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Thursday, June 15, 2006
Dan Rather into the sunset?
Part-time Austinite and life-long Texan Dan Rather will not be part of “60 Minutes” in the fall, according to Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. In fact, he will not be part of CBS at all, his professional home for four decades.
Kurtz reports that CBS executives will ease the 74-year-old Rather out of the last vestiges of his contract when Katie Couric joins CBS as “Evening News” anchor and “60 Minutes” correspondent in September. Rather’s contract is supposed to run until November.
Neither CBS nor Rather is commenting on this latest slap at the man who inherited Walter Cronkite’s throne and occupied it for 24 years. That sometimes rocky reign ended in March 2005, when Rather was forced to apologize for a poorly sourced story about President Bush’s National Guard service during the Vietnam War.
I’ve always thought Rather was one of the least comfortable anchors on network television. When he wasn’t spouting “Ratherisms” (“He looks like he’s been rode hard and put away wet!”), Rather seemed stiff, like a stallion forced into a too-small stall.
But I’ve also always thought Rather is one of television’s best, most tenacious reporters. It’s a shame his career ended on such a sour note — and mostly because he put too much trust in the producer, Mary Mapes, who failed to verify documents on which the National Guard story was based.
If it’s any consolation to Rather, CBS treated Uncle Walter shabbily, too. When Rather became anchor, forcing Cronkite into a retirement he really didn’t want, Cronkite was basically banished from the air. He turned up on cable specials about space, and he was allowed to maintain an office at Black Rock. But he was shoved aside.
Will we ever see Dan Rather on TV again? Or will we just have to catch him ambling through Whole Foods, near his downtown Austin condo?
It’s hard to imagine Rather sitting still for long. Sure, he loves to fish and play with his grandkids, but he’s too energetic, smart and restless to languish for long. It would surprise no one if he turned up on CNN — or even Fox — and began trotting the globe once again.
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