Posted on 02/17/2005 7:22:15 PM PST by Arnold Zephel
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Rather to Host His Own Farewell Tribute on CBS Thu Feb 17, 2005 08:31 PM ET
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - No sooner will Dan Rather bid viewers a final good night as anchor of the CBS Evening News than he will be back on the air to lead viewers through a retrospective of his 50 years in broadcast journalism.
CBS News said on Thursday that an hourlong special, "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers," will be telecast on March 9, at 8 p.m. EST, within an hour of his stepping down as host and managing editor of the "Evening News."
The broadcasts come exactly 24 years after Rather assumed the anchor chair from legendary newsman Walter Cronkite.
The prime-time special is billed as a "candid memoir of Rather's extraordinary career, told in his own words." CBS said it will span the past five decades of his life and include never-before-seen archival footage.
A network spokeswoman said Rather would address the controversy surrounding his now-discredited "60 Minutes" report last September questioning the military service of President Bush.
The program will undoubtedly highlight the more celebrated points of Rather's career, including his coverage of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, the tumultuous Democratic National Convention of 1968 and the Watergate scandal during the 1970s, not to mention testy on-air exchanges with President Nixon and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush.
It remained to be seen how CBS would handle Rather's less flattering moments, such as walking off the set in 1987 after a tennis match pre-empted the start of a newscast, or the jokes he endured after being assaulted on the streets of Manhattan by a man who asked him: "Kenneth, what's the frequency?"
While TV retrospectives have become ubiquitous on prime time, paying homage to figures ranging from Johnny Carson to "Laverne & Shirley," a self-hosted special paying tribute to a living broadcast journalist on the day of his retirement is rare.
"I don't remember them doing one like this for Walter Cronkite, but you could bet they would if Walter Cronkite were retiring today," said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television.
On the other hand, Thompson said, "He (Rather) has got a lot of good clips."
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Only because TaRaaZa cut him off
And his over-enthusiastic, premature announcement of JFK's death.
...a "candid memoir of Rather's extraordinary career, told in his own words."
Otherwise known as kissing your a&& goodbye.
There you are, the reason Dan's doing it himself -- CBS couldn't get anyone else but Rather to do a farewell tribute without giggling.
The problem is that Rather might have been there, and made a name for himself then, but he never did see the Zapruder film at that time as he had claimed. This was later proven, but his name had been made.
The title for his finale should be
"Dan Rather: My years working for Pravda...OOops i mean CBS"
HE'S A LEGEND IN HIS OWN MIND...I TELL YA!!!
How nauseating!
Which proves these people have learned nothing. They still think they can lie and cheat and steal with impunity. Amazing!
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DAN RATHER reported the Vietnam War on behalf of our Terrorist enemies long ago...
just like he is reporting our War on Terrorism on behalf of our Terrorist enemies now.
And yet...
LIBERAL Los Angeles Times Reporter DAVID SHAW is still telling us that:
RATHER's work 'Shoddy, Slipshod' not LIBERAL..?
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1227809/posts
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Masturbation by any other name...
Is it possible to have a negative share in the nightly ratings race?
Perhaps we can assist by suggesting an angle.
I think I've got it.
How about Dan Rather...Marine turned Newsman?
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