Monday, on MS-NBC's Morning Joe, Dan Rather, in an ever on-going attempt to promote his HD-Net program made critical remarks of CBS Evening News anchor, Katie Kurick. Rather's Comments accused Couric of dumbing down the evening news and making it more like the Today Show<. Couric, who replaced Rather as head anchor and managing editor for the CBS Evening News, has been slipping in the rating in the already 3rd place slot when she started last year. Les Moon, CBS president, called Rather's comments sexist.

This post isn't about whether or not rather's coments were sexist toward Courick; though having heard them I think Rather was refering to her editorial choice of newscoverage, a coment that could have been made toward any anchor who has shifted from what Rather would like to see as hard-hitting news, instead of Paris Hilton marathons. (Writer's viewpoint: Moon, in this situation, is simply taking the heat of his company's chief investment and placing it back onto the sholders of a man who stood up on behalf of his producers and took responsability for their lack of fact checking during the 2004 presidential campaign, which became a sort of Shakespearean tragedy for broadcast journalism). What I would rather focus on, for a sort of daily media meditation, is the strange triangle that encompasses this whole story.

Last week, Today show's weather man, Al Roker, made a comment of his own that made the NY Post. Roker had to apologize for a statement poking fun at persons with epilepsy while setting up a not-so-funny joke on the new logo for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Roker finds himself backtracking after his remarks, which come only two months after Rocker pushed MS-NBC to remove Don Imus, after Imus ended his career not like Shakespeare, but more like a Smith's song. Imus' comments had Roker and others take the charge on not accepting forgiveness and reconciliation, but instead on reminding the world that radio has no clue how to deal with cricis, as they fired Imus during a pledge-drive for children with cancer.

So, rather is sexist for commenting on Courick, who use to work with Al. Courick is accused of bringing a style of journalism that dumbs down society, an environment where soft news writers and anchors through stuff out there that might not always be so refined, and sometimes might offend like in Roker's case. Roker is on the hot seat after many call him a hipocrit who should resign after the way he attacked don Imus. And Dan Rather is telling us of the downfall for hard news on the morning replacement for the now defunk Don Imus Show simulcasted on MS-NBC. Wow, my head is spinning...

This morning on NPR's Dianne Rehm Show, Rehm had a discussion with Washington attorny and author Scott Gant on the demise of journalism. Blogs, like the one that lead to Rather's demise, have been a hot spot for hardlined journalists and media scholars, who believe they're furthering the dumbing down of America with their misinformed and bias editorial reporting (This blogger would like to think that although bias on this site, I'm at least informed, with my MA in journalism and fifteen years in the biz). Gant, as do I, argued that Blog's have done some good in fulfilling the dream's of the American Founding Fathers, both of us agreeing that modern journalism has rising to a level of special privilege.

All of this leads to the continued poor pixillation of American mass media...Do we still go to what once were hard news outlets to get true and unbias hard news?

If the news industry wishes to survive, it needs to learn how to take the lead in forming emerging technologies and mediums, how to sparse them out as "commentary," hard news," entertainment," etc. If Katie Couric wants to make the Evening News more like the Today Show, that's fine. She's managing editor and has the power. Afterall, we already have two toher networks that pretty much run the same run-down of stories. Instead, netowrks still walk softly, focus grouping and trying not to stir up any waters of change; instead choosing to kill any innovation that comes along.

I pretty much know that if I want real news, I turn to either NPR, the BBC or the daily Show. If I want to be shocked, I turn on the morning shock jocks like (&A, or the former Imus. And if I want to be bored, I turn on the evening news...You choose the network.