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Rather files 'scapegoat' suit against CBS

He says CBS wanted to pacify the White House.

NEW YORK - Dan Rather filed a $70-million lawsuit against CBS and his former bosses Wednesday, saying they made him a scapegoat for a discredited story about President Bush's military service during the Vietnam War.

The 75-year-old Rather, whose final months were clouded by controversy over the story, said the actions of the defendants damaged his reputation and cost him significant financial loss.

The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, says CBS intentionally botched the aftermath of the story about Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard and had Rather take the fall to "pacify" the White House. He was removed from his job at CBS Evening News in March 2005.

Besides CBS Corp., the suit names former CBS parent company Viacom Inc., CBS president and chief executive Leslie Moonves, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News. The suit seeks $20-million in compensatory damages and $50-million in punitive damages.

"These complaints are old news, and this lawsuit is without merit," said CBS spokesman Dana McClintock. Viacom had no comment.

Forced to apologize

Rather narrated a September 2004 report saying that Bush had disobeyed orders and shirked some of his duties during his National Guard service and that a commander felt pressured to sugarcoat Bush's record.

In his lawsuit, Rather maintains that the story was true but that if any aspect of the broadcast wasn't accurate, he was not responsible for the errors.

The story relied on four documents, supposedly written by Bush's commander in the Texas Air National Guard, the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian. Critics questioned the documents' authenticity and suggested they were forged.

A CBS review determined the story was neither fair nor accurate. CBS fired the story's producer and asked for the resignation of three executives, and Rather was forced out.

Rather's lawsuit says he was forced to apologize, although "as defendants well knew, even if any aspect of the broadcast had not been accurate, which has never been established, Mr. Rather was not responsible for any such errors."

By making Rather apologize publicly, "CBS intentionally caused the public and the media to attribute CBS's alleged bungling of the episode to Mr. Rather," the lawsuit says. As a result, some news media called the event "Rathergate."

He also said that after removing him as anchor of the CBS Evening News, the network gave him fewer and less important assignments and little airtime on 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II. At the time, Rather was making $6-million a year, the lawsuit says.

Rather says in the suit that his departure was ultimately caused by Viacom chairman Redstone, who found it best for the company to curry favor with the Bush administration by damaging Rather.

CBS's review

Richard Thornburgh, the former U.S. attorney general who made up CBS's two-man investigative panel with Louis D. Boccardi, the retired chief executive of the Associated Press, said he was unaware of Rather's lawsuit.

Reached at his home in Washington, Thornburgh said only, "Our report speaks for itself."

Issued in January 2005, the 224-page report portrayed Rather as "pushed to the limit" with other stories at the time of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report. He relied on a trusted producer and didn't check the story for accuracy or, apparently, even see it before he introduced it on the program, the panel said.

Rather's legacy

Rather, who didn't return messages Wednesday, worked at CBS News starting in 1962, then replaced Walter Cronkite in 1981 as CBS Evening News anchor until signing off March 9, 2005.

He always considered himself a reporter first, and the habit of news anchors to travel to the scene of big stories is largely his legacy. His interview with Saddam Hussein in 2003 was the last given by the Iraqi leader before he was toppled.

Rather also had his detractors, and his broadcast was a distant third in the evening news ratings when he stepped down. CBS News' ratings rebounded under short-term successor Bob Schieffer, but they have plummeted under Katie Couric, who took over in September 2006.

Rather has moved on to a weekly news show on cable's HDNet channel, Dan Rather Reports.

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 01:17:34]