Rather’s CBS exit “sad,” Mike Wallace says

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – Calling it a “sad, bloody
story,” veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace
expressed regret about Dan Rather’s departure from CBS News but
said Rather wasn’t finished yet.

“You wait and see, he’s going to find his place,” Wallace
told a packed house on Wednesday at the annual conference of
PromaxBDA in New York. “We’re going to be hearing from Dan.
He’s a superb reporter.”

Wallace and CNN host Larry King received the organizations’
TV Century Awards.

Wallace has in the past suggested that Rather should have
resigned for his role in the discredited “60 Minutes Wednesday”
report on President Bush’s military career that led to the
firing of one producer and the forced resignations of four
executives. But Wallace was much more conciliatory Wednesday, a
day after Rather and CBS News parted ways.

“It’s a sad, sad story. He’s a good man, a hell of a
reporter, (he) made a mistake,” Wallace said. When asked about
why Rather would go ahead with a report that seemed shaky, he
said: “I don’t know. Ask him.”

And Wallace didn’t mince words when asked whether incoming
“CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric, the longtime former
co-host of NBC’s “Today” show, has the gravitas to carry an
evening newscast.

“Katie Couric is a fine reporter, a superb interviewer,”
Wallace said.

The 88-year-old correspondent said CBS chief Leslie
Moonves’s strategy is to grab a greater share of viewers aged
25 to 54, the demographic regarded as the core audience for the
network evenings newscasts, and he believes Couric will be able
to find a way to do it.

“Forget perky. Perky is out. She is a serious individual
who wants to take on a serious job of getting more people to
watch the 6:30 p.m. news,” Wallace said. But Wallace said he
didn’t know what Couric and CBS management had in mind.

“That’s above my pay grade,” Wallace said.

The conference’s first session was highlighted by a number
of presentations as well as a musical number by Megan Mullally,
late of the NBC sitcom “Will & Grace” and this fall a
syndicated talk-show host.

The conference continues Thursday.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter