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AMEN, Dan Rather! AMEN! The Sad State Of News & Media

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

AMEN, Dan Rather! AMEN! The Sad State Of News & Media

I’ve been wanting to talk about how media deregulation that started under President Reagan has hurt us as a country, and with the recent comments from Dan Rather on the subject, now seems to be the appropriate time.

Below are a few quotes from Monday’s ‘Toronto Star’ interview with Rather. The whole story is at this link.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/06/01/dan_rather_explains_why_journalists_have_lost_their_guts.html

“In terms of things I think people ought to worry about, there has been so much consolidation of media ownership that there’s less competition. I don’t think that’s a healthy situation. It’s a big change, and it’s what I’ve called the corporatization of news, which has led in some way to the trivialization of news”. – Dan Rather

“I think journalists and journalism — certainly in the U.S. — we lost our guts. An attitude got around: Be careful, because if you report something people in power don’t like, you may have to pay a very heavy price for that. That’s not in the best tradition of U.S. journalism, nor do I think it’s in the best tradition of the free press anyplace”. – Dan Rather

To me, these comments mesh. With fewer independent voices and outlets available to express editorial thoughts, fewer voices are heard and those that are, have self edited themselves into a pablum. I think ‘The CBS Evening News’ has a tad more hard news than the NBC and ABC, but for those of us that remember the quality of news in the 60s, 70s and 80s…today’s news seems a lot more like ‘Entertainment Tonight’.

The chart below shows that in 1983, there were 50 companies that were major players in US media. By 2004, ten years ago, there were only 6! There are still 6 and they are: Viacom (CBS), Disney (ABC), Comcast (NBC), News Corp (FOX), Time Warner and Clear Channel. More soon.


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11 responses to “AMEN, Dan Rather! AMEN! The Sad State Of News & Media”

  1. Bruce Hansen

    THANK YOU.

  2. Scott Comstock

    Even though I am too young to really understand the impact of media deregulation in the 80s…I wish it had not happened.

  3. Judy Watson

    There was a Documentary on Reagan on HBO. His brother goes around the Country buying up streets and banks and whatever and putting his name on them. Interesting! He did a great deal of damage in many places…………………

  4. David Kintzele

    Rather’s got a lot of nerve criticizing the media.

  5. Frank Gottlieb

    Can’t believe Clear Channel is on the list. Their Pittsburgh cluster includes a so-called news/talk station with no local news staff. Local news is voice-tracked from Cleveland using sound bytes from one of the Pittsburgh TVs. That’s not the same as having your own independent reporters on the street. The talker also doesn’t have any local hosts discussing local issues.

  6. Michael Scott Ferguson

    It seems unlikely we can go back in time, but maybe the FCC and Congress could prevent realization of the ominous trend predicted by the chart…only 2 major owners by 2025! This is why the level internet playing field implied by Net Neutrality really may be what saves our Democracy. PS: as a consumer, I’m not shy about letting TV outfits like Sander Media (formerly Belo) and Meredeth in the Phoenix market know when I see authentic journalists doing it right.

  7. Bob Hollis

    Welcome the Facebook News Network

  8. John Grenier

    Only 6!

  9. Bruce A Johnson

    +1 Andy Rose. The message is important, but it is the wrong messenger.

  10. Jim Young

    The story about competition between networks trying to get Queen Elizabeth ‘ s coronation film on the air first was a good example of how it used to be. Now the competition is simply first, not correct.

  11. Martin Gould

    Fascinating picture of Rather, because it appears to confirm the story Peter Boyer told in his book “Who Killed CBS,” as well as other accounts of the famous tale of Rather refusing to sit in Cronkite’s chair when he took over the Evening News in 1981: “Finally Monday arrived, and Rather neither sat nor strolled nor stood. He made his debut as the permanent anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in a kind of squat, a contortion that was awkward just to watch…. He looked as if he were getting ready to run off somewhere, as, in retrospect, might have seemed a good option.”

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