Sep 24 2007
Dan Rather sues CBS for making him a “scapegoat” to appease Republican right
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“The lawsuit also cites a Time magazine interview given by Viacom chairman Redstone, in which he expressed the opinion that the reelection of Bush in 2004 would benefit his corporation.”
By Bill Van Auken
21 September 2007
Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather has launched a $70 million lawsuit against the television network and its executives charging that he was made the “scapegoat” for a September 2004 news segment on how George W. Bush managed to get into the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, thereby escaping any threat of being drafted.
The suit accuses CBS, its parent company Viacom, and three corporate executives—Leslie Moonves, the CBS CEO, Sumner Redstone, Viacom’s executive chairman, and Andrew Heyward, the former president of CBS News—of damaging Rather’s reputation and violating his contract by denying him promised airtime after he stepped down as evening news anchor, a position that he had held for nearly a quarter of a century.
“Dan Rather’s national reputation for excellent, nonpartisan independent journalism was intentionally damaged by CBS, Viacom and their senior executives, who sacrificed independent journalism for corporate financial interests,” the TV newsman’s attorney, Martin Gold, said in a statement. “A healthy democracy cannot flourish without an independent press. Dan Rather brings this lawsuit to further that principle and to restore his reputation, and if he is successful he intends to donate substantial sums to further these ideals.”
