Rather eyes exit after 44-year CBS run
Rather eyes door
June 20, 2006
NEW YORK -- CBS is expected to announce Tuesday that former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather will leave the company after 44 years at the network.
Rather's contract runs through November but he is expected to leave the network immediately to pursue other opportunities.
A news release most likely will be issued Tuesday morning. A special tribute to Rather's career is expected to appear on Tuesday night's "CBS Evening News."
Rather didn't respond to a request for interview Monday.
The move was widely expected in the past few weeks after the 74-year-old had said that he would be leaving CBS after negotiations on a new contract hadn't guaranteed him anything but an office at the network.
After leaving "CBS Evening News" in March 2005, Rather became a full-time correspondent with "60 Minutes." While he filed several stories that appeared on "60 Minutes," Rather was said to be unhappy that he hadn't been working on anything in recent weeks.
Rather's position with the network had been strained after a September 2004 report he did for "60 Minutes Wednesday" that questioned President Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War. The report, which was prepared by producer Mary Mapes and only involved Rather minimally, was based upon documents that failed to live up to intense scrutiny.
Mapes was fired, and three other executives were forced to resign. Rather wasn't disciplined but said before Thanksgiving 2004 that he would leave the anchor desk the following March.
Rather is said to be talking to others about opportunities, including doing a one-hour newscast/interview show for HDNet. HDNet chief Mark Cuban confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that he was talking to the former CBS News anchor.
Rather's departure would close a career with CBS News that has been, with the exception of the National Guard story, one of the most distinguished in network news history.
After becoming famous as the reporter who first confirmed that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in November 1963 in Dallas, Rather's career has taken him to covering the Johnson and Nixon White Houses, Watergate, the Vietnam War, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and both the Persian Gulf war and the war in Iraq, among many others.
He was anchor of "CBS Evening News" from 1981-2005.
&summary=Article%20about%20Rather eyes exit after 44-year CBS runRather's contract runs through November but he is expected to leave the network immediately to pursue other opportunities.
A news release most likely will be issued Tuesday morning. A special tribute to Rather's career is expected to appear on Tuesday night's "CBS Evening News."
Rather didn't respond to a request for interview Monday.
The move was widely expected in the past few weeks after the 74-year-old had said that he would be leaving CBS after negotiations on a new contract hadn't guaranteed him anything but an office at the network.
After leaving "CBS Evening News" in March 2005, Rather became a full-time correspondent with "60 Minutes." While he filed several stories that appeared on "60 Minutes," Rather was said to be unhappy that he hadn't been working on anything in recent weeks.
Rather's position with the network had been strained after a September 2004 report he did for "60 Minutes Wednesday" that questioned President Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War. The report, which was prepared by producer Mary Mapes and only involved Rather minimally, was based upon documents that failed to live up to intense scrutiny.
Mapes was fired, and three other executives were forced to resign. Rather wasn't disciplined but said before Thanksgiving 2004 that he would leave the anchor desk the following March.
Rather is said to be talking to others about opportunities, including doing a one-hour newscast/interview show for HDNet. HDNet chief Mark Cuban confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that he was talking to the former CBS News anchor.
Rather's departure would close a career with CBS News that has been, with the exception of the National Guard story, one of the most distinguished in network news history.
After becoming famous as the reporter who first confirmed that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in November 1963 in Dallas, Rather's career has taken him to covering the Johnson and Nixon White Houses, Watergate, the Vietnam War, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and both the Persian Gulf war and the war in Iraq, among many others.
He was anchor of "CBS Evening News" from 1981-2005.
&source=The Hollwood Reporter">
Share on LinkedIn
