Dan Rather

Irony Alert: Dan Rather Loves HBO's 'The Newsroom,' Says It's About the Battle for 'the Soul of News Itself'
By Matt Hadro | July 13, 2012 | 11:17 AM EDT

Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather, who resigned in disgrace from the network in 2005, loves HBO's liberal show The Newsroom and told CNN's Piers Morgan on Thursday that it is ultimately about "the battle for...the soul of news itself."

"The Newsroom, which is on HBO, is terrific," gushed Rather. "[I]t's a story of the battle for the soul of a big-time big network anchorman, the soul of his newscast, and on a broader scale, the soul of news itself."

Dan Rather: 'I Wish Every American Could See' Sunday's Tea Party-Bashing 'Newsroom' on HBO
By Noel Sheppard | July 9, 2012 | 5:42 PM EDT

As NewsBusters reported earlier, Sunday's episode of HBO's The Newsroom was an absolute disgrace that included numerous attacks on elected members of the Tea Party including a disparaging comparison of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to the late Joe McCarthy.

Much to my astonishment, former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather actually loved the show writing at Gawker, "This whole episode is something I wish every American could see and ponder" (photo courtesy Gawker):

Sorkin's 'Newsroom': Angry Liberals Lecturing Americans
By Kelly McGarey | June 26, 2012 | 12:29 PM EDT

The media have been in a frenzy lately over the Sunday premiere of Aaron Sorkin’s latest show, The Newsroom. Some critics, such as Dan Rather, praised it as a "classic" worth of Citizen Kane. However, many have downplayed the left-wing, anti-American tone of the show's pilot, which includes one liberal lecture after another. 

In the opening scene, new anchor Will MacAvoy (portrayed by actor Jeff Daniels) is asked by the moderator of a forum for journalism students at Northwestern about the reason that he does not expressly reveal his political leanings. When the moderator asks him if, “you feel the integrity of your broadcast would be compromised?” MacAvoy smugly says, “that sounds like a good answer, I’ll take it.” Seconds later, his tirade against America begins.  

Dan Rather Loves 'The Newsroom': It's a 'Classic' Like 'Citizen Kane'
By Scott Whitlock | June 25, 2012 | 4:09 PM EDT

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who ultimately resigned in disgrace for airing an attack piece on George W. Bush using phony documents, loves the new HBO show Newsroom and explained why in a review for Gawker. With no sense of irony, he praised, "I especially liked the emphasis on the necessity of having sources and doing real reporting (maybe not enough emphasis on this to satisfy me.)"

Rather added, "Also, the depiction of when to go with a story, when and what to lead with on a newscast is good." The journalist, who has been exiled to HD Net, went so far as to compare the show to Citizen Kane (a film often ranked as the greatest movie of all time). Rather gushed, "[Newsroom] has the potential to become a classic."