Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit against his former employers may still make it to court, but it won't be packing nearly as much punch. Manhattan judge Ira Gammerman dismissed four of the seven claims made in Rather's lawsuit, particularly those that name Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone (Viacom is CBS' former parent company), CBS president Leslie Moonves and former CBS News president Andrew Heyward. Rather's lawsuit, which was filed in September, claimed that he was treated unfairly by CBS News after a September 2004 broadcast about the military service of President Bush in Vietnam was proven to be flawed. He also claimed his reputation in the final months of his contract was damaged because he was made a "scapegoat" in an effort to appease the Bush administration.With the dismissal, the suit has now been boiled down to a garden-variety contract dispute. With all of the sensational political accusations and sought punitive damages dismissed, the remai...
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Dan Rather is suing his former network over the aftermath of his flawed report on President Bush's National Guard service.The September 2004 story produced for the newsmagazine 60 Minutes II led to Rather’s departure from the CBS Evening News anchor chair in March 2005. Now working at the cable outlet HDNet, Rather has filed a $70 million lawsuit, which names CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and former CBS News president Andrew Heyward as plaintiffs. The suit claims the network violated his contract by not giving him a more prominent role on 60 Minutes.Rather’s last deal with CBS News stipulated that when he left the Evening News anchor chair he would be the lead correspondent for 60 Minutes II. Once that program was canceled, Rather joined the signature edition of the newsmagazine on Sunday, where he was to be a regular correspondent. The lawsuit says he was used far less than the other correspondents on the broadcast.The suit al...
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Sumner Redstone isn't done deriding Tom Cruise. In a new Vanity Fair feature, the Viacom chief says Paramount's onetime tentpole-hoister was "embarrassing the studio," and "costing us a lot of money." How much did Tom's Kate-induced antics supposedly affect box office? To the tune of "$100 million, $150 million on Mission: Impossible III," Redstone surmises. "It was the best picture of the [franchise], and it did the worst."
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