Dan Rather Rumored to be Leaving CBS News
While rumors of Dan Rather's departure from CBS News have been widespread in the industry, the network's elder statesman
firmly denies them.
Rather serves as the CBS evening news anchor, host of the network's "48 Hours" news magazine, and a correspondent for "60 Minutes II," and at the age of 68 is one of the hardest working individuals in the industry. The buzz surrounding Rather's purported desire to step down as anchor after the presidential election has been further fueled by CBS's failure to catch up with NBC and ABC in the ratings. During the year ending July 2000, CBS Evening News drew an average of just 6.5 million viewers each night, significantly lower than ABC's 7.5 million average and NBC's 7.8 million average. Also accompanying the rumors of Rather's desire to call it quits is conjecture surrounding his potential replacement, with most within the industry pointing to John Roberts to take over. Roberts is currently a White House correspondent for CBS.
Adding even further to the rumors are various web sites throughout the Internet, but both CBS and Rather vehemently deny all the rumors, with the anchor's spokesperson stating "There's completely no truth to this...It's simply rumor and conjecture on the part of people who don't know." Dan Rather currently is in the midst of a multi-year contract that will see him working with CBS through 2003. The contract, however, does not guarantee him the anchor position beyond this year.
Adding even further to the rumors are various web sites throughout the Internet, but both CBS and Rather vehemently deny all the rumors, with the anchor's spokesperson stating "There's completely no truth to this...It's simply rumor and conjecture on the part of people who don't know." Dan Rather currently is in the midst of a multi-year contract that will see him working with CBS through 2003. The contract, however, does not guarantee him the anchor position beyond this year.
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