Dan Rather Addresses Free Press About Media Reform?

Now, I have spent my entire life in for-profit news, and I happen to think that it does not have to be this way. I have worked for news owners who, while they may have regarded their news divisions as an occasional irritant, chose to turn that irritant into a pearl of public trust. But today, sadly, it seems that the conglomerates that have control over some of the biggest pieces of this public trust would just as soon spit that irritant out.


So what does this mean for us tonight, and what is to be done?

It means that we need to be on the alert for where, when, and how our news media bows to undue government influence. And you need to let news organizations know, in no uncertain terms, that you won't stand for it...that you, as news consumers, are capable of exerting pressure of your own.

It means that we need to continue to let our government know that, when it comes to media consolidation, enough is enough. Too few voices are dominating, homogenizing, and marginalizing the news. We need to demand that the American people get something in exchange for the use of airwaves that belong, after all, to the people.

It means that we need to ensure that the Internet, where free speech reigns and where journalism does not have to pass through a corporate filter... remains free.

We need to say, loud and clear, that we don't want big corporations enjoying preferred access to - or government acting as the gatekeeper for - this unique platform for independent journalism.

The man is who encompasses everything that is wrong with the old media lectures those in the new media on partisan press coverage. Really? The man still denies what everyone else on the planet, or at least at CBS News, has admitted to and he's lecturing other people on biased coverage. Dan Rather doesn't get it. He never did and he never will. His breed is a dying one and soon the rest will fall. The fact that both he and PBS loon Bill Moyers (see: previous post) are featured speakers at the 2008 NCMR says a lot about the agenda pushed by Free Press. Dan Rather is now officially irrelevant.