CBS fought very hard on this because it believed and believes that there's a principle at stake here. The principle is that Dan Rather doesn't work for the police, and that people that speak to Dan Rather understand that he's a journalist and not a police agent.
“I was able to do The Saint of Fort Washington, on the relationship between two homeless men.”
“I waited tables in New York, and when you're in that line of work, you often have a horrible boss.”