Dan Rather is suing CBS for $70 million claiming it made him a scapegoat in that whole President Bush/National Guard thing.
Mr. Rather, 75, asserts that the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on “60 Minutes†after forcing him to step down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News†in March 2005. He also contends that the network committed fraud by commissioning a “biased†and incomplete investigation of the flawed Guard broadcast and, in the process, “seriously damaged his reputation.â€
The suit, which seeks $70 million in damages, names as defendants CBS and its chief executive, Leslie Moonves; Viacom and its executive chairman, Sumner Redstone; and Andrew Heyward, the former president of CBS News.
In the suit, filed this afternoon in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Mr. Rather charges that CBS and its executives made him “a scapegoat†in an attempt “to pacify the White House,†though the formal complaint presents virtually no direct evidence to that effect. To buttress this claim, Mr. Rather quotes the executive who oversaw his regular segment on CBS Radio, telling Mr. Rather in November 2004 that he was losing that slot, effective immediately, because of “pressure from ‘the right wing.’ â€
He also continues to take vehement issue with the appointment by CBS of Richard Thornburgh, an attorney general in the administration of the elder President Bush, as one of the two outside panelists given the job of reviewing how the disputed broadcast had been prepared.
In a statement CBS said, “These complaints are old news and this lawsuit is without merit.” Mr. Heyward said he would not comment beyond the CBS statement. A Viacom spokesman said he had no comment.
This is going to be interesting to watch.
