On The Media: On Dan Rather

November 27th, 2004

This week’s edition of On the Media features an editorial from Brooke Gladstone on Dan Rather’s announcement that he will leave the CBS Evening News in March 2004.

Gladstone’s analysis of Rather’s career as America’s “first and only ‘extreme anchor’” is dead-on. She gives Rather the credit he is due, and rebuts the accusations of bias and liberalism that will surely follow him to the grave. Sure he’s been easy to telegraph, Gladstone seems to say, but at least he’s a human being…and a brave one at that.

This is also a great radio story. She includes many familiar sound bites from Rather’s career. (My favorite is the convention-floor confrontation, “Get your hands off me! Unless you plan to arrest me, take your hands off me!” The ever-sober Walter Cronkite then remarks: “Those appear to be security men around Dan.”)

However, she also includes audio of Rather breaking down into tears mid-sentence during his appearance on David Letterman’s The Late Show shortly after the events of September 11, 2001. I don’t think this footage has been shown on TV in conjunction with the career retrospectives that have accompanied news stories of Rather’s announcement. But as an audio clip, it sums up Rather in just a few seconds as an anchor who is both professional and emotional.

Here’s the link.