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A legacy squandered
A Times Editorial
Published March 3, 2005
According to 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace, Dan Rather is "uptight and occasionally contrived." Former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite - once known as the most trusted man in America - said his successor seemed to be "playing the role of newsman."
With friends and colleagues like these, Rather doesn't need enemies.
These cutting comments and more have reached the public through an expansive story in the latest New Yorker magazine by noted media reporter Ken Auletta, who deconstructs the quirky news anchor just days before Rather's retirement on March 9 after 24 years as the face of CBS News. Such criticisms, rarely voiced when Rather was secure at the helm of the CBS Evening News, now seem needlessly hurtful (both Cronkite and Wallace told Auletta they watch rival news anchors regularly).
Certainly, their frustration with Rather is understandable. Rather's stubborn defense of his seriously flawed 60 Minutes Wednesday story on President Bush's National Guard service not only hastened his retirement from the anchor chair but took a heavy toll on CBS News' credibility. Rather's oddball style also likely kept the network in third place among the three network news programs for years. And his domination of the news division kept the network from grooming a suitable successor in the way NBC prepared Brian Williams to take over from Tom Brokaw. Still, Rather has worked hard for decades to deliver important stories for CBS News, from the assassination of President Kennedy to his confrontation with Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
As Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer prepares to take over as interim anchor starting March 10, CBS is a network that seems to have lost its way. Rather, who will host his own one-hour career retrospective March 9, leaves his anchor job taking much of the blame for squandering an impressive news legacy built by legends such as Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow.
That thought is likely to weigh on Rather's mind far more than the unkind words of his soon-to-be-former colleagues at CBS News.
[Last modified March 3, 2005, 01:01:17]
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