In September 2004, Dan Rather, the gravel-voiced anchor of the CBS Evening News , ran a story about President George W. Bush's National Guard service. The documents used to prove Bush was derelict in his duty were almost certainly forgeries. Within 24 hours, the blogosphere—specifically Little Green Footballs and Power Line —had destroyed the story. This was the downfall of legacy media. Dan Rather apologized. He resigned the anchor chair in March 2005, but the damage was done in 2004. The "downfall" was the fall of the gatekeeper. The 24-hour news cycle, once a marvel, turned into a suicide pact.
In response to these criticisms, director Hirschbiegel defended his choices, stating, "We decided anything you saw in the film had to be based on actual accounts". He and producer Bernd Eichinger argued that the greater danger was the tendency to view Hitler as a one-dimensional, raving lunatic, a perspective that allowed other Germans to "off the hook" for their complicity in his rise. As Eichinger famously said, "He turned almost the whole population of the country into his followers. I believe that in every one of us there is something very, very dangerous". The film's failure to directly address the Holocaust during the bunker scenes was also criticized, though Eichinger noted that historical records show the topic was simply not discussed there. downfall -2004-