Dan Rather talks to a cameraman before a news conference at the CBS Broadcast Center on Oct. 18, 2001 in New York. Dan Rather, the hard-charging anchorman who dominated CBS News for more than two decades but whose final months were clouded by a discredited story on the president's military service, is leaving CBS after 44 years, the network announced Tuesday, June 22, 2006.
The bygone era of news anchordom has officially gone bye-bye.
After 44 years of service, and more than a year after stepping down from anchoring the CBS Evening News in the wake of a discredited report on President Bush's military service, Dan Rather and the Eye network are cutting ties.
CBS News president Sean McManus made the announcement Tuesday, characterizing the split as amicable. But Rather felt otherwise. In his own statement, the veteran newsman said CBS was pushing him out the door months before his contract was due to expire in November.
"My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS's final acknowledgment, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there," he said. "As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing. So I will do the work I love elsewhere, and I look forward to sharing details about that soon."
Rather is entertaining an offer extended by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to host a weekly news program for the HDNet cable/satellite channel.
Tuesday's news was hardly shocking; there had been much speculation in recent days that the 74-year-old journalist was on the outs after CBS declined to extend his contract for 60 Minutes, where he had been contributing segments since retiring from the anchor desk.
Rather had just eight stories broadcast on the top-rated newsmagazine last season, considerably fewer than his fellow correspondents. The competition for air time was only likely to increase with CNN's Anderson Cooper entering the mix with contributions to 60 Minutes next season.
Despite the behind-the-scenes hard feelings, CBS suits tried to put a positive spin on Rather's exit.
"Of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the biggest and brightest on the marquee are Murrow, Cronkite and Rather," McManus said. "With the utmost respect, we mark the extraordinary and singular role Dan has played in writing the script of not only CBS News, but of broadcast journalism.
"There will always be a part of Dan Rather at CBS News. He is truly a 'reporter's reporter,' and he has helped to train several generations of broadcast journalists. His legacy cannot be replaced."
Les Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS Corp. also waxed elegiac. "For more than four decades, Dan Rather has approached the job of broadcast journalist with a singular passion, dedication and, always, an unwavering desire to tell the story to the American public," said Moonves. "The unique mark he has left on his craft is indelible."
Rather will be further honored by the network with a prime-time special this fall, a retrospective devoted to the newsman's prolific and legendary career.
One lowlight that probably won't be featured: the so-called "Memogate" story.
In September 2004, Rather filed a story with 60 Minutes that used documents, later proven to be falsified, that claimed President Bush was given preferential treatment while serving in the Texas Air National Guard. While CBS and Rather defended their story, an independent panel later ruled that the network had aired shoddy, unsubstantiated journalism.
The findings resulted in the firing of three CBS News employees and, six months later, Rather's stepping down from his anchor post.
When asked by USA Today last week whether the report led to his eventual resignation, Rather said, "That's history. I'm not interested in going there. I'm focused on the future."
Still, the incident was hardly indicative of the newsman's career. After joining CBS News in 1962, Rather covered JFK's assassination, interviewed every U.S. president from Eisenhower to Clinton and reported on wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Persian Gulf and Iraq.
Since stepping down last March, Bob Schieffer has held down the nightly news fort, and will do so until September, when Katie Couric makes her highly publicized move to the chair.
As part of his send-off, CBS will also make a donation in Rather's name to the reporter's alma mater, Sam Houston State University.
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