"What’s happening, in the estimation of Rather, is something that’s menacing, something that’s never been experienced in the two and a half centuries of the history of this nation, and something he sees as a potentially mortal threat to its democracy.
He then told me he’s been thinking a lot of late about Adolf Hitler. “And I’m not comparing Trump to Hitler,” he added, “but … ”"
[ and the end of the first bit ]
"“I watched you on Larry King the other night,” Trump wrote to Rather on December 19, 1997, “and you were absolutely terrific—better than ever.”
But the nature of the relationship was about to change. In December 1999, Rather received a memo from producers Steve Glauber and Dana Roberson, who were working on the piece about Trump and his “exploratory look” at entering the 2000 race.
“It’s all kind of ‘Theater Of The Absurd,’” they advised, in an unwitting preview of what was to transpire a decade and a half later. “Here you have a very wealthy and self-promoting celebrity with a ‘super model’ girlfriend on his arm and quips on his tongue followed by hordes of cameras and reporters who are not quite sure whether to treat him and his quest for a possible presidential run as a joke or seriously. For Trump, it makes no difference: He is being followed by the media! The theater is synergistic—we help him and he helps us.”
They told Rather in the memo that Trump had registered a 67 percent unfavorable rating in a CBS poll the previous month—the highest the network had ever recorded—and that “foreign investors are his primary backers and they are mightily impressed that Trump is not only a big builder but, by golly, possibly a Presidential candidate.” They called Trump a “bigger bull-shitter than Barnum.” They said he was “promoting an upcoming book”—The America We Deserve.
Rather jotted on scrap paper some handwritten notes, preserved in the BU archives: “outrageous public behavior,” “willing butt of tabloid jokes.” Some of his typed-up thoughts: “Businessmen do not make good politicians.” “Look at your life: Two marriages, two divorces, countless romances … ” “Do you really think America will be a better place if you—a man who proudly reads the headline from one of your lovers that you gave her the best sex she ever had—a man who currently shows off not his inner values but another beautiful model—is really what America needs?”
The resulting segment aired in prime time on January 11, 2000, and treated Trump as an unserious candidate. It was fluff, delivered with a sniff, depicting Trump as a mean-spirited showoff. It was a portrayal that prefigured much of the criticism of Trump—from his opponents and the media—during the 2016 campaign."
The first, because CBS is owed the most money by the beleaguered network — more even than is owed to the trio of Lachlan Murdoch, Bruce Gordon and James Packer.
Aussie staples such as Neighbours, starring Jodi Anasta.
But the move will also have huge consequences for both free-to-air TV in particular and Australian media more broadly — at a time of revolutionary change.
For the first time in the 60 year history of FTA-TV, one of the three major US networks will directly own and control one of the Australian networks.
But it will do so when all the old relationships and viewing habits are breaking down in the world of broadband and streaming.
Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison will have to approve the CBS deal to buy Ten Network. Picture Kym Smith
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