Mr Biz on DougStephan.com

BOCA RATON, FLA. (Feb. 25, 2003)--At this writing, it seems to me that
CBS-TV News anchor Dan Rather has been snookered by Saddam Hussein and his
handlers.
Rather seems to be caught in the old business quandary of when to "just
say no" to a new account, a great deal, high ratings, or fame and fortune.
More details will develop, but let's put the "exclusive" CBS interview
with the Iraqi "president" (as Rather called him) into a larger context.
Sunday night media critics were shaking their heads at how calm and
restrained the usually impromptu and spontaneous Grammy Awards broadcast
evolved. A number of media critics reported that CBS-Viacom and its music
publishing empire had put out the word that political statements, anti-war
protests, etc would not be tolerated.
Artists such as Bonnie Rait, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, and others never
known for their restraint of opinions, were remarkably quiet. The CBS
broadcast even deleted what we could only assume were mildly, or
not-so-mildly obscene lyrics during a live broadcast. No matter what our own
political views, many of us raised our eyebrows in suspicion about this spate
of wholesomeness and propriety orchestrated by CBS.
The next day the U.S. equity markets ended a three-day winning streak,
and overnight Asian markets sank to a four-week low. This came on the
double-whammy missile crisis: CBS reporting that in an exclusive interview
with Dan Rather, Saddam says he will not destroy questionable missiles; and
North Korea launching (on the South Korean president's inauguration day) a
short-range missile.
These events sparked interest for viewing Monday night's CBS Evening
News, for a glimpse at the "exclusive" interview.
Now here's a bit of whatWall Street now calls disclosure, or
" transparency" . I don't get to watch network evening news more than two or
three times per week, but I usually try to watch CBS. Why? Because all day
long I monitor CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, UPI, Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, etc.,
and I am overexposed to NBC sources. As for ABC-TV, my old employer, I try to
watch Nightline and their overnight "World News" broadcast which runs long
form excerpts from their other network news feeds. The only exposure I get to
the CBS News product is from Rather's newscast.
Viewers Monday night were welcomed with a Rather "stand-upper" in
Baghdad, talking about the first interview in a dozen years by a U.S.
journalist.
I waited to see some video of the interview but none came. In what I
felt was a bait and switch, or worse, just crass ratings commercialism,
instead of the actual taped interview, Rather "teased" the next day's CBS
Morning program with "more of the three hour tape interview" and then a full
exposition on an expanded "Sixty Minutes II" on Wednesday evening.
As a news consumer, it seemed to me as if there are some news
interviews, some "exclusives," and some pressing international exigencies
(imminent war for one), which require immediate airing of important news
items. CBS-TV chose to use this ratings-garnering "scoop" as a "tease" for at
least three more days of CBS news broadcasts.
Although disappointed by the newscast, I phoned my son, an active duty
soldier, and asked him if he had seen the broadcast. With a degree in
communications, and having worked for NBC News in London as an intern, he's a
pretty sharp young media observer in his own right. "Wow, if nothing else,
Dan Rather's got the interview of a lifetime!" was his response.
Well, the "interview of a lifetime" became more dubious when I delayed
my usual departure time for the office, to watch Harry Smith on the CBS
Morning News program. Smith, who I always viewed a s a solid news citizen,
sheepishly said something like this: "We're going to bring you some more
summaries of Dan Rather's exclusive interview with Saddam Hussein, but we are
have some technical problems with the actual tapes.
"The interviews were translated by government translators, and CBS needed
time to re-translate the interviews, but the Iraqi government broadcast
agency has still not provided CBS with the unedited tapes from the three-hour
broadcast. When they do, we'll bring them to you, but in any case, Dan Rather
will update on some other revelations from his remarkable interview."
This sparked my memory, of a brief mention Rather made in the Monday
evening broadcast about the need for "double translation" of the interview.
It will take awhile for non-newshounds to work this out, but look at it
this way. Either as part of the terms of this "exclusive" interview, or as a
backstop to arrangements CBS felt were suspicious all along, the interview
was not only government arranged and controlled, but when Rather posed a
question, it was translated by an aide to Saddam, and his responses filtered
for U.S. viewers by an aide to Saddam.
There have been any number of cases in recent years when academics and
others accurately "translating" supposed words from government translators,
found that such interviews become instant public relations spin events, even
as the news source is speaking.
In such a critical time for all Americans, as well as the international
community, without seeing the tape, one might assume that during at least
part of the unprecedented three-hour session, Rather was (hopefully)
sincerely probing and following-up on responses which had already been
colored by a government media specialist to clean up Saddam's syntax, tone,
language, and perhaps meaning.
In my private business life I get many emails each week from people
telling me that millions of dollars await me in Nigeria; I can retire in
wealth by working from home; under-aged vixens crave my obese body, and
natural forms of Viagra will make me Numero Uno Super Stud. In a more
controlled environment, we get calls from prospective new clients who are
vague on their source of income, regulatory paperwork, or past investment
history. Responsible professionals, and aware consumers, usually say "no
thanks" to offers with strings and benefits which seem too good to be true.
Ironically, I recall Rather's own former award-winning colleague, Richard
C, Hottelet, who walked into an "exclusive" interview we had arranged with
former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, and took the high road. While
aides romanced us with rich dark coffee, double corona cigars with the
general's name embossed in gold on the wrapper, and attractive female
assistants in his conference room, the veteran U.N. correspondent whispered,
" If he tells us to turn off the tape recorders and cameras, we leave,
understand?" I understood perfectly.
I want to believe that Rather conducted a no-holds-barred three hour
interview, and was surprised by the restrictions and problems. I want to
believe it, but the fact that CBS apparently always intended to parcel out
the breaking news in dribs and drabs which would most benefit ratings, rather
than American citizens, makes me think otherwise.
Perhaps the more remarkable, incredibly impressive journalistic feat
would have been for Rather to say, "No thanks, find someone else."
--
Mark Scheinbaum is our weekly business columnist; former UPI newsman. Mark
worked for ABC-TV Network News assignment desk and special events unit, and
was a correspondent and field producer for UPI Television. He serves as chief
investment strategist for Kaplan & Co., BSE, NASD, SIPC.

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