Rather further stirs the pot

Dan Rather, post-CBS News, isn’t particularly bullish on the future of the network newscast. He backed off criticism of his replacement, Katie Couric – though he noted “the odds are longer now” as to whether she can succeed in the anchor’s chair – but offered a grim assessment of the network newscast in general.

“I think we’ll see the time when someone at the top (of a network) says, ‘We can give this (air) time back to affiliates,’” Rather declared.

With network news on the skids (except over at ABC) and newspapers gasping for air (key quote: “(C)apital markets (are) increasingly skeptical about the newspaper industry's ability to generate cash from operations”), are we looking at a future in which journalism – that solid, serious kind, with investigations into corporate and governmental corruption, not the kind tracking Victoria Beckham’s whereabouts – will be sporting a toe tag? Does our culture so devalue information that could save our lives, avert future crises and maintain a sense of fairness and justice in society that we’re simply --

Holy sh!t! Lindsay Lohan got another DUI!