Dan Rather

Dan Rather (2006)

Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (born October 31, 1931 in Wharton , Wharton County , Texas ) is an American journalist . He served as the newscaster for the CBS Evening News for 24 years (March 9, 1981 to March 9, 2005) . He then worked for the CBS show 60 Minutes . In mid-2006, Rather left CBS.

biography

Years of training

Rather was born in 1931 to Daniel Irvin Rather Sr. and Byrl Veda Rather, née Page. After graduating from high school, he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Sam Houston State University in 1953 . There he was also editor of the school newspaper The Houstonian . He then began studying at the South Texas College of Law , where he has had an honorary degree since 1990.

Career start

In 1950, Rather took his first job as a reporter for the Associated Press in Huntsville , Texas. He then worked for United Press International , several radio stations and the Houston Chronicle, among others . 1959 began his television career when he switched to KTRK-TV. He went to KHOU-TV to become the head of the news department.

In 1961, Rather reported live from Galveston , Texas how Hurricane Carla hit the coast. CBS loved him and signed him in 1962.

CBS News

Rather was the first reporter to cover the death of John F. Kennedy . His reporting also in the following years drew a lot of attention from the management at CBS. In 1964 he therefore became the White House correspondent . A short time later, he also became the moderator of the Sunday evening news on CBS. His hard research and consistent coverage of the Watergate affair made him famous.

He became the chief correspondent for CBS News Special Reports and a contributor to the CBS program 60 Minutes . Success in these roles made him a candidate to succeed Walter Cronkite as chief ranchor and editor-in-chief of the CBS Evening News . On March 9, 1981, he took over this position. With the words “That's part of our world tonight” he ended his show for almost 20 years. From 1993 to 1995 Rather Connie Chung was co-anchor at the side. On March 9, 2005, he directed the show for the last time.

In 2003 he conducted a sensational TV interview with Saddam Hussein , in which he spoke to him about the suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the impending war in the USA.

For a short time he worked again as a correspondent for 60 Minutes , but was mainly touring the USA. In June 2006 it was announced that CBS News will no longer renew Rather's contract and that Rather is leaving CBS after 44 years. He later worked as a producer for the Internet television channel HDNet and hosted a weekly program.

Bush controversy and resignation

During the election campaign for the 2004 presidential election , Rather presented documents on the show 60 Minutes , which were supposed to prove that President George W. Bush had evaded military service in the Vietnam War by manipulating his service with the National Guard instead of by influential friends Texas graduated. However, the documents that were supposed to prove improper influence turned out to be forgeries. Rather, who was previously considered a (left) liberal, was accused of trying to influence the political climate against Bush in an undue manner before the election. CBS did not admit until two weeks after the show that it had been "misled", Rather said he had acted "in good faith". The controversy accelerated Rather's retirement as a CBS newscaster. He hosted his last Evening News program on March 9, 2005. In 2007, Rather sued his former broadcaster for $ 70 million in damages; he was made a “scapegoat” for mistakes made by the broadcaster. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2009.

Social media

Since the beginning of 2018, Rather has been working for the online news portal TYT-Network ( The Young Turks ) as part of a weekly show "The News with Dan Rather". In the half-hour YouTube videos, Rather presents his perspective on current political and social issues.

At the age of 85, he became active in social media in 2017 to critically question Donald Trump's information policy . His Facebook community has over 2.5 million followers.

author

In 2017, he and documentary producer Elliot Kirschner published the book What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism , which rose to the bestseller lists.

Trivia

• In the US TV series Cougar Town , Rather is mentioned by the main character Jules Cobb (played by Courteney Cox ) when she is asked by her friend Laurie Keller (played by Busy Philipps ) who she would like to have sex with.

• Rather was attacked on his way home in 1986 by a stranger who kept yelling at him, "Kenneth, what's the frequency?" ("Kenneth, what's the frequency?"). This incident sparked speculation about the meaning of this sentence, including espionage stories, and inspired Michael Stipe to write the REM song "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" It was not until years later that it was discovered that the psychologically confused perpetrator, William Tager - who had since murdered a television employee - believed that signals were being sent to his head via television waves.

• The circumstances of Rather's resignation as part of the Bush controversy were processed in the 2015 film The Moment of Truth . Robert Redford played the role of Dan Rather.

Web links

Commons : Dan Rather  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dan Rather in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dan Rather: TV legend stumbles upon Bush report Spiegel online , November 24, 2004, accessed August 21, 2019
2. ^ Dan Rather loses $ 70 million lawsuit against CBS Reuters , September 29, 2009, accessed August 21, 2019
3. ↑ The News With Dan Rather | TYT Network. Retrieved April 3, 2018 (American English). 
4. ↑ Dan Rather on Facebook
5. ↑ TV Recap: “Cougar Town,” 'A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)' ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed on August 2, 2010