Veteran American broadcast journalist Dan Rather and CBS parted ways yesterday, ending a messy professional divorce.
Rather's bitter departure, after 44 years as a reporter, anchor and face ofthenetwork, came after "a protracted struggle" with CBS executives, he said, who had "not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work" since he stepped down as anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News last year.
The scaling-down of his duties followed a reporting scandal over President George W.Bush's military record.
"Of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the biggest and brightest on the marquee are (Edward R.) Murrow, (Walter) Cronkite and Rather," CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus said of the man known for an aggressive reporting style and folksy metaphors evocative of his Texas roots.
Rather succeeded Cronkite in the CBS anchor chair in 1981 and stepped down from that post on March 9, 2005, exactly 24 years later.
Rather, 74, said he was leaving with a desire to return to "regular, meaningful reporting", adding that CBS had offered him "a future with only an office but no assignments".
"It just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing," he said. "So I will do the work I love elsewhere and I look forward to sharing details about that soon."
Some said the departure of Rather, whose reputation was tarnished in 2004 by a subsequently discredited report on Mr Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, was an unceremonious end.
Rather had officially remained assigned to the CBS prime-time news magazine 60 Minutes after relinquishing the evening anchor chair but was seldom seen on the air. The Los Angeles Times quoted him on Friday as saying he was rebuffed when he offered to help cover Hurricane Katrina, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rather came to prominence at CBS for his 1961 coverage of Hurricane Carla in Texas, where he tied himself to a tree so he could keep reporting from the eye of the storm. He won a national reputation covering president John F.Kennedy's 1963 assassination.
In 1980 he slipped into Afghanistan in disguise following the Soviet invasion, earning himself the nickname Gunga Dan. Then, in 1981, he replaced broadcast legend Cronkite, known as "the most trusted man in America", as CBS anchor.
He was a lightning rod for conservatives, who accused him of liberal bias.
During a combative 1974 exchange with Richard Nixon, the president was prompted to ask, "Are you running for something?", to which Rather shot back, "No, sir, Mr President. Are you?".
Credit: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19549203-2703,00.html
Rather's bitter departure, after 44 years as a reporter, anchor and face ofthenetwork, came after "a protracted struggle" with CBS executives, he said, who had "not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work" since he stepped down as anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News last year.
The scaling-down of his duties followed a reporting scandal over President George W.Bush's military record.
"Of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the biggest and brightest on the marquee are (Edward R.) Murrow, (Walter) Cronkite and Rather," CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus said of the man known for an aggressive reporting style and folksy metaphors evocative of his Texas roots.
Rather succeeded Cronkite in the CBS anchor chair in 1981 and stepped down from that post on March 9, 2005, exactly 24 years later.
Rather, 74, said he was leaving with a desire to return to "regular, meaningful reporting", adding that CBS had offered him "a future with only an office but no assignments".
"It just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing," he said. "So I will do the work I love elsewhere and I look forward to sharing details about that soon."
Some said the departure of Rather, whose reputation was tarnished in 2004 by a subsequently discredited report on Mr Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, was an unceremonious end.
Rather had officially remained assigned to the CBS prime-time news magazine 60 Minutes after relinquishing the evening anchor chair but was seldom seen on the air. The Los Angeles Times quoted him on Friday as saying he was rebuffed when he offered to help cover Hurricane Katrina, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rather came to prominence at CBS for his 1961 coverage of Hurricane Carla in Texas, where he tied himself to a tree so he could keep reporting from the eye of the storm. He won a national reputation covering president John F.Kennedy's 1963 assassination.
In 1980 he slipped into Afghanistan in disguise following the Soviet invasion, earning himself the nickname Gunga Dan. Then, in 1981, he replaced broadcast legend Cronkite, known as "the most trusted man in America", as CBS anchor.
He was a lightning rod for conservatives, who accused him of liberal bias.
During a combative 1974 exchange with Richard Nixon, the president was prompted to ask, "Are you running for something?", to which Rather shot back, "No, sir, Mr President. Are you?".
Credit: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19549203-2703,00.html
