It’s been almost 20 years since Dan Rather signed off from the anchor desk here at CBS News. Of the so-called “Big Three” TV anchormen back in the day, watched by some 50 million people a night, Rather was there the longest, almost a quarter-century.
In his 44 years with CBS, Rather held every post a network reporter could: bureau chief, war correspondent, foreign correspondent, White House correspondent.
But in 2006, a little more than a year after he stepped down from the anchor desk, Rather left CBS itself. “Dan Rather, CBS News, became sorta all part of my name, a part of my identity,” he said.
This is the first time he’s appeared on this network since: “Without apology or explanation, I miss CBS. I’ve missed it since the day I left there.”
Even at 92, how and why he left still stings. He said, “In the heart of every reporter worthy of their name, Lee, there’s a message that news, real news is what somebody somewhere — particularly somebody in power – doesn’t want you to know. That’s news.”
And that’s what got him into trouble.
In 2004 Rather filed a report for “60 Minutes II” that questioned George W. Bush’s service record in the Texas Air National Guard, reporting on “new documents and new information” about the president’s military service. But the documents on which Rather and his producer based their reporting could not be later authenticated.
On September 20, 2004, Rather broadcast an apology. “It was a mistake,” he said. “CBS News deeply regrets it. Also, I want to say, personally and directly, I’m sorry.”
Asked if that was his lowest point, Rather replied, “Of course, it was the lowest point. I gave CBS News everything I had. They had smarter, better, more talented people, but they didn’t have anybody who worked any harder than I did.”
I’d only been at CBS a few years by then, during which Dan Rather had kindly and unexpectedly taken me under his wing. He made me feel welcome.
Minus the suspenders and his cigars, Rather remains just as I remember him: an intently curious, thoughtful, well-read skeptic, who wants nothing more than to wear out his shoe-leather chasing the next headline.
Asked what made him want to become a reporter in the first place, Rather said, “I’ve never quite known the answer to that question. All I know is, it’s the only thing I ever wanted to be, was a reporter. I get up every morning and as soon as my feet hit the ground, I say, where’s the story?”
Source : https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dan-rather-at-92-on-a-life-in-news