Rather's unraveling anchor cult

RATHER'S UNRAVELING ANCHOR CULT
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Whatever its legal merits, Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS -- in which he says he wasn't clued-in on the details of a 2004 report he narrated about George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard record -- dispels the myth of the omniscient news anchor. Who knew, when Rather was giving "60 Minutes II" viewers the straight scoop on questions about Bush's service, that he was relying on the assurances of his production team as to the authenticity of damaging documents? Actually, anyone familiar with the inner workings of TV news might have guessed that Rather's report, which the network eventually disavowed, wasn't a one-man show any more than his "CBS Evening News" broadcasts were. But for many viewers, Rather and his avuncular antecedent, Walter Cronkite, were more than mere "news readers" (the term used in Britain). They were also, even in advanced middle age, reporters and editors. Never mind that much of the reporting was done by invisible producers and researchers. The cult of the news anchor -- reconsecrated every time an anchor leaves the desk for Iraq or New Orleans -- has survived because star-struck viewers heed the injunction of the Great Oz: "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-ed-rather21sep21,1,...
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