He'd Rather wear out than rust

Dan Rather has circled the globe to report on significant events for 40 years. I got to meet him--one of my mother’s favorite people--at a news conference on April 19 at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Sans sweater, he was still warm and friendly. He walked in, shook hands and introduced himself. “I’m Dan Rather.” And I’m even more impressed.
He spoke later that evening on what he has learned from a lifetime of reporting at the university’s Presidential Lyceum Series. He also visited students in a master class.
Rather has reported on every Presidential campaign since 1960, civil rights, Watergate, from the front lines of “green jungle hell” (Vietnam), in hurricanes and he anchored 9/11 coverage.
A Texan, Rather established the Dallas Bureau for CBS. He was the first to break the story that President Kennedy was dead, “before the government got together and made a formal announcement.”
He called the event “a hammer to the heart of the country.”
Rather said his passion for journalism hasn’t decreased. In the early months of his career, he wondered whether he could make a living.
“My dream has always been to do great journalism work in the public interest,” he said. “It began at an early age and has never waned.”
Rather, 79, said he would rather wear out than rust out.
I asked him who he has always wanted to interview, but hasn’t. The answer is Kim Jong-Il. “I’ve spent 50 years trying,” Rather said. “There is no current indication it’s going to happen, but I keep trying.”
He said he never suffered from lack of confidence, “as is the case with most people in television.”
Rather said most journalists are also greedy. “The constant prayer is to give me the right story,” he said.
Following Walter Cronkite was an impossible act in terms of expectations, Rather recalled. “You succeed him, but you don’t replace him. I said to myself I can’t be Walter Cronkite. I tried to be the best Dan Rather I could be.”
He said journalism is more competitive today because there are more news outlets and the Internet. “Four people shouting is not news,” Rather said. “I don’t believe the eras of anchors with gravitas is over.
“It is difficult to attract a large audience,” Rather said, adding that newspapers are laying off employees and radio doesn’t cover city council meetings anymore.
There is a reduction of resources that puts American journalism is in a crisis, Rather said.
He called it an interregnum, saying the old order is gone and a new business model is not yet in place to help the media survive and thrive
He said he is not predicting, but wouldn’t be surprised if any of the big three networks discontinued half-hour broadcasts.
“The gravitational pull is to do niche broadcasting,” he said.
He added that journalists, in some important ways, have “lost their gut and need a spine transplant.”
Rather said an independent press is the “red beating heart of democracy and freedom.
“We haven’t lost it, but it is in decline and demise,” he said.
Rather recalled being in Louisiana in the early 1960s when the civil rights movement took traction and “changed him as a person.” He said he interviewed a former governor “who smoked very good cigars and drank good whiskey.”
Rather has many memorable moments and said anytime he interviews a President, it is an honor and privilege. He also admired Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa “saving infants from garbage dumps.”
No one asked about the George W. Bush National Guard bias controversy and he didn’t bring up his mugging from the man who said “Kenneth, what is the frequency?”
Rather has received Emmy and Peabody awards. He now produces and hosts Dan Rather Reports, a weekly news program on HDNet.