Dan Rather: “There is a Climate of Fear running Through Newsrooms”

Reuters covered Dan Rather speaking at the Fordham University School of Law in Manhattan, stating that, “Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather said Monday that there is a climate of fear running through newsrooms stronger than he has ever seen in his more than four-decade career.”

They also quote him as saying:

in the intervening years [since Watergate], politicians “of every persuasion” had gotten better at applying pressure on the conglomerates that own the broadcast networks. He called it a “new journalism order.”

He said this pressure — along with the “dumbed-down, tarted-up” coverage, the advent of 24-hour cable competition and the chase for ratings and demographics — has taken its toll on the news business. “All of this creates a bigger atmosphere of fear in newsrooms,” Rather said.