"Rather warns media is in 'state of crisis'"

Dan Rather was in town, and he was talking to some folks at San Antonio College about the state of the mainstream media in this nation. He said some interesting things during the course of his chat, and the Express-News reported this:

Rather said that when it comes to the media, this country is “in a state of crisis.”

“Those who dumb down the news, trivialize the news with in-studio shouting matches passing for debate,” Rather said, “those who tart up the news with celebrity gossip, scandal and sensationalism are playing right into the hands of those that stand to gain the most from the news being seen as irrelevant and trivial and no more or less worth your attention than the next episode of ‘American Idol.'”

He elaborated: “I worry that if it becomes no more than a reality show, something that could be scripted and rigged behind the scenes without anyone really getting upset about it, that our freedom of the press will become another one of those constitutionally granted rights that can be watered down and eventually taken away from us.”

Seriously? This guy -- who had to step down from his job because he presented a news segment on 60 Minutes Wednesday bashing then-president George Bush just before his re-election (and the entire segment was based on fake documents!) -- this guy is accusing others of "tart[ing] up the news with ... scandal and sensationalism"? This guy is worried about news that is "scripted and rigged behind the scenes"?

Geez.

If Natalie Maines can be ashamed that the President comes from Texas, then I can be ashamed that this guy comes from Texas as well.