Did Dan Rather Invent a Source When He Broke the Death of JFK?

[LanceyHoward]

Dan Rather is credited with breaking the news of JFK's death. Rather was not at Dealey Plaza or Parkland Hospital. Robert Pierpoint was the CBS White House correspondent and traveling with the President. Rather was in town mostly to shoot an interview with former Vice-President John Nance Garner and to be an extra body. Rather claims he got the story by calling the Parkland Hospital switchboard- which must have been overwhelmed- from the newsroom of the local CBS affiliate, KRLD, and asking if the President had died. An operator then transferred him to a medical doctor who confirmed the death. Rather never got the doctor's name.

I offer an alternative theory. KRLD was reporting that Kennedy had died. Walter Cronkite even went on the air and said KRLD was just reporting rumors. Rather, who was sitting at KRLD, decided to invent the doctor and the hospital call and use KRLD reporting and report the death as fact. And Rather's career really took off.

The reason I believe Rather invented his source is that even a high school reporter would have gotten the name of the doctor.

 

[Mr. X]

What more is known about the call? Perhaps Rather asked for the doctor's name and he didn't give it or hung up before Rather asked for it.

I hope someone can ask Dan Rather about this.

 

[Liut]

KRLD

My understanding is twice Rather got through to Parkland speaking to a physician and a clergyman, though not certain who was first.

 

[LanceyHoward]

What more is known about the call? Perhaps Rather asked for the doctor's name and he didn't give it or hung up before Rather asked for it.

I hope someone can ask Dan Rather about this.

If you can not come up with at least a name how do you know the veracity of the source? How can you go with the story as factual?

 

[LanceyHoward]

KRLD

My understanding is twice Rather got through to Parkland speaking to physician and a clergyman

Did he get a name for the clergyman?

 

[Songbird]

Does this invalidate all of Dan's tweets?

 

[PCLoadLetter]

So is JFK actually alive?

 

[Twirling Time]

Nobody at this point can validate this until Mr. Kenneth Lug Nuts cops to it himself.

 

[Slacker]

"What's the frequency, Lancey?"

 

[Azrael]

Why?

 

[BTExpress]

People didn't just become unethical and take dubious shortcuts during this generation of news reporting.

 

[WriteThinking]

I actually just started looking around here for an RIP thread on Dan Rather. I'm not invalidating the question. The action is probably not beyond the realm of possibility. But I'm wondering, why has this thread come up now? Any particular reason, or link, or something that somebody saw or read?