Here’s a look at some of the claims in the 32-page lawsuit filed today by former CBS News Anchor Dan Rather against CBS and Viacom: (as excerpted from Jacques Steinberg‘s NYTimes.com story)
• CBS violated Rather’s contract by giving him insufficient airtime on 60 Minutes
• CBS committed fraud by commissioning a “biased” and incomplete investigation of the flawed story on Pres. Bush’s National Guard record
• CBS and its executives made him “a scapegoat” in an attempt “to pacify the White House”
• His public apology on Sept. 20, 2004 was written not by him but by a CBS corporate publicist, “despite his own personal feelings that no public apology from him was warranted”
Steinberg reports Rather is seeking $20 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages.