Rather: Public Trust In Media Threatened

Legendary broadcast journalist Dan Rather told a packed John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum last night that Comedy Central host Jon Stewart offers “another dimension to the American experience.”

“I like him. I like the program,” Rather told a smiling Alex S. Jones, his interlocutor for the evening.

After this cheerful beginning, Rather went on to address some of the tougher problems facing the media today, focusing on the market pressures which affect the quality of broadcast news.

“Ratings no longer are king. Demographics are,” Rather said, noting that even shows with high ratings can now be taken off the air for demographic reasons.

The long-time CBS News anchorman, who retired from his post last spring after more than half a century in the press, described the news as a “public trust.” He emphasized the media’s obligation to public service, which he said “has gone badly out of fashion and is in very near danger of disappearing.”

He added, playfully, “In many ways CBS is better than some, but that’s a subject for another time.”

Jones, who is director of the Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy, described Rather as an icon and as a man who “speaks his mind.”

“The president sassed him and he sassed him back,” Jones said in his opening remarks.

While Rather denied having “sassed” any president, he agreed that he “tried to stand [his] ground.”

“I’m not an icon,” Rather said. “I can be arrogant and conceited.”

A heated question-and-answer session followed Rather’s comments.

Addressing the media’s influence, Rather said he was both aware of his power and afraid of it.

“As hard as you try it’s impossible not to understand that in some ways you can make a difference,” Rather said, referring to his years as one of the most familiar faces of American news.

One audience member asked Rather about the media’s ability to balance national security interests with the public’s right to know.

Rather said he thought sensitive information should be printed and that the burden ought to be placed on the government to prove why information should not be printed.

Of the recent controversial Danish cartoons, Rather said that while he thinks the Danish newspaper was right to publish them, “it might not have been the right thing for everybody, everywhere.”

“I’ve seen politicians speak and it was clear that Rather was very aware of his audience and he was speaking closely to the questions,” said Patrick A. Schneiter, an Extension School student who attended the talk.

The event was organized by the Institute of Politics (IOP) and co-sponsored by the Shorenstein Center.

“I thought Dan Rather was very honest and very responsive to the questions,” said Jeanne Shaheen, the director of the IOP.

Rather was invited to speak by Dotty Lynch, an IOP fellow and political editor at CBS News.

—Staff writer Claire M. Guehenno can be reached at guehenno@fas.harvard.edu.