Friday, January 11, 2019

My eye on “Black Eye”

Power Line  "The new Fox Nation subscription service posted the documentary Black Eye: Dan Rather and the Birth of Fake News at 6:00 a.m. (Eastern) this morning. The documentary revisits the Rathergate scandal from its origin in the 2000 presidential
campaign to the 2015 film Truth and slightly beyond. I have now watched the documentary and want to offer a few notes with my impressions on it for what they may be worth.

"The producers made a house call on John and me at the outset of their work on the documentary. Clips of our interview appear in the documentary several times. I feel too close to the story to judge it fairly. Please take everything I have to say with that reservation. I hope Power Line readers will view the documentary. It memorializes an important piece of history that has already receded into the mists of the ancient past.

" It’s an excellent documentary. It runs for 90 minutes, but it is incredibly fast-paced. It is interesting throughout. I think I know a lot about the Rathergate story, but I learned from the documentary while finding the whole thing of interest from beginning to end. The pell-mell pace makes me wonder whether the documentary should have been longer or extended into several parts. In any event, I am grateful that the film Truth will not be the last word on the scandal in video form.

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