September 14, 2004, 09:14 AM

Rather Implosion Turning Point for Biased Media?

By Chris Begala

For over 25-years now, I have made my living in the media and I have never witnessed a more egregious, unethical and yes, corrupt display by a member of the media, than the recent actions of Dan Rather. Yes, of course I'm talking about the controversy over the alleged 32-year old memos regarding, then, Lt. George W. Bush from last weeks 60-Minutes story. I will explain, but I believe we will look back on this story in 5-years as the major watershed moment when the liberal, agenda-driven, mainstream media was forced into being more fair and unbiased in their reporting.

I started off in journalism as a very young sports reporter here in Houston. I have considerable experience in politics and for the last 8-years I have owned and operated my own Media & Public Issues Consulting firm, Begala Consulting. I write this column from the standpoint of a media professional who knows the industry.

Heck, I guess it's always been in my blood, because way back in the 7th grade at Missouri City Junior High, along with two other students, I founded the very first Junior High School newspaper in the Fort Bend School District - a weekly called “Cougar News.” It was cool and it got us out of class as we sold the paper to students during lunch break.

Two months ago I was honored to Co-Manage Media for President Bush's (#41) 80th Birthday bash, 41@80. In attendance was the current President Bush (#43) and Laura Bush, Vice-President Cheney, President Bush (#41) and Barbra Bush, former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachav, former British Prime Minister John Major, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulrooney, former Mexican President Carlos Salinas Gortari, movie stars, sports celebrities and more. Our research showed over 175 million people from around the world either heard or saw parts of 41@80.

Earlier this year I helped produce and managed media for the Official Opening Ceremony for Super Bowl IIIVIII. An event Co-Chaired by President Bush (#41) and my good friend, CBS Sports anchor, Jim Nantz.

My brother Paul helped run Bill Clinton's 1992 Presidential campaign and he was a top advisor to President Clinton for six of his eight years in the White House. Through my brother, I was able to perform project work with President Clinton. Yes indeed, my politics are far more conservative than my brothers as President Bush (#41) has dubbed me “The Good Begala.”

Due to all of these experiences I have had the unique opportunity to witness firsthand how things operate from both sides of the news equation; the doer of the deeds and the reporters of the deeds I have witnessed firsthand the inner workings of the White House and I have witnessed how Presidents and business leaders are covered while working with many of the national leaders in the media industry.

Many, many members of the media are talented, fair and hard-working professionals, but far too many of them and the institutions they work for, are clearly unprofessional, liberal-leaning, agenda-driven, unethical and corrupt. This election season has taken the liberal media and their obvious bias to a new stratosphere.

The media is actually involved in this Presidential election as my brother Paul and James Carville are clearly the top two advisors to Senator Kerry's campaign, while being employed and co-hosting 'Crossfire' on CNN.

I love Paul and James. They are brilliant and they are what they are and they make no apologies for it; Democratic political operatives. This is not a Paul and James issue, it is a CNN issue. CNN should ask them to take a leave of absence, but CNN refuses because CNN is clearly biased. Paul and James are creating strategy for a United States Presidential candidate while hosting a cable network show.

Clearly, this is a horrific conflict and CNN knows it. I monitored CNN last Labor Day when the story of Paul and James broke and CNN was the ONLY North American network NOT reporting on Paul and James joining the Kerry campaign when it was the lead political story on every network, website and newspaper.

The New York Times and Washington Post had it as the number one story and a check of CNN's website on Labor Day failed to find even the mention of Paul and James' names other than a bio on the 'Crossfire' page.

Clearly CNN made a concerted, organized effort to embargo the Paul and James story; unprofessional, corrupt journalism.

The deterioration of the mainstream news media and the damage it has done to our free society endangers the very freedom our country is based on. If wholesale changes are not instituted we run the risk of leaning so far left that we will be more socialist or even communist than the freedom loving nation we espouse to be.

Communist? You might say I'm taking this a bit too far, but take a look at the daunting facts casting serious doubt on the memos and then let’s analyze Rather's reaction.

* The memos might not have been typed on a 1970's era typewriter because questions abound about spacing, font, centering, raised letters etc

* A slew of experts have said that the signatures and the memos are clearly fake and seem to have been produced by a word processor consistent with Microsoft software

* President Bush's commander (dead for 20-years) Lt. Col. Jerry Killian's wife and son both emphatically state that the memos are fake

* The centerpiece of the CBS story, former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes (a major Kerry donor and fund raiser) has his daughter call him a liar and state he's doing this to damage Bush and help Kerry

* CBS's main expert on the memos, Retired Major General Bobby Hodges says that CBS misled him and never showed him the memos but just read them over the phone and now he says the memos are fake

* The Col. who according to the memos was exerting pressure to “sugar coat” Bush's record at the time of the memos, Col. Walter “Buck” Staudt, was retired from the Guard for over a year and half BEFORE the memos were written

I could go on but faced with this mountain of evidence and with the entire journalistic world watching as newspapers like the LA Times and Dallas Morning News break more issues daily and as every network reports, Dan Rather at first refuses to comment, then he defiantly and blindly states that the story is accurate, the memos are authentic and says he is sticking to his story. He even lashed out calling anyone who has raised these legitimate issues part of a “professional rumor mill,” which he refuses to respond to.

Then Monday night on the CBS Evening News, which Rather not only anchors but is the shows Executive Producer, Rather held court over one of the worst journalistic stories ever produced by a network. They placed two people on the air to claim that it's possible that the spacing and raised letters could have existed in 1972 and they NEVER uttered a single word about any of the legitimate questions on the authenticity. They refused to even attempt to show the other side which clearly is disputing the authenticity of the memos.

Then Rather lashed out as he defiantly challenged the White House to “give specific answers to the following specific questions.” Really Dan? Why don't you give specific answers to the many specific questions about the memos?

They ended the story with the utter gall to again state that they stand by their story and the authenticity of the memos. This is Communism at its most fundamental level. Lie and continue to lie as you suppress the truth with your vast power. Rather has lied and avoided the truth with the same omnipotence of the Chinese Communist Government denying the Tiananmen Square massacre. 'How dare you even question us.

INCREDIBLE, but I am not surprised. I have experienced the same reaction countless times. The very people who make their living questioning anybody and everybody get incensed when they are legitimately questioned. They feel as if they are above being questioned. I have been told many times, by members of the media, that unless I answer a certain way, they will print and/or report a lie. I refuse to let my client sufferm, but they will try anything to report a story their way.

Where is CBS’s CEO & President, Leslie Moonves? Where is the Chairman of the Board of Viacom (CBS's parent) and did they approve of Rather’s story last night on the CBS Evening News? If so, they are now part of this travesty and just as culpable as Rather and the producers, editors and anyone involved in the 60-Minutes story of last week. Rather is running the risk of taking down his network.

How ironic that Rather, a man whose career was made 31-years ago, when he bravely challenged then, President Richard Nixon, during the height of Watergate at a press conference in the East Room of the White House asking Nixon “are you” (a crook)?

Now he is guilty of the same thing Nixon was: Abuse of power, covering up a lie, obstructing justice and not seeking the truth.

Watergate was an all-time low for our government, but it taught us a valuable lesson. No one, not even the most powerful man in the world is above the truth and the law. Now, Rather's reporting will prove to be an all-time low for journalists and hopefully it will teach the media a valuable lesson. No one, not even arguably the most powerful person in journalism is above the truth and the laws and ethics of true journalism; truthful, fair and honest reporting of the facts.

We can only hope that the media will stay on this story. It has now turned into a major 'Who dunnit.' Who is Rather's source? Is it a Kerry operative and did they produce fake documents to alter an election?

The unfortunate FCC rulings of a few years ago have placed ownership of mainstream media in the hands of far too few people and organizations. There is a definite lack of checks and balance and that has spread this liberal bias and corruption.

However, things have changed drastically. The very existence of this site is due to a serious bias that exists in our City's only major daily newspaper.

The media has a sworn unwritten rule; 'Thou shall not challenge each other.' Well you are challenging the media and it's a beautiful thing. The internet and today's bloggers are policing the media and forcing the media to take notice. Incredibly, the media's blind omnipotence has not allowed them to see it.

Thanks to former CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg and his now famous 1996 Wall Street Journal Op-Ed which finally spoke to the elephant in our nations newsrooms, as he bravely outlined a clear media bias. He took on Dan Rather at CBS while he was a CBS reporter! At the time he was ostracized by “The Dan” and the media.

FOX News channel was born and Goldberg followed in May of 2001 with another Wall Street Journal on media bias which led to his blockbuster best selling book 'Bias.'

Now I see the Washington Post reporting fairly on all of the major issues and even the LA Times has shown signs of being a professional paper again.

There is a long, long way to go before the mainstream media even resembles anything close to ethical and fair, but the Rather implosion may turn out to be the turning point.

Chris Begala is a guest columnist for Chronically Biased and a guest host for KSEV Radio. He currently owns his own Media & Public Issues Consulting firm, Begala Consulting.

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