The Last Night Of Dan Rather

The Last Night of Dan Rather, anchor
Polarizing figure signs off 'CBS Evening News' Wednesday
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 Posted: 9:16 AM EST (1416 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- For Dan Rather, it's hardly a smooth sail into the sunset.

Still battered by his ill-fated story about President Bush's military service, Rather anchors his final newscast Wednesday without the wave of good will that accompanied Tom Brokaw's exit from NBC last year.

A CBS affiliate was taking a vote among its viewers on whether to air the network's prime-time tribute to Rather, and, in his last full week on the air, Rather finished a distant third in the ratings.

Also, a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll released Tuesday night said the percentage of people who say they believe all or most of what Rather says has declined to 23 percent, compared with 34 percent in 2002.

Rather's 24 years gave him the longest-running continuous tenure in the anchor chair for a network newscaster. Rather, 73, is becoming a full-time reporter for CBS' "60 Minutes" franchise.

On his final broadcast -- the 24th anniversary of when he took over as "CBS Evening News" anchorman from Walter Cronkite -- Rather will end his series of reflections on some of the biggest stories he's covered (this time talking about the September 11 terrorist attacks) and briefly talk to viewers about the end of his tenure, said Jim Murphy, the broadcast's executive producer.

"It is a particularly trying time for CBS News and the 'CBS Evening News,' " Murphy said. "We would just like to do our jobs well and have our work graded on the strength of the newscast. This sideshow that is going on with the media who want to have fun picking on Dan ... It's not good and it's not fun for us."

One affiliate taking vote
The network and Rather have both taken blows to their reputations from September's discredited report about President Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam war.

WWTV in Cadillac, Michigan, said it decided to let viewers vote on whether it should air Wednesday's prime-time tribute, "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers," after being inundated with "negative feedback" about Rather.

The CBS affiliate will air something else -- it wouldn't say what -- if a majority of voters turn thumbs down on Rather. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 1,000 people had cast ballots with 63 percent voting against Rather, station spokeswoman Tessia Klix said.

The network wouldn't comment on its affiliate's actions. CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said he knew of no other affiliate that wasn't airing the special.

Contributing to the buzz about Rather's exit was a Monday interview that Cronkite gave to CNN's Wolf Blitzer. (See story)

Although Rather "did a fine job," Cronkite said he would have liked to have seen "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer replace Rather a long time ago. Both Cronkite and "60 Minutes" reporter Mike Wallace were also critical of Rather in a recent issue of The New Yorker magazine.

"The people inside who have used this opportunity to try and, I don't know, re-establish their own reputations and ruin his have really upset people and at times demoralized people," Murphy said.

Schieffer begins as Rather's temporary replacement Thursday.

CBS chief Leslie Moonves has said he wants to dramatically rework the broadcast, probably with multiple anchors, but there's no indication he is close to announcing Rather's permanent successors.

Schieffer, 68, noted Tuesday that the network has apologized and held some people accountable for the Bush story. He said he hopes to help CBS move forward.

"We hit a bad bump in the road," he said in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was honored by his alma mater, Texas Christian University. "What we have to do now is get back to work. We learned our lesson."