Goebbels would have been proud...
DAN RATHER: NOT KNOWN HOW MANY CASUALTIES
CBS NEWS hit total embarrassment Friday afternoon when anchor Dan
Rather, in full pancake makeup, and Pentagon correspondent David
Martin were caught rehearsing coverage of a U.S. bombing run on Iraq
-- a rehearsal that was mistakenly beamed to television affiliates via
satellite!
For 20 minutes, Rather could been seen on the satellite going through
the motions of a bombing.
According to one viewer who witnessed the spectacle, Rather at one
point described how it was not known how many casualties were caused
by the bombings.
"It felt like WAG THE DOG," a senior news producer at a major-market
affiliate told us. "I bet the network is living in fear that someone
on the receiving end of the transmission had tape rolling."
"It looked like a real broadcast of what was going on," Bill McClure,
master control operator at WTAP-TV in Parkersburg, W.Va., an NBC
affiliate, told the ASSOCIATED PRESS.
The network wanted to test new graphics and theme music that would be
used to cover the story, according to CBS NEWS spokeswoman Kerri
Weitzberg. No word on testing camera angles that would work best
during February sweeps.