Poor Dan. He's gone from a tack-sharp reporter to a confused old man. I can't disagree with his main assessment of American media. However, the free market system he says he supports has been the cause of the consolidation of power he decries. It will not save it, but will rather force more concentration on the bottom line, and less devotion to expensive investigative journalism--and thus continue the reliance on biased government sources. This also tends to cut down on truly independent voices because it's cheaper to pick up the AP feed. As for the Internet, it does have the potential to be a platform for more voices. I get foreign news online, and I've seen photos posted by people who actually live in regions in the ... More »

As a story based on a one-hour speech this is awful. The prose is disjointed and poorly edited, containing the same money quote in two places for no clear reason. (If one was was intended to be a pull-quote, it lacked formatting to indicate it, and we can reasonably fault the publication for confusing the reader.) I saw no journalistic value- add of context, history, background, or additional sources.

A report about some amazing statements made by ex-CBS anchorman Dan Rather ont he sorry state of journalism in America today. Since it reports exclusively on rather's remarks, sourcing is not particularly relevant -- but I think it would have been strengthened by adding more context about both Rather and the rest of the MSM!

Outstanding journalism! Dan Rather's words were honest, straight-forward and, above all, needed to be said! I have been waiting for someone of substance to state out loud what so many of us remember, in years long past, what real reporters did and their ability to questuon power. It took a "reporter" from "that" time, one who did speak truth to power, to describe the state of our media today. Thanks to Dan Rather, journalism may just get a transplant- of a few "guts", finally.