Black Eye

To the surprise and dismay of most of his media colleagues, Dan Rather has filed a $70 million suit against CBS, claiming they damaged his reputation over a story he did in 2004.

It's the one Rather reported for "60 Minutes II" about George W. Bush's military service records during the Vietnam war, and how much time he allegedly did serve. The President's supporters in the blogosphere (who had been waiting for years to pin something on the allegedly liberal Rather), among others, called the network and Rather on it. After further checking, CBS concluded that they were right about the way the story was handled, and that they and Rather issued apologies. As a result, four staffers were fired, and Rather was dropped from the 'CBS Evening News" and "60 Minutes II".

CBS has responded to Rather's suit by saying it was "old news" and that it was without merit.

These days, Rather hosts a program for HDnet, a cable channel which happens to be one of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's properties. Besides the lawsuit, Rather has been taking shots at his old network for hiring Katie Couric to take his place on the evening news, as well as decrying the "dumbing down" of TV news in general.

Let's see . . . when Rather left the "CBS Evening News", it was mired in third place behind NBC and ABC. Interim anchor Bob Schieffer brought the numbers up a little bit. Then, after much ballyhoo, Couric took over. Today, the broadcast is still in third place. But it's not all Couric's fault. Unless you live in places like Minneapolis, the local news ratings on CBS stations are in the tank. Not as many people watch the evening news any more. Also, CBS News itself is not the journalistic powerhouse it used to be in the Walter Cronkite era.

This lawsuit might have the unintended consequence of making Rather seem like a bitter old man whose best days are behind him. You've heard the phrase "it's not the money, it's the principle of the thing"? It's the money, Dan.