Ex-CBS newsman Dan Rather has launched a 70 million U.S. dollar lawsuit against CBS and his former bosses Wednesday, claiming they made an unsubstantiated report about his "discredited" story about President George W. Bush's military service.

Rather, 75, who left CBS News 15 months ago, filed the 32-page lawsuit to restore his reputation in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

Rather claimed he was removed from his longtime CBS Radio commentary because of pressure from the right wing following the 2004 airing of the controversial "60 Minutes II" report on Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.

Rather also accused CBS of violating his contract by purposely cutting into his allotted airtime when he stepped down but the contract entitled him a regular correspondent's position on 60 Minutes.

His lawyer, Martin Gold, said that Rather's "national reputation for excellent, non-partisan independent journalism was intentionally damaged by CBS, Viacom and their senior executives, who sacrificed independent journalism for corporate financial interests."

However, CBS said in a statement "these complaints are old news and this lawsuit is without merit."

(Agencies via Xinhua September 21, 2007)