How’s this for a dose of irony? Dan Rather promoting a movie called Truth that is nothing but a bunch of lies.
The former CBS anchorman was on hand this past Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival where he praised Robert Redford who stars as Rather in a film that depicted a 2004 controversy that would later become known as Rathergate.
The CBS Evening News presenter was notoriously fired from CBS when it was discovered that a 60 Minutes investigation into memos that called into question the alleged draft-dodging of a then George W. Bush during the Vietnam War, were found to likely have been forged and could not be authenticated as genuine.
As the time Rather issued the following empty-headed statement to The Hollywood Reporter in reference to the movie:
Naturally I was pleased, and pleasantly surprised. This film is very accurate. A film called Truth should be accurate.
Well, duh.
When asked by someone in the audience if he would have done anything differently in his career, Rather replied
[Journalism] is, on its very best days, kind of a crude art…And I’ve certainly made my mistakes, and I have the scars to show for it … there are plenty of things I would do over, which is why I spend a lot of my time now trying to practice humility and modesty, and have tremendous gratitude.
The Redford movie is based on the book Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power, written by Mary Mapes, the disgraced producer of 60 Minutes during Rathergate, also terminated from CBS along with Rather. It’s interesting to note that the movie got its “facts” from this book, which is, naturally, Mapes’s effort at salvaging her legacy as a journalist by defending her sloppy work.
Heritage Foundation’s Robert Bluey, then a CNSNews.com reporter, was one of the first to report on the documents. For full disclosure: I was a colleague of Bluey’s at the time and CNSNews.com was and remains a division of the Media Research Center, the parent organization of NewsBusters.
CNSNews reached out to Bluey, who is now the Editor in Chief of Heritage’s Daily Signal, and he issued the following statement:
More than a decade after Rathergate, it appears Dan Rather is still in denial about the story that ended his career at CBS News and badly damaged his reputation as a journalist. Instead of attacking those of us who pursued the truth about the Killian documents, Rather should take responsibility for his actions and stop making excuses.
Now isn’t THAT the truth?
Truth will premiere in select theaters on October 16 and have a “wide” release at a later date.
