Farewell

As we say goodbye to our friend, Dan Rather, I thought It appropriate to reflect on a touching moment from Dan's Career. Here's a Dan moment from 87:

rather
Originally uploaded by RHarris.

This rumor was given an enormous jolt of credibility when Dan Rather bumbled into a matchlessly goofy fiasco. On the evening of September 13, Rather was anchoring CBS's Sunday newscast. The sports division had been covering the U.S. Open all afternoon. A match between Lori McNeil and Steffi Graf was running long, and ratings-conscious network bigwigs warned Rather that the overtime would have to come out of his 6:30 broadcast. Infuriated by this edict, Rather stormed out of the studio right at 6:30. The match ended at 6:32. The entire
Columbia Broadcasting System thereupon went black for seven minutes.

Most people would doubtless have taken this little peccadillo in their stride: So the network went black. Big deal. That's what test patterns are for. Besides, Rather hotfooted it back to the studio and got on the air as soon as he realized that his childish tantrum had left CBS eyeless. But what did he do next? He issued a statement. "I would never, nor would anyone at CBS News ever think of deliberately allowing the network to go to black,' Rather told a breathless America. "I do believe that the CBS Evening News is a public trust and will continue to do anything and everything to meet the responsibilities of that trust.' Meanwhile, Larry Tisch played it cool. He called the blackout "unfortunate' but said he wouldn't "condemn' anyone. For building confidence, this ranks right up there with a friendly peck on the cheek from Don Corleone.