expression "more addictive than crack cocaine" because it's a cliche and therefore he thinks it's clever. Most of the media not only speaks in cliches and catch phrases, but think in cliches too. Look at how many headlines in the newspaper are puns based on movie or TV show titles. Reporters and anchormen fail to examine their speech just as they fail to examine their thinking. Intelligent, original thinkers would eschew the use of cliches, but our leading media figures think it enhances their authority.
Actually, addicts don't have to be smart. Just Addicts.
December 28, 2006 - 16:12 ET by acaiguanaActually, addicts don't have to be smart. Just Addicts.
The world would have been so much better off if Mr. Blather had become addicted to stamp collecting.
By his own admission here he wasn't very well informed just addicted.
And we were his victims as is all of society his victims over the years. Just like Crack Cocaine.
Sad but true.
ACA
...
Acaiguana says: "Ya can't win if ya don't play."
ACA,Something silly for you,
December 28, 2006 - 16:36 ET by BlondeACA,
Something silly for you, which I found this a.m. over at Blackfive.net. Follow both the links...then read the comments.
I'll bet you even know what ROT-26 is.
Quick...a picture of a pigeon or a squirrel, please. Verify!
Laughing so hard....who are these people who work for the Congresscritters, anyway?
I require Iguana Network pictures.
December 28, 2006 - 21:52 ET by acaiguanaI require Iguana Network pictures.
128 is hard, 256 is hard, anything over 64 bit is hard. And if you only own paper, 64 bit is impossible. :-)
Don't worry I ROT-26'd this before I posted it so it'll be our secret.
You sweetie.
ACA
:-)
...
Acaiguana says: "Ya can't win if ya don't play."