Posted on 11/24/2004 5:49:41 AM PST by OESY
For some veterans of CBS News, the departure of Dan Rather from the network's evening newscast represents a kind of coda on a long, sad song of decline from greatness.
The news organization that did the most to define broadcast news from the early days of radio through the golden age of television in the 1950's and 1960's has gone through a marked falloff in the last 15 years, probably suffering more than any other network from the shrinking of resources that matched its shrinking audiences.
But the notion that Mr. Rather's decision to give up his anchor job is some kind of signal of a final abandonment of quality news at CBS was challenged yesterday by the network's top executive and by some staff members at CBS News. They argued that Mr. Rather's departure after 24 years in the anchor chair should be seen as a long-needed opportunity for a fresh start.
Leslie Moonves, who will determine the future of CBS as the chairman of the network and co-president of its parent company, Viacom, expressed his unqualified support for the news division, saying, "It is still a gem for this network."
But that gem has been notably tarnished ever since the mid-1980's, when CBS was acquired by Laurence A. Tisch, who instituted harsh cost-cutting measures and layoffs that helped erode its stature.
Mr. Moonves acknowledged that Mr. Rather's departure from the evening newscast was a significant moment for an organization that had seen its share of turbulence during his time as anchor.
"There's no question that CBS News is at a transition point," Mr. Moonves said.
That has less to do with the fact of Mr. Rather's leaving than the circumstances that affected the timing of the decision.
That Mr. Rather, who is 73, was nearing the end of his long run on the "CBS Evening News" was well known. At a minimum, he had been expected to step down sometime in the next year - most likely in May at the end of the current television season.
Had that change occurred as planned, the reaction would likely have been similar to the one that has greeted Tom Brokaw's exit from the anchor post at NBC, a passing-of-the-torch kind of moment accompanied by a string of encomiums about a storied career.
But Mr. Rather's announcement was inevitably shadowed by his report, now seriously challenged, on "60 Minutes" in September about President Bush's National Guard record. An investigation into that report by an independent panel has been concluded and a report is expected within the next few weeks.
Mr. Rather's decision to leave now was clearly intended to get out in front of that report, which may be highly critical of his work.
Several firings are expected after the report.
CBS has struggled to maintain an identity as television news has become far more competitive. On election night, earlier this month, the Fox News cable channel had almost as many viewers as CBS.
With 24-hour cable news channels now commanding more and more of the daily audience, CBS News has been left with only small islands of influence, a morning news show that still ranks third; a newsmagazine institution, "60 Minutes," that has begun in the last two years to turn around a long ratings slide; and an evening newscast now losing its dominant personality.
Mr. Moonves said the morning news show had made ratings gains and was highly profitable, and that Mr. Rather's newscast still made money.
Andrew Heyward, the president of CBS News, said Mr. Moonves was the crucial figure for the divisions hoped-for renewal, because Mr. Moonves had succeeded in making CBS the leading entertainment network after a long period of decline.
Mr. Heyward also said that CBS News could count on more help from the enormous promotional base of Viacom's other media holdings, which include the Infinity radio stations and numerous cable networks.
But none of those networks is a news network, which is where more and more news viewers have drifted. CBS News is now counting on broadband technology to increase its reach.
The network finds itself in a more limited position because of decisions made in the past, mainly in the 1980's when the network, then run by Mr. Tisch, mandated sweeping cuts in the news budget and its personnel.
Howard Stringer, the chairman of Sony US, who was president of CBS at the time of the cuts, noted that every television news organization went through similar retrenchment at the time. But the impact on CBS seemed most profound.
For one thing, as Mr. Stringer pointed out, the network, which had dominated the ratings throughout much of the 1960's and 1970's in part because of a deep bench of talent, had been aggressively raided by both NBC and ABC. "Everyone else was targeting CBS News," Mr. Stringer said. "NBC took Roger Mudd. ABC under Roone Arledge took Diane Sawyer and a lot of talented producers and directors."
Many of the most prominent members of CBS News decried the moves at the time, saying the division would be irretrievably damaged. The legacy of the cuts, of having to try to do more with less, is still felt. Mr. Rather himself said yesterday, "Our attitude was, man, you can cut and cut and cut. O.K. If it takes one of ours to beat 10 of theirs, we'll do it."
Eric Sorenson, who was Mr. Rather's executive producer in the early 1990's, said: "Look, a lot of the correspondents are gone or have retired and those that are still with CBS News are obviously 10 years older, and I think the organization is kind of showing its age. There are still a million great individual writers and producers and reporters at CBS News, they still have the ability to be a great organization, but obviously Dan's leaving raises some big questions about who they're going to be moving forward."
Mr. Heyward said he remained buoyant about the future for CBS News, even with the fallout looming from Mr. Rather's report on the alleged memos tracing Mr. Bush's National Guard attendance. "There's no doubt we suffered from the memo mistakes and the investigation into them," Mr. Heyward said. "But I think Leslie would be the first say he's eager to move on, eager do what has to be done."
Mr. Moonves said: "It's not to say there haven't been rough spots. There have been blemishes. But I'm totally committed to CBS News."
Still, he acknowledged that whatever the outcome of the investigation into the "60 Minutes" report, network news in general and CBS News in particular were facing what he called "a lot of introspection." Mr. Moonves said, "There has to be a re-examination of what network news will be in the future."
Mr. Rather, for some time to come, will be part of that future, though no longer as anchor. To him, even with all the retrenchment and changes, CBS News still holds a kind of mythic grandeur.
"Those of us that work here - and nobody more than myself - believe that CBS News is this mystical kingdom of journalistic knights," Mr. Rather said. "Now that may not be true. But the fact that we believe it in our marrow is very real to us."
LESLIE MOONVES Co-president and co-chief operating officer, Viacom
JOHN ROBERTS Dan Rather’s possible successor
ANDREW HAYWARD President, CBS News
RATHER, NOT: "If you've ever tried to twist off the rusted lug
nuts on a '55 Ford, you know how mine feel."
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Rather only spoke what his producers and writers told him to say... even though he was a very powerful influence. They still have to "can" the entire production team before it's anywhere near moderate.
No Les, a short look by the average Joe revealed it was cheap paste.
"There's no question that CBS News is at a transition point," Mr. Moonves said.
Kind of like the Titanic was at a transition point with the iceberg.
thag
do these numbers come from Neilson, or do the networks have access to cable company records? One would think that with the more sophistocated routers the cable cos. are using, they could deliver very hard data to networks..
at a cost, no doubt...
"the notion that Mr. Rather's decision to give up his anchor job is some kind of signal of a final abandonment of quality news at CBS"
That's a laugher. Dan has directly contributed to the decline of quality at CBS. In fact, they abandoned any search for quality years ago in exchange for open partisanship. Good riddance Dan.
Most of us knew that Crankheit was full of it. And by now, everyone knows it.
CBS was ever the enemy of America in general and republicans in particular.
They rode that old loser right to the bottom. Who will be the new liberal voice? Roberts is as bad as Dan.
New made for TV movie at CBS: "Dan Rather the Grate."
And when will Mr. Carter explore the reasons and possible solutions for the decline of his own newspaper?
Not to mention their influence in the Vietnam Era in turning public opinion. Just as they have tried to do to Iraq.
And just what would the NYTimes know about fresh starts or quality journalism?
Fresh start? Ha. It'll be SSDD.
But Mr. Rather's announcement was inevitably shadowed by his report, now seriously challenged, on "60 Minutes" in September about President Bush's National Guard record.
"seriously challenged" = fraudulent
B.S. - See the graph, which shows a continuous decline from the moment Dan Rather's leftist cant filled the airwaves.
Oh no!
I suppose this means, like Kennedy and the Camelot B/S, we will be inundated by this Rather blather for another 40 years.
Mythic grandeur my behind.
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