Dan Rather Says Good-Bye to Anchor Chair
BLITZER: In the next hour, Dan Rather will anchor "The CBS Evening News" for the last time. He had very little to say to reporters as he arrived for work early today.</s>DAN RATHER, ANCHOR, "THE CBS EVENING NEWS": Thank you. Appreciate -- appreciate what you do. Going in, going to work, feeling good. Thank you for being here this morning. Thank you very much. Thank you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you feel about your last broadcast, Dan?</s>RATHER: Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you very much.</s>BLITZER: After nearly a quarter of a century as the public face of CBS News, Rather leaves a legacy of both achievement and controversy.</s>RATHER: Once I was told by a high ranking CBS executive, "Dan, you're a very good reporter, but I don't think you're an anchor and I don't think you'll ever become one. What got me to the job, what brought me to the job was field reporting.</s>WALTER CRONKITE, FORMER ANCHOR, "THE CBS EVENING NEWS": We just have a report from our correspondent Dan Rather in Dallas that he has confirmed that President Kennedy is dead.</s>BLITZER (voice-over): When Dan Rather became anchor of "The CBS Evening News" 24 years ago today, he had a tough act to follow. He replaced Walter Cronkite, a broadcasting icon, who had been called the most trusted man in America. Rather was more intense, more edgy, and sometimes seen to be uncomfortable as an anchor. His solution was to emphasize his strengths, redefining the anchor's chair by taking it on the road.</s>BOB SCHIEFFER, CBS NEWS: This is "The CBS Evening News." Bob Schieffer in New York. Dan Rather is in Baghdad, Iraq, tonight. Good evening.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "The CBS Evening News" with Dan Rather reporting tonight in Amman, Jordan.</s>RATHER: This is "The CBS Evening News," Dan Rather reporting live from Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. Good evening.</s>BLITZER: From interviewing Saddam Hussein in Iraq to covering hurricanes, Rather won widespread acclaim. When he dressed as a peasant to report from Afghanistan, some pundits dubbed him Gunga Dan. But much criticism of Rather centered not on personality but politics. As CBS White House correspondent during the Nixon era, Rather angered many conservatives with his aggressive reporting.</s>RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Are you running for something?</s>RATHER: No, sir, Mr. President. Are you?</s>BLITZER: Years later a confrontational interview with then Vice President George Bush only added to conservatives' charges that the CBS anchor was, in their word, rather biased.</s>RATHER: I don't want to be argumentative, Mr. Vice President.</s>GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know, Dan. This is not a great night, because I want to talk about why I want to be president.</s>RATHER: The military records...</s>BLITZER: Then last year another controversy involving the Bush family when Rather reported on George W. Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War. The report was based on a memo that was discredited. And when Rather announced plans to step down from the anchor chair, it wasn't just Republicans who said he was leaving under a cloud.</s>CRONKITE: He hung on too long to his faith in his staff. They had provided him his material, and he trusted them implicitly in all -- in all things and -- and insisted that the information was correct for a whole week when evidence was beginning to pile up that it wasn't.</s>MARVIN KALB, FORMER CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I think he cares a great deal about the fact that he is going out on a negative note and probably deep down wonders why so many people, so many more people can't remember, literally, the thousands of broadcasts that he did.</s>BLITZER: Rather tells the "Washington Post" his critics are entitled to their opinions. He says that after 24 years have anchoring, he's looking forward to returning to his true love, reporting.</s>RATHER: I believe my best work is ahead of me. I hope my best work is ahead of me.</s>BLITZER: In the 24 years that Rather has been anchoring "The CBS Evening News," the network news business has changed dramatically. CNN's Mary Snow joining us now live from New York with a closer look at that part of the story -- Mary.</s>MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that change is punctuated by the fact that Dan Rather is the second network news anchor in three months to leave the anchor desk. Tom Brokaw retired from NBC in December. It not only marks the end of the era, but it also raises some questions about the future of the business of network news.</s>SNOW (voice-over): When Dan Rather took over the anchor chair at CBS in 1981, it's estimated that the network evening news shows drew 72 percent of viewers. Today Nielson media research puts the number at 37 percent. Since then and now, cable TV and the Internet have changed the way people get their news, and it's changed the business of television news.</s>TOM WOLZIEN, MEDIA ANALYST: The half hour evening news shows probably bring in around $160 million a year each in revenue, plus or minus. How much they actually make is pretty tough to figure out. They maybe break even, maybe lose a little bit.</s>SNOW: Media analyst Tom Wolzien says it all depends on things like anchor salaries and costs for news coverage, noting networks have scaled back on overseas news bureaus to cut costs. It's estimated about 28 million people watch the three network evening news programs, and those who study market trends estimate it brings in half a billion dollars in advertising revenue each year.</s>JON SWALLEN, TNS MEDIA INTELLIGENCE: The three broadcast networks are still delivering a larger chunk of viewers in one shot than any of the news program medias on cable networks.</s>SNOW: Still $500 million in ad revenue for the nightly newscasts is a small piece of the overall pie for companies who own the networks. But the value isn't just determined by dollar signs.</s>WOLZIEN: The value of these shows is probably gauged more in image, in Washington and in establishing the image of the overall news organization than in the dollars that they actually make.</s>SNOW: The big question, though, is the future for nightly network news casts. That is certainly up for debate. The analysts we spoke with don't see those newscasts going away, but they still see a decline each year to the tune of about three to four percent -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right. Mary Snow, reporting from New York. Mary, thank you very much. And we'll have more on Dan Rather's departure coming up. I'll speak with Howard Kurtz of the "Washington Post" and CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES." Also, it's in with the old in Lebanon. We'll tell you about a major political about face. Startling allegations of widespread rape in Sudan. Now new evidence supporting the claims. Our Zain Verjee is on the story. 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