Doubtless Dan

In 1988 CBS ran an hour-long special entitled “The Wall Within”, hosted by Dan Rather. It documented the troubled lives of six Vietnam vets as they faced drug use, alcoholism, depression,homelessness, unemployment, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, etc. One soldier, Steve Southards claimed he was “one of the highest trained, underpaid, eighteen-cent-an-hour assassins ever put together by a team of people who knew exactly what they were looking for.” He claimed to be a Navy SEAL who was now living in the forests of Washington State. Most of the other men claimed to have committed horrific war crimes as well. This story fit the stereotype of the hapless GI, struggling to return to life as a civilian after being forced to commit horrific atrocities. Too good to be true for Dan Rather; and it was.

B.G. Burkett, a Vietnam veteran himself, author of Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History and recipient of the Army’s highest decoration for civilians, the Distinguished Civilian Service Award, uncovered while researching the book, that almost none of the documentary was true. Only one of the six men was actually involved in combat. Steve Southards was in fact an equipment repairmen, stationed far from combat and often in the brig for going AWOL. Four of the other six were not stationed in combat zones either. Burkett share his information with CBS, only to have them deny any factual inaccuracies, despite the contradictory publicly available.

Even the statistics cited in the “documentary” were false. Thomas Turnage, then administrator of Veterans Affairs wrote CBS to complain that the statistics given about homelessness, suicide, and mental illness were all reported inaccurately and that the actual numbers --which showed no increase in any of these categories in Vietnam veterans-- were easily attainable.

So what was CBS’s response after being shown the story was a lie and that their lack of reporting made it so? They wrote, “In sum, this was a broadcast of which we at CBS News and I personally am proud. There are no apologies to make.”

But that was then, in a time before talk radio, 24 hour cable news, and the blogosphere. The most recent CBS scandal creating a story from false documents, a story Rather again deeply believes in, just as he did the characterization of the crazed Vietnam veteran, had a different outcome. Although Rather is still arrogant, decrying those who initially questioned the documents as “partisan political operatives.” And although he initially refused to reveal his source for the story,-- we were to simply take him at his word that it was “ unimpeachable”-- the truth came out.

Rather has always presented himself as a “pull no punches”, “just the facts” type of reporter. This is overcompensation for the thing that everyone has known since the Nixon administration; he is an arrogant, biased liberal with an agenda. Even after the memos were reported to be fakes by nearly every major news organization in America, Rather was telling the New York Observer that “powerful and extremely well-financed forces are concentrating on questions about the documents because they can’t deny the fundamental truth of the story”. Just the facts? He is sounding a bit paranoid here. Rather is in denial, just as he was in 1988. He truly believes the story, despite that obvious facts in front of him. If he wasn’t so arrogant it would be sad: an anchor, attempting to justify his enormous salary for a show that has declined in ratings almost every year he has hosted, playing the role of serious reporter, convincing only himself.