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.
The 74-year-old Rather has complained of being virtually forgotten at CBS Corp. since his exit as anchor last year, six months after the story on President Bush’s military service aired. He has said he is considering an offer to do a weekly show at the HDNet high-definition network.
“There will always be a part of Dan Rather at CBS News,” said Sean McManus, CBS News president. “He is truly a `reporter’s reporter,’ and he has helped to train several generations of broadcast journalists. His legacy cannot be replicated.”
The Texan has worked at CBS News since 1962, covering stories ranging from the Kennedy assassination to the 2001 terrorist attacks. He was the “CBS Evening News” anchor who replaced Walter Cronkite in 1981 until signing off with the admonition “courage” on March 9, 2005.
Rather apparently hadn’t even seen the report questioning Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service before introducing it on the air in September 2004. When CBS News couldn’t substantiate the story following questions about its sources, Rather became a symbol of the incident even as he escaped official blame. Since then, Rather’s on-air appearances have been infrequent.
In interviews last week, Rather made clear the professional divorce was imminent. He told The New York Times that he wanted to stay with “60 Minutes,” but that CBS News had offered him a contract with no specific affiliation to any program.
———-
The Personals page was compiled by Cheryl Bowles from Tribune news services and staff reports.
