Anchor Dan Rather Left Out of ‘48 Hours’ Twentieth-Anniversary Party

[smb]

Anchor Dan Rather Left Out of '48 Hours' Twentieth-Anniversary Party

Everybody who is anybody in television news — with one glaring omission — showed up for last week’s twentieth-anniversary blowout for 48 Hours, which, after 60 Minutes, is CBS News’ most durable magazine program. On hand for the party in the twentieth-floor lounge at 230 Fifth Avenue were CBS chairman Leslie Moonves, CBS News president Sean McManus, 48 Hours executive producer Susan Zirinsky, former CBS president Sir Howard Stringer, and former news president Andrew Heyward.
Missing was Dan Rather.

The original anchor of 48 Hours — who, along with Stringer, got the show off the ground in 1986 with a highly rated pilot, "48 Hours on Crack Street," and pushed the network suits to put it on the weekly schedule — wasn’t invited. In an awkward phone call before the celebration, Zirinsky explained to Rather that he couldn’t come under the circumstances....

[Mojorabbit]

1. They ruined his career

and are not content with that.

[Warpy]

2. He's suing the bastards.

That is why he was left off the guest list. He should have been thrilled with the loss of his career. The fact that he's seen fit to fight back is most unseemly.

[smb]

4. What's Going On With This Lawsuit?

I don't think there's been any news on that front for a while....

[Warpy]

5. There won't be

CBS brass know their hands are bloody. They'll be trying to drag it out until they're all retired and living somewhere beyond extradition in the Caribbean and can't be blamed for the huge settlement Rather will undoubtedly collect.

[smb]

6. Extradition?

Huh? This is a civil suit affecting CBS as a corporation, not any of these guys personally.

[Warpy]

7. If any of them are found to have broken the law

by having taken an active part in setting him up in collusion with Rove or one of his flunkies, they'll want to be offshore.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Wait a minute.

You are looking for a classy move out of anyone in the entertainment industry? Only if it's profitable to them. Only.