I am Reminded of the Three Rules

Before Dan Rather lost his mind -- and his job -- he wrote in his book, The Camera Never Blinks, that he expected the sources he respected to give him one of three answers:

I know, and I can tell
I don't know
I know, and I can't tell

Every source in the world, by Rather's estimation, fits into these three categories.

I was reminded of this by one of my students from last semester, that this was one of the items that really stuck with them. Good.

Our friends at Awful Announcing bring Mr. Rather back to mind with this entry about ESPN rejoining the BCS bidding war. A story written by ESPN on its own website resulted in ESPN saying that it had no further comment.

How exactly can the worldwide leader fit into the Rather system? I leave it to the readers to decide.