'Just do the damn job,' legendary anchor Dan Rather advises journalists in wide-ranging talk

Gil Klein

August 12, 2020

Building trust with the audience is the most important thing a television news anchor can do, veteran news anchor Dan Rather told National Press Club President Michael Freedman in a webcast interview Wednesday.

Rather, 88, who became a CBS News correspondent in 1962, was at the center of major news events, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal before becoming anchor of CBS News in 1981, a position he held for 24 years.

NPC President Michael Freedman (left) and former CBS News anchor Dan Rather enjoy a wide-ranging conversation on Aug. 12, 2020.

“The single most important thing as an anchor is for the audience to trust you,” he said. “That is something that is hard to define and hard to describe how you do it. I want to say, ‘Folks, I’m not the best pure anchor person that television has produced. I don’t claim to be. I’m a lifetime reporter, and I consider myself someone who covers the news, and I hope you will give that some credibility.’”

Rather's wide-ranging, live-streamed conversation with Freedman, who had been general manager of CBS Radio Network News and had worked with Rather on special reports, can be seen on the Club's website or YouTube channel. Rather spoke from his home in Austin, Texas.

While basic anchor skills – making the right gestures at the right time, smiling with your eyes, smiling at the right time – are important, they are not key to an anchor’s success, he said.

“In an anchor situation, you are alone,” Rather said. “You have a vast news organization that surrounds you. But, you have to walk up to that desk and microphone and look that camera in the eye. You have that sense it is on you. You have to stand and deliver or not. You do that night after night.”

He also encourages young journalists to hone their writing skills because good writing is key to good reporting.

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather tells National Press Club president Michael Freedman that new journalists should show courage, and other qualities will flow from there.

Marking the 75^th anniversary of the end of World War II, Freedman and Rather discussed the impact of Edward R. Murrow in creating broadcast news during the war. Before Murrow, there was no broadcast news reporting. The team he put together at the war’s beginning, known as “The Murrow Boys,” did real reporting. They became eyewitnesses to events who were able to provide context, perspective and analysis.

"You can make the case that Murrow bore a lot of the responsibility for preparing American public opinion of what we had to do in World War II,” Rather said.

And more personally, Rather said that as a boy during this time period, he was bedridden with rheumatic fever and the radio became his constant companion.

“I became transfixed by Ed Murrow and the Murrow boys,” he said, “These men courageous, brilliant, they were going to faraway places with strange sounding names, living with danger and adventure to bring the war right into my bedroom.”

He said they also created the ethics of journalism to provide the facts as close to the truth as they could get.

“Everything that has followed in electronic journalism since then has its roots with them,” he said

Asked about the events that are shaping the year 2020, Rather said he was optimistic that the country can come through it. Certainly, the Great Depression followed by a two-ocean World War was more challenging, he said.

The difference, he said, was that President Franklin D. Roosevelt masterfully united the nation, while President Trump sows division to amass power. Trump has been at his worst in dealing with COVID19, he said.

Freedman asked Rather how he would interview Trump.

“The key to any interview is preparation and listening,” he said. “It’s important not only to follow up on a question but to continue to follow up. Pick up on what he says. And when it is obviously not true, don’t go on to the next question.”

Rather also offered advice for dealing with attacks on journalists, accusations of "fake news," and conspiracy theories that abound on the Internet.

“Just do the damn job,” Rather said. “Try to find out the truth as close as is humanly possible. And don’t get intimidated. Don’t back up, don’t back down, don’t turn around. Just keep coming. Just try to do quality journalism and hope in the end there will be enough appreciation for it.”

'Just do the damn job,' legendary anchor Dan Rather advises journalists in wide-ranging talk

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