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From the NewsMax.com Staff
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For the story behind the story...
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Monday, Feb. 28, 2005 1:06 p.m. EST
CBS Execs Don't Watch Rather Either
Who watches Dan Rather? Not his bosses at CBS, according to a New Yorker story that quotes some of the network executives.
Due to leave his anchor spot on "CBS Evening News" after 24 years, Rather's broadcast has been running third after NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Peter Jennings.
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Now, as the New York Post reports, he's also running third among CBS brass.
Even the man he replaced, Walter Cronkite, told The New Yorker he often watched recently retired NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw, and, notes the Post, it seemed viewers felt "that Dan was playing a role of newsman, that he was conscious of this, whereas the other two appeared to be more the third-party reporter."
Cronkite added bitingly that Rather was known for "showboating."
It's not the first time Cronkite has had unpleasant things to say about Rather. On September 11, 1987, Rather walked off the set and for a full six minutes viewers were left with a blank screen. When asked at the time what he thought about the incident, Cronkite said, "I would have fired him ... there's no excuse for it."
Here are some of the comments reported in The New Yorker:
Mike Wallace: "Rather is a superb reporter, and dead honest, but he's not as easy to watch as Jennings or Brokaw. He's uptight and occasionally contrived. It's his style, and it's been a very effective style. God knows, I believe him. But I don't find him as satisfying to watch."
"A lot of people know Dan," one producer who has worked with Rather for 30 years told The New Yorker, "and nobody knows him."
Even executive producer Don Hewitt, who in 1968 created "60 Minutes," said he favors Jennings. "The 'Evening News' is like Miss America, only it's Mr. America," Hewitt said. "If you're in a three-network race and you come in third, then the public is against you."
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