Dan Rather says big media likes news that pay

Former CBS news man Dan Rather was on the campus of UC Berkeley last night where he discussed the current state of American media. Dan may have finally shined some light as to why reporters are afraid to ask real questions when interviewing high level individuals in government or business. "Reporters didn't ask enough questions. Access journalism ruled the day. Reporters who asked tough questions were cut off from access to key administration officials, making it difficult to compete professionally with those who tried not to ruffle feathers. Don't underestimate the pressure to get access and the corrosive effect it has on reporters," Rather said. He went on to say, multinational companies like Viacom or CBS are controversy averse and fearful of getting negative responses from blogs. How backwards. If CBS had understood the impact of the Internet and bloggers, the Bush National Guard papers debacle could have been handled with less upheaval, Rather said. I had no idea of the power of the Internet, particularly bloggers, including some with partisan, ideological agendas." Geez Dan where have you been living? Yeah we bloggers do like to hate on big media. Just look how much we love Les Moonves. More....