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Rather’s parting words for CBS
After mostly remaining silent about his shabby treatment at the hands of CBS News, Dan Rather, who was released from the network after 44 years of service, has just released the following statement:
“I appreciate the words and gestures contained in today’s press release by CBS.
I leave CBS News with tremendous memories. But I leave now most of all with the desire to once again do regular, meaningful reporting. My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS’s final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there. 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.
As I go about deciding where and with whom that can best be done, I want to say how grateful I am to have worked with so many outstanding CBS men and women over the years. From producers, to correspondents, to technical crews, it has been my great fortune to have had some of the best pros in journalism at my back and at my side. They are the true heart of CBS News, and they will always have my respect.
Too much is made of anchors and their personalities, their ups and downs. The larger issues — the role of a free press and of honest, real news in a democracy, the role of technology in supporting a free press, the “corporatization” of news and its effects on news content — all deserve more attention, more discussion and more passionate debate.
I’ll see you soon.â€?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: News coverage
Comments
By michael gibson
June 21, 2006 12:19 PM | Link to this
It is my wish that DAN RATHER
join HOWARD STERN............
I do not want to SEE or HEAR
them ever again
By Tangia
June 21, 2006 02:17 AM | Link to this
What about Connie Chung escapade as related to the cancellation of her and Maury's show?
By Kathleen Jone
June 20, 2006 09:10 PM | Link to this
Mr. Rather, My question to you. Why, if you are so against the "corporatization" of news did you become a part of the corporation? As a daughter of a Catskill Mountains dairy farmer I have never been "part of the herd". To me, the worth of an individual far exceeds any company profit.