The Media Mob has learned that a team of Hollywood insiders is currently working on a screen adaptation of Truth And Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power—the 2005 book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, in which she defends the 60 Minutes II story by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, which ran on CBS in September 2004 and eventually led to her ouster from the network.

Who would want to turn "Rathergate" into a feature-length film?

According to sources familiar with the situation, Producer Mikkel Bondesen, (his credits include serving as executive producer on the USA Network series "Burn Notice") is actively working on the adaptation with screenwriter James Vanderbilt.  read more »

Dan Rather and his lawyers were back in a Lower Manhattan courthouse late Wednesday afternoon for yet another round in Mr. Rather's ongoing $70 million civil lawsuit against his former employers.

Over the course of a 45-minute hearing in front of Justice Ira Gammerman, tempers occasionally flared as the lawyers for both sides argued over a number of issues, ranging from the scheduling of depositions to the transparency of the discovery process.

On the latter issue, Mr. Rather and his lawyers petitioned the justice to release a number of key documents turned up in discovery.  read more »

This past weekend at the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, Dan Rather delivered a wide-ranging speech that lasted some twenty or so minutes. Along the way, he criticized media consolidation, the corporate news environment, "message discipline," media cowardice, news-for-profit, celebrity fluff, "so-called human interest stories," sensational trials, gossip, "news you can use," partisan shouting matches, and a whole range of other journalistic sins.  read more »

Today, for the umpteenth time, the legal teams of Dan Rather and CBS appeared back in court in lower Manhattan, for yet another round of legal gymnastics over Mr. Rather's $70 million civil suit against his former employers.

Nearly two weeks ago, on April 10, Justice Ira Gammerman of the New York Supreme Court made his first major ruling in the case, dismissing 4 of Mr. Rather's 7 initial causes for action (including the claim of fraud) while allowing several issues (including breach of contract) to move forward.  read more »

The Media Mob has learned that after several months of hearing from lawyers on both sides of the case, Justice Ira Gammerman of the New York Supreme Court has just made a ruling regarding CBS's motion to dismiss the $70 million civil lawsuit that Dan Rather initially brought against CBS back on Sept. 19, 2007.

In short: The case will proceed on a limited basis.

Lawyers for CBS did succeed, however, in knocking down several major aspects of Mr. Rather's suit.  read more »

Yesterday the legal teams for Dan Rather and CBS appeared in New York Supreme Court, where they told Justice Ira Gammerman that the two sides had more or less agreed on terms for the discovery process moving forward in Mr. Rather's $70 million suit against his former bosses.  read more »

Today, the legal teams for Dan Rather and CBS were back in New York Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan.

During a brief hearing, the two sides told Justice Ira Gammerman that they had more or less reached an agreement on most of the issues, regarding the discovery process in Mr. Rather’s $70 million civil suit against his former bosses.

Lawyer Jim Quinn, who is representing CBS, told the Media Mob on Wednesday afternoon, that CBS had agreed to produce “virtually all of the materials” which Mr. Rather’s lawyers had asked for.  read more »

On Wednesday afternoon, in New York Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan, Justice Ira Gammerman decided to allow Dan Rather's $70 million civil lawsuit against his former bosses to move forward into the discovery phase.

Afterwards, Mr. Rather stood in the hallway outside the courtroom, surrounded by reporters, and said he was "pleased" by the justice's decision, which would "put us on the road" to finding out "what really happened."  read more »

On Friday evening, Dan Rather appeared on the Fox Business Network.

During the interview, FBN's Neil Cavuto asked Mr. Rather how he would respond if CBS honchos offered to settle his $70 million civil lawsuit against them.

"I certainly would look at it, that's not to say whether we would accept it or not," said Mr. Rather. "I want the truth to come out about this, and if the truth reflects badly on me when we get to discovery and find out what really happened in this case, then so be it."

Tonight at 6pm, according to an FBN press staffer, Neil Cavuto will be interviewing Dan Rather on FBN about subjects ranging from presidential politics to Mr. Rather's recent talk with the late Benazir Bhutto.