Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr.is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel AXS TV. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9, 1981, to March 9, 2005. He also contributed to CBS's 60 Minutes. Rather became embroiled in controversy about a disputed news report involving President George W. Bush's...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNews Anchor
Date of Birth31 October 1931
CityWharton, TX
CountryUnited States of America
I think it's important for the public to know, great reporting starts with a publisher who has guts and an editor who has guts.
From the streets of Cairo and the Arab Spring, to Occupy Wall Street, from the busy political calendar to the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan, social media was not only sharing the news but driving it.
As someone who's been covering presidential campaigns since the 1950s, I have no delusions about political reporting. Candidates bargaining access to get the kind of news coverage they want is nothing new.
Those market researchers... are playing games with you and me and with this entire country. Their so-called samples of opinion are no more accurate or reliable than my grandmother's big toe was when it came to predicting the weather.
Covering the civil-rights movement was a mind- and eye-opener for me. Houston was a segregated society, as was Texas as a whole - some of it by law, a lot of it by fear and tradition. But there was no violence where I lived, and if there was hate, it was either concealed from me or I just didn't recognize it.
The press is a watchdog. Not an attack dog. Not a lapdog. A watchdog. Now, a watchdog can't be right all the time. He doesn't bark only when he sees or smells something that's dangerous. A good watchdog barks at things that are suspicious.
I respect and empathize with reporters and editors who must compete in today's environment. And I know full well that when I've been covering campaigns, which I still do, I've made my mistakes and have been far from perfect.
What separated Ed Murrow from the rest of the pack was courage.
There is no doubt that the way journalism worked when I was growing up and getting started has changed forever.
The great lesson my mother and father gave me was almost invisible. It was a strong sense of being rooted.
One of the most important roles of our journalists is to be watchdogs.
Never eat spinach just before going on the air.
If I didn't have a front-row seat on history, it was at least a seat on the aisle.
I've always tried to be fair, even-handed, not an advocate for any group.