On Wednesday night’s Kelly File, Fox News hosts Dana Perino and Howard Kurtz had some harsh words for the upcoming movie “Truth” which attempts to tell the story of how a fake story about the National Guard service of George W. Bush resulted in the downfall of CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather.
Kurtz assessed the movie “seemed to adopt the Dan Rather theory and it’s just a theory, that somehow a perfectly fine bit of investigative journalism was squashed because of corporate pressure and caving to the Bush administration.”
In reality, the MediaBuzz host said the movie should have focused on how “this was a case study in journalistic malpractice and that’s not my opinion, I talked to some of CBS’ own experts who raise red flags about these 30-year-old documents. And also, an outside investigation–“
The Five’s Dana Perino argued that Rather and his producer Mary Mapes “wanted nothing more than this story to be true and they let that get themselves in a lot of trouble. So citizen journalists were just sort of coming on board. And they actually took the mainstream media the task. There were questions about the documents because the fonts didn’t match-up.
Perino then gave a shout-out to Rob Bluey, former writer to our sister website CNSNews.com whose wife said that the forged documents Rather promoted on air could not have been originals because “that font didn’t exist in that time frame.”
Megyn Kelly then brought up disgraced former-CBS News employee Mary Mapes whose “behavior” and obsession with taking down President Bush resulted in the collapse of of the story and her career:
And now she’s got Kate Blanchett playing her. And out there, you know, from the look of the trailer making her sound like a hero who has been wronged, villainized by an unfair media when, in fact, her behavior led to Dan Rather having to come out publicly and own their mistakes.
Perino summed up the segment by explaining that this movie does a disservice to those who rant to know the truth behind Dan Rather’s demise and is merely an effort by Hollywood to glorify a false narrative:
So he apologizes then. Then he takes CBS to court, gets laughed out by the judge. That’s a lawsuit that’s going nowhere. And now, in Hollywood glory, they try to retell the story. In Hollywood fashion with wonderful actors, telling truth, which actually turns out not to be true. So, I think it’s really important that people watch The Kelly Fine. Read Kyle Smith in “The New York Post,” his review of this movie, absolutely destroyed it point by point.
See relevant transcript below.
Fox News’ The Kelly File
October 8, 2015
MEGYN KELLY: Back with us now, Howie Kurtz, host of FOX News MediaBuzz. And Dana Perino is here, co-host of The Five and former White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush who was the subject of that report. Howie, you looked into this for MediaBuzz. How truthful does the movie “Truth” sound to you?
HOWARD KURTZ: Robert Redford and this movie seemed to adopt the Dan Rather theory and it’s just a theory, that somehow a perfectly fine bit of investigative journalism was squashed because of corporate pressure and caving to the Bush administration. The facts Megyn are that this was a case study in journalistic malpractice and that’s not my opinion, I talked to some of CBS’ own experts who raise red flags about these 30-year-old documents. And also, an outside investigation, commission by CBS founded - -
KELLY: And just tell the viewers, remind the viewers what the sin was. They relied on documents to prove what about President Bush? Documents that turned out to be untrue.
KURTZ: I’m sorry, they relied on documents alleging purportedly that George W. Bush as a young lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard had gone AWOL. And these documents were supposedly written expect it looked like they were not, actually written on a 1970s typewriter by Bush’s late squadron commander and the source who brought this information to CBS was later found to have lied and admitted to Dan Rather on camera that he had lied.
KELLY: And yet Dan Rather and his producer Mary Mapes held on like this to the story until the point where they can hold on no longer, the truth overcame them. Howie, stand-by because Dana, you say this is an example of the first real social media uprising in the country.
DANA PERINO: It was. I remember it very well, this whole time. And I believe that Dan Rather and Mary Mapes wanted nothing more than this story to be true and they let that get themselves in a lot of trouble. So citizen journalists were just sort of coming on board. And they actually took the mainstream media the task. There were questions about the documents because the fonts didn’t match-up. Why does this matter because --
KELLY: 60 Minutes puts these documents up saying, these are real. These prove that George W. Bush high tailed it.
PERINO: That’s right.
KELLY: And citizen journalists see the documents and what happened?
PERINO: Well, they start saying -- they ask questions like, could these possibly be real? Little green footballs, power line and then CNSNews, a friend of mine, Rob Bluey, friend of mine, later, I met him later. His wife was a graphic artist. And he says do you think this is possible? She says no, because that font didn’t exist in that time frame. If you go to Wikipedia and type in Killian documents, that’s the guy who gave the documents to Dan Rather. You can see a video that shows you how they were different. And I really feel like unfortunately this movie is called “Truth” but that is based on the producer’s book.
KELLY: Mary Mapes.
PERINO: Her book called “Truth” --
KELLY: Who has been disgraced.
PERINO: Completely. She has not worked in television since. And for good reason.
KELLY: And now she’s got Kate Blanchett playing her. And out there, you know, from the look of the trailer making her sound like a hero who has been wronged, villainized by an unfair media when, in fact, her behavior led to Dan Rather having to come out publicly and own their mistakes. I mean, he came out, do we have the clip? Watch what Dan Rather was ultimately forced to say in case you don’t see this in truth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN RATHER: The failure of CBS News to do just that to properly fully scrutinize the documents and their source led to our airing the documents when we should not have done so. It was a mistake. CBS News deeply regrets it. Also, I want to say personally and directly, I’m sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Unbelievable.
PERINO: So he apologizes then. Then he takes CBS to court, gets laughed out by the judge. That’s a lawsuit that’s going nowhere. And now, in Hollywood glory, they try to retell the story. In Hollywood fashion with wonderful actors, telling truth, which actually turns out not to be true. So, I think it’s really important that people watch The Kelly Fine. Read Kyle Smith in “The New York Post,” his review of this movie, absolutely destroyed it point by point
