Dan Rather -- Paris Hilton Root of All Media Evil

Dan Rather continued his blowhard tour today, blaming the "dumbing down" and "tarting up" of news -- as he has put it -- on Paris Hilton and the media's blanket coverage of the heiress' jail travails.

Talking to FOX News, Rather slammed the wall-to-wall Paris-in-the-slammer coverage, criticizing his ex-bosses at CBS News for running Hilton stories on the evening news. "There's no empirical evidence that by going with Paris Hilton that [the newscast] attracts a younger audience," said Rather.

Rather tried to deflect criticism of news coverage from his replacement, Katie Couric, to his ex-boss, CBS CEO Les Mooves -- and now, inevitably, to Paris. Kenneth, what's the frequency?

Filed under: TV, Wacky & Weird, Paris Hilton

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1. A NOTHING DISGRUTLED EMPLO0YEE. HOPE HE DONT SHOT UP THE BUILDING

Posted at 3:16PM on Jun 13th 2007 by Nice

2. Opps, another disgruntled employee

Posted at 3:18PM on Jun 13th 2007 by Nice

3. He's right on both counts. As for that Katie Couric, she's a total disaster.

Posted at 3:19PM on Jun 13th 2007 by Nauseated

4. .....CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE DEPRESSING NEWS FROM THE MESS BUSH STARTED IN IRAQ!!!!!!!!!!!>>....DAN....WE NEED PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......animal stories r old new on the evening telecasts like when u anchored!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 3:21PM on Jun 13th 2007 by jenniferfromTORONTO

5. Actually, I agree. When I want celebrity news, I watch Entertainment Tonight, Court TV, Fox News mostly. I find Katie Couric extremely annoying for some reason. Maybe she is just too old to be perky and when she tries toning that aspect of her persona down, it comes across as phony. Actually, I didn't care much for her on Today and often thought it looked like she was trying to stifle a laugh, even when reporting on something serious.

Posted at 3:22PM on Jun 13th 2007 by Walter Barbera

6. finally a voice of reason

Posted at 3:22PM on Jun 13th 2007 by andrea

7. To Dan Rather



You are no longer a signifcant reporter so go get a life and stop disrespecting women before someone that used to work for you writes a book.



You are the dumbest man ever to tell a lie and defend a lie after so many years as a respected reporter.


Now you sound like you hate woman and it's really not becoming and stop this crap NOW! DAMN IT.


Just ask you doctor for some enhancement products and go f u c k yourself.

Posted at 3:27PM on Jun 13th 2007 by Mama Me

8. I totally agree with Dan Rather. There is way too much coverage of Paris
by "so called" reputable news organizations. Why don't they just leave celebrity
news to the entertainments programs?

This is the DUMBING DOWN of America for sure....when Paris gets more coverage
than our troops, the war, immigration, gas prices, and world news.

Posted at 3:27PM on Jun 13th 2007 by yeah right

9. Bravo Mr. Rather. Finally someone speaks out about the dumbing down of American news and the Paris Hilton story. Wake up people...stop paying attention and she'll go away.

Posted at 3:28PM on Jun 13th 2007 by paulie

10. CBS,NBC, and ABC are no longer the 3 mega channels they have been. I followed Dan to HDNET, and watch him there. I watched the news with Katie, and hated it. It wasn't news, just fluff, and interviews. The only other GREAT news anchor left is Brian Williams, although Charles Gibson is really starting to bring it on every night to report the news how I want to hear about it. Unfortunately we all grow old, and older. Things can't stay the same, because the world changes We are sick of hearing about the BUSH, CHENEY, fiasco in Irag, and I want my soldiers home defending my land, not someone else's. The presidential elections won't be the same without DAN on CBS, but perhaps Moonves, can give Hilton a mike, and let her cover it for her peers and him. The rest of us will be watching REAL news somewhere else.

Posted at 3:30PM on Jun 13th 2007 by PhyllisinReno

11. Dan Rather is correct Americans are dumb and focus on stupid things.

Posted at 3:33PM on Jun 13th 2007 by over here

12. He's just an old wrinkled up hag that needs his pop tarts up his butt. Obviously he misses being "in" the media himself. Go garden or something...

Posted at 3:34PM on Jun 13th 2007 by 5Fathoms

13. Don't waste my time Dan, Danny boy or Dammit what ever u like to be called. Your worthless and no one care about what you report on. Try reporting on something worth while like the wig on ur bald ass help.

Posted at 3:35PM on Jun 13th 2007 by worthless

14. Who really cares about that little useless prison tart!
650,000 innocent Iraqis have been killed by Bush!
Over 3500 Americans have been killed by Bush!
Bush signed a dictatorship for himself if there is another catastrophy..

The only good thing about Paris is that it has balls to the walls showed us how unjust our legal system is AGAIN! [thanks OJ~he was #1]

Does anyone friggn care what is going on in the world anymore?

Posted at 3:38PM on Jun 13th 2007 by snoop

15. The two dimwits that trashed Rather so badly--- you really show your ignorance & total lack of class with your use of the f-word. Wouldn't your Momma be proud! I don't care how old my "kids" are (29 & 31), I'd still ream them royally if I caught them using that word in public in any fashion.

I like Katie Couric, but she's a terrible news anchor. Rather was still one of the best in the business when he left CBS. And I still suspect there was a lot to that story about Bush that was true but they just couldn't come up with a paper trail. Any idiiot who has watched King George knows that the man is a master at hiding things, manipulating things, and just plain lying to the American public. Rather was just the only news anchor with enough balls to go after him.

Out of curiosity-- to the dolts who posted the f-word comments, have you EVER even watched the network evening newscasts? Probably not.

Posted at 3:41PM on Jun 13th 2007 by Ban TMZ

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