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Without reading a stitch of media on the Rather suit, I can say pretty strongly that this is the last gasp of a disgraced newsman, a sad chapter in the dying days of the academia-media complex. For many years, the major media in America got away with presenting one side of the story, that of their so-called Fourth Estate, in which media seeks to influence rather than inform the public. This has been the state of journalism for decades.

Rather is the voice of an angry child who has just realized that he does not have the playground exclusively to himself anymore. The resulting effort by media to find a new voice, be it favorites Courec or the much-marketed Cooper, is more evidence of the blood sport that modern reporting has become. The bottom line is that these stepchildren of the modern media conglomerates, once the all-powerful Networks, have yet to wake up and smell the ratings. They understand neither their audience, one that has been enchanted by conservative talk radio, or their precarious position in seeking to produce news that appeals to anyone other than their hardest core of traditional advertising constituents.

If the Networks are to recover, they must shed Rather and all those of his ideological ilk, and come to an understanding of news as a product to be sold like any other. Network news is not a place for partisanship or activism, but, if it is to survive the rise of its cable and internet rivals, a place where democracy, economic or otherwise, dictates policy.

Learn more about this author, Timothy Avers.
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