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Faker Dan Rather Teaches Fake News
Disgraced former CBS news anchor Dan Rather is teaching an online course on how to spot fake news. For those of you who have been looking for a definition of “irony,” you’re welcome.
Calling Rather “disgraced” is accurate, and kind, really. In 2004, Rather, and his producer, Mary Mapes, pushed a story about then President George W. Bush. They claimed that Bush got preferential treatment while in the Texas Air National Guard. In addition, Rather and Mapes suggested that, “…he did his all to evade duty in Vietnam.”
The memos, supposedly from Bush’s late squadron leader, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, claimed that there was pressure on him from higher ups to “sugarcoat” Bush’s Guard service.
The story quickly fell apart. Experts in typing and typography realized that the font used in the memos was not available during the time they were supposedly written. Upon further research, CBS was shown not to have done even the most basic research in confirming their veracity.
Now, the guy who led that debacle — which led to the ouster of four CBS employees and executives, and to the end of Rather’s time as news anchor — is going to teach you about how to find the truth in news.
The definition of irony is,”an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.” We can now add to that, “Disgraced liar Dan Rather lecturing about truth in news.”
The sickening part of all of this is that lying at this level should have ended Rather’s career permanently. Instead, it continues, and then some! Hollywood took his lies, and turned into the movie Truth. Based on that film, you would think Rather and Mapes were single-handedly saving humanity; they’re The Avengers, but their only superpower is lying and manipulation.
Brian Williams is another disgraced newsman who got a second act. NBC’s heir to Tom Brokaw, Williams was caught in repeated lies about his career, his whereabouts and his actions. Here are three of them:
- Williams claimed that he flew into Iraq with Seal Team Six. US Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw is on record that they did not “embed journalists with this or any other unit that conducts counter-terrorism missions.”
- Williams claimed that he was in Berlin on the day the Berlin Wall fell, saying that he was, “at the Brandenburg Gate the night the wall came down.” According to reports, he didn’t arrive in Berlin until the day after the wall fell.
- Williams claimed that, flying into Iraq during the war, the helicopter he was in was hit by an RPG and was forced down. Williams later corrected himself, saying he was in the chopper behind the one that was hit. Pilots contradict his account, saying Williams was flying in a completely different company.
Three comments on these three events:
- An outright lie to make himself look big.
- An outright lie to make himself look important. Missing one of the biggest moments in history doesn’t look good on the CV.
- Just an outright lie. No one forgets if they were shot down by an RPG. No one. Except for Hillary Clinton.
Brian Williams is still working in news. He is the Chief Anchor for Breaking News at MSNBC. That means that NBC decided to not fire a guy who lied to the American public repeatedly about his actions. Lies that bring his reporting and objectivity into question.
As media and social media continue to discuss the need to suss out, expose, and eliminate fake news, it’s hard to take them seriously when Williams is still employed and Rather is teaching classes on the kind of news he proactively pushed out. If the world of journalism can sit by while Rather waxes professorial, what are they saying about their lack of respect for their own profession? What are they telling the general public, other than, “Truth and standards in journalism are optional?”
So, here’s an online journalism course, for free. Here’s the headline:
Lying News Anchors Dan Rather And Brian Williams Still Employed
Now, here’s the question… Is this headline truthful? And, the follow-up question… Isn’t that the problem?
Reposted from WIBC.com.
Published in General
I can’t believe how lighly you disregarded the documentary about the Rather story, Truth. Don’t you realize Rather was played by ROBERT REDFORD! The man who solved Watergate back in the ’70’s? (Well, Rather helped cure Watergate, but it was all about Bobby and his little friend, Dusty.) Don’t let the facts get in the way of the Truth, man.
Fake News may have killed Rather’s career, but it’s apparently what made his career, too: This Weekly Standard article recalls he rose to prominence after the Kennedy assassination in 1963 by painting the city of Dallas as a den of hate, with a completely fictitious story about schoolchildren who cheered the president’s murder.
How to stop Fake News? Step One: Get as far away as possible from Dan Rather…
To quote Mike Myers,”Dan Rather…..Not”
Tony,
I have been saying for years that the Democrats are incompetent in all areas save one, lying. Yes, that’s right, the Democrats are leaders in new lying technologies. Now Dan Rather can open up a Lying Institute to delve into the truly sophisticated nuances of lying. Lying is both an art and a science, so Dan will have a lying aesthetics seminar also. Just takes your breath away, doesn’t it?
One must give credit where credit is due.
Regards,
Jim
It’s been fake news in the MSM for awhile now. After the “fake but true” documents in the Bush National Guard story, Rather received a lifetime achievement award at the 2005 News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
LOL, so the guy who couldn’t tell the fake from the truth is trying to teach others how to discern between the fake and the truth! Life is so ironic.
Rather can help you tell the difference between fake fake news and fake but accurate fake news.
Act now you get 93% of the regular price . . . and people still make fun of the National Enquirer?
I cannot express how truly depressing it is to me that this man, and Williams for that matter, are revered by many. They will propagate stories regarding race beatings by Trump backers while Trump backers are being beaten by members of a different race. I don’t know how we got here.
Apparently Truth tanked so badly that it doesn’t even come up when you type the word into Rotten Tomatoes.
@kylez Apparently Truth tanked so badly that it doesn’t even come up when you type the word into Rotten Tomatoes. I found its ranking by looking up Redford. It did rank “Fresh”, 62% with critics and 63% with audiences. Which makes sense when you consider that few people would bother with the film unless they were already fans of Dan the Man. Which wasn’t many. According to IMDB grossed $2 & 1/2 million. The film’s budget was estimated at $9 & 1/2 million. Shrewd business move, Sony.
I saw an Atlantic review of it which called it terrible.
Rather and his on-screen doppelgänger, Redford, share some common traits: Both are (were?) handsome, charming men. Both are talented communicators. And both are committed Progressives for whom truth is What They Believe It to Be, and facts are things to be manipulated to serve their Truth.