Rather leaves CBS in unceremonious end

By Mark Egan

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Newsman Dan Rather is leaving the CBS
network after 44 years as an anchor and reporter with his
departure clouded by a reporting scandal over President George
W. Bush’s military record.

His career highlights ranged across the spectrum of recent
U.S. history, from the 1963 assassination of President John F.
Kennedy to the Watergate scandal that brought down President
Richard Nixon in 1974.

“Of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the
biggest and brightest on the marquee are (Edward R.) Murrow,
(Walter) Cronkite and Rather,” CBS News and Sports President
Sean McManus said of the man who was CBS’s news anchor for 24
years and was known for his tough reporting and odd phrases.

CBS News said it would air a prime-time special to mark
Rather’s career in the fall but that it could not reach a deal
to renew his contract, which was to expire in November.

But some said the departure of Rather, 74, whose reputation
was tarnished in 2004 by reporting a subsequently discredited
report on Bush’s military record, was an unceremonious end for
a great newsman.

“You never expect someone who’s been the face of the
network for so long to just be given an office which is
essentially a closet … and then not to be given air time and
then to have it leaked to the press that he’s being booted,”
said New Yorker media critic Ken Auletta. “It’s jarring.”

Rather stepped down as anchor last March and has since
worked for “60 Minutes.” But he has complained of getting
little air time since the scandal.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Rather on Friday saying he was
rebuffed when he offered to help cover Hurricane Katrina, Iraq
and Afghanistan. “They just said, ‘Not interested.”‘

Rather was one of the big three network anchors who
dominated television news for two decades — Rather on CBS,
Peter Jennings on ABC and Tom Brokaw on NBC. Jennings died of
lung cancer last August, less than a year after both Brokaw and
Rather stepped down as anchors. Former NBC “Today” show co-host
Katie Couric was hired for the CBS News anchor job.

Rather’s office said he had no immediate comment.

Rather first came to prominence at CBS for his 1961
coverage of Hurricane Carla as it swept through Texas, where he
tied himself to a tree so he could keep reporting from the eye
of the storm, and he won a national reputation during the
Kennedy assassination.

In 1980 he slipped into Afghanistan in disguise following
the Soviet invasion, earning himself the nickname “Gunga Dan.”
Then in 1981 he replaced broadcast legend Walter Cronkite,
known as “the most trusted man in America,” as CBS anchor.

His broadcasts were known for his quirky “Ratherisms,” such
as on election night 2004 when he called the race “hotter than
a Times Square Rolex” and noted, “We used to say if a frog had
side pockets, he’d carry a handgun.”

On election night 2000, contested by Al Gore and Bush,
Rather said: “This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit
on a too-long ride home from the beach.”

But he was a lightning rod for conservatives who accused
him of liberal bias after heated exchanges with Republicans.
During a combative 1974 exchange with Nixon, the president was
prompted to ask, “Are you running for something?” to which
Rather shot back, “No, sir … are you?”

(Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons)