Longtime broadcast journalist and former CBS News anchor Dan Rather fired off a rallying cry to the media on Facebook, urging them to “step up” and call out “lies” from the White House of President Donald Trump.
“These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times,” Rather wrote on Sunday. “And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.”
He wrote:
“When you have a spokesperson for the president of the United States wrap up a lie in the Orwellian phrase ‘alternative facts’…
When you have a press secretary in his first appearance before the White House reporters threaten, bully, lie, and then walk out of the briefing room without the cajones to answer a single question…
When you have a President stand before the stars of the fallen CIA agents and boast about the size of his crowds (lies) and how great his authoritarian inaugural speech was….
These are not normal times.”
Rather said the media has to call lies for what they are “without equivocation,” and urged reporters to pressure House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to do the same.
“If they dodge and weave, keep with the follow ups. And if they refuse to give a satisfactory answer, end the interview,” Rather said.
“Facts and the truth are not partisan,” he continued. “They are the bedrock of our democracy.”
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