Joseph Planta's Commentary - thecommentary.ca

Friday, 11 March 2005

The courage of Dan Rather

By Joseph Planta

"Not long after I first came to the anchor chair, I briefly signed off using the word 'courage.' I want to return to it now, in a different way, to a nation still nursing a broken heart for what happened here in 2001, and especially to those who found themselves closest to the events of September 11th. To our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in dangerous places. To those who have endured the tsunami, and to all who have suffered natural disasters and who must now find the will to rebuild. To the oppressed and to those whose lot it is to struggle in financial hardship or in failing health. To my fellow journalists in places where reporting the truth means risking all. And to each of you, courage. For the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather reporting. Good night."

VANCOUVER - And so signed off Dan Rather for the last time after 24 years-24 years to the day he succeeded the quintessential American news anchor, Walter Cronkite.

Dan Rather has been a figure of much debate over his many years as an anchor and as a news correspondent. 24 years as anchor, and some 20 years before that he was a rising star in the CBS News stable. The thing I noticed about his signoff was the curious way he attached himself to the September 11th tragedy. Mind you, Tom Brokaw, when he stepped aside alluded to his books on the so-called "Greatest Generation." Then again, Brokaw's legacy of illuminating a generation of Americans who sacrificed and fought in the Second World War is perhaps a nicer legacy to boast than the near whimper that Rather goes out on, the unreliable documents with which he based a 60 Minutes report on regarding President Bush's National Guard service.

On that special that aired after in primetime lauding Rather's career, it was quite evident that Rather reinvented the myth of the anchor, by almost diversifying his own role, insisting that he be titled anchor-reporter. Being a reporter was what Rather always wanted to do, and it is how he'd like to be remembered. One wonders then why he wanted the anchor job in the first place. Even when he was tapped to replace Cronkite in 1981, he did not want to be "just a house plant," a snipe at Cronkite and other anchors who rarely ventured out of the studio. There was Rather, in the field throughout his 24 years as the anchor of the CBS newscast. He'd report in hurricanes, he'd go to war zones, he'd nab big interviews. Even Cronkite got his digs in, and not the recently reported ones in the press. In his memoir, A Reporter's Life, on page 356 Cronkite scorns the practice of 'big-footing,' "this business of an anchor moving in to take a story away from correspondents already in the field." He goes on a bit after, "there is a danger that the anchor's mere presence may distort the importance of an otherwise comparatively insignificant event."

This week, I talked with Kevin Newman, a former co-host of ABC's Good Morning America, who now anchors the national newscast on the Global Network here in Canada, Global National. I asked about travelling the show, and he said more than anything else, it had to do with getting people's attention. It had its purpose, sure, but thanks to modern technology bringing the broadcast to a location of newsworthiness is perhaps more ideal than lifting visuals from pool feeds.

In my conversation with Newman (which you can find here: http://www.thecommentary.ca/ontheline/20050307b.html), I made mention of the extensive, but incredibly wonderful piece by Ken Auletta in a recent edition of the New Yorker. The 13-page piece was a look at Rather as he left the anchors chair at CBS. In the piece was the odd tidbit that 60 Minutes founder and past producer Don Hewitt, 60 Minutes Senior Correspondent Mike Wallace, and Walter Cronkite, do not watch the Rather newscast. It seems that all three-professed friends of Rather-listed Peter Jennings at ABC or Brokaw, now Brian Williams at NBC are their preferred anchors. Wallace observed to Auletta that Rather's style reinforces the impression of bias, "He's uptight, and occasionally contrived. I don't find him as satisfying to watch." It's a curious statement especially considering the ignominy had by Rather and the CBS News division in light of the National Guard debacle.

Particularly painful must be this passage as Auletta wrote: "Cronkite, who said that he often watched Brokaw, agreed with Wallace. To viewers, he said, it seemed 'that Dan was playing a role of newsman, that he was conscious of this, whereas the other two appeared to be more the third-party reporter.'" Then it was widely reported that last week, Cronkite told CNN that he would have liked Bob Schieffer, who succeeded Rather Thursday night, in the CBS anchor chair "a long time ago. He would have given the others a real run for their money." Probed further by Wolf Blitzer, Cronkite said, "It's quite a tribute to [Dan Rather] that . . . CBS held on to him so long under those circumstances." And what circumstances were those? Well, those that perennially placed Rather in third place behind Brokaw and Jennings. It really isn't good that Cronkite, who's nearing 90, would be so critical of his successor.

Word is that Cronkite is quite sore that Rather did succeed him when he did. Cronkite vacated in 1981 when he was 65. Rather leaves at 74, and it's obvious that Cronkite could have stayed on for a bit longer. In the New Yorker piece, Cronkite reports that he has an office at CBS as a consultant, but he is rarely consulted. Other gossip says that Cronkite would have liked to do documentaries on CBS, but since his retirement, he's hardly done any, and that it was Rather who had a hand in that. Adding to the war of surreptitious snipes, comes an anonymous 'Rather loyalist,' who attacks Cronkite by saying that he lived long enough to see his successor leave under a cloud of controversy. It's getting nasty, no?

As for my preferred anchorman, whenever I do watch the American evening newscasts, I always like Tom Brokaw, and have liked Brian Williams since his succeeding of Brokaw at NBC. I always thought Jennings was the best dressed, but I never really liked his broadcast. Rather, I rather did not watch often. But I did watch him on his final broadcast. I'm always sentimental, and so I tuned in to him. Admittedly, I will tune into Schieffer, because I've always liked him. He's a fine reporter, as well as one of the more honest figures around. When news surfaced that Schieffer would take over on an interim basis, it was welcome news all around. Now, what if he gets ratings?

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Tonight, Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods has its opening night at the Capilano College Performing Arts Theatre (2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver). Into the Woods takes a dark look at the fairy tales that we've all grown up with. They're not all that happy as we thought they were, or so Sondheim says in this richly sophisticated and thought-provoking work, which like all Sondheim is so. It runs until the 19th with tickets $17.00 for adults, $11.00 for students and seniors. Call the Capilano College box office at 604.990.7810 for tickets.

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And for your listening this weekend, you should check out my interview with Maclean's magazine's Brian D. Johnson, http://www.thecommentary.ca/ontheline/20050311a.html It's an interesting chat, and we talked about Canadian films and more. Mr. Johnson will kick off the cross-country In Conversation with Maclean's series on Monday, 14 March 2005 at the Stanley Theatre. Johnson will host the acclaimed filmmaker Atom Egoyan, and actor/producer/director Paul Gross. For details about the event, go to: http://www.macleans.ca/m100.

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