He's back. Watch for him on an upcoming episode of CBS Sunday Morning where the 92-year-old former anchor will talk about his work at CBS and his life in news. I'm looking forward to watching this interview.
He's going to be interviewed about the film "Rather," a documentary about his rise to prominence in media and his swift fall from grace.
For those who are unaware of what took down Rather it was about an incident when he cited forged memos disparaging Bush's behavior while he served in the National Guard in the 1970s allegedly written by his commanding officer at the time.
It was fake news. Apparently Rather and his team did a poor job of vetting the memos and ran the story on "60 Minutes." What really made it bad was it appeared to be a naked attempt to make Bush look bad two months before the 2004 election.
With all of the misinformation we're currently seeing this election year Rather's ethical crime doesn't seem that egregious when you compare it to what's in the news today.
The important distinction between Rather and Fox News is that Rather didn't lie on purpose. His crime was not fully investigating the story. But he resigned and admitted he fouled up in that one incident.
Fox News however turns out fake news daily and when sued for lying the owners still continued to lie with impunity despite hefty fines.
In 2021, Rather spoke about "misinformation" on PBS NewsHour Weekend, warning on-air how "misinformation, outright lies, propaganda are rampant on the internet."
Despite his controversial exit, Rather has still been a fixture in the media, making regular appearances on CNN and MSNBC during the Trump presidency and is a prolific anti-Trump tweeter.
As it Stands, the upcoming CBS interview should be fascinating with the contrast of journalism today and in Rather's heyday.
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