Pondering TV News’ Fate : Rather Sees Networks in Tight Spot

Dan Rather turned 60 on Thursday. He was in Madrid, anchoring CBS’ coverage of the Middle East peace conference.

But just days before leaving for the historic summit, he sat at breakfast at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and said he wouldn’t be surprised if one network and perhaps two network news divisions disappeared “by the end of the ‘90s.”

“There is a certain level of confusion and chaos in the business, which I think could lead some prudent businessman to say, ‘I can get a better return on my money by not operating a network and certainly not operating a news division,’ ” said the soft-spoken anchor.

Rather thinks CBS News will pull through and that ABC News--top-rated among the Big Three networks--has “a good chance to survive.”

By simple arithmetic, that leaves only NBC News as the possible odd man out, a recurring rumor as some staffers at that network grumble that the news division is being “dismantled.”

“You hear that word among NBC people,” says Rather. “I’m damn sure not an authority on NBC. These things change quickly. But if you’re talking about this morning, today, then I would have to say yes, they’re in the weakest position.

“But I know that if someone is determined to have NBC News succeed, they can come back. What I don’t know is: At the top, do they have that? I hope the answer is yes. When I look at CBS News, there are people at or near the top who are determined to have us succeed.”

How does Rather get along now with CBS Chairman Laurence Tisch, with whom he once differed sharply as huge cuts were made in budget and jobs in the network’s news department?

“I get along with him well,” says Rather.

Do they have much contact?

“No. Not a lot, which I understand. Larry--Mr. Tisch--is in a different end of the business than I’m in. Larry runs CBS, the whole thing. When he speaks, I listen carefully.

“I will say this: I think that he has renewed his efforts to be in close touch with the news division leadership.”

Rather was in Los Angeles to plug his new book, “I Remember,” written with Peter Wyden and recalling the anchor’s boyhood in Texas and the personal forces that molded him in the years before he won the most coveted job in network news.

There is little in the nostalgic, unpretentious book that deals with his anchor role or TV in these days when networks are in turmoil under penny-pinching new owners and slipping against cable and VCR competition. Asked whether he wrote the book as a sort of therapeutic release from today’s corporate troubles, a get-away-from-it-all escape to a happier time, Rather says:

“I think the basic answer is yes. That was probably part of the motivation. I had a great sense of release.”

Throughout his CBS career, Rather has been a lightning rod for controversy. At the same time, his flinty, occasionally adversarial tone with those in power has been a healthy reminder of the best traditions of CBS News. But has it harmed CBS in the ratings? Some surveys indicated that ABC, rising to No. 1, ran fewer critical news stories about recent administrations.

“There is a side of this business,” says Rather, “that says when you anchor, your job is not to ask the tough questions, not to be a tough reporter, not to be even independent--your job is just to be popular and get along. I do not subscribe to that school of thought. I never have. And I won’t.

“Now there is a school of thought that the center of gravity in American journalism has shifted--(that) what you need to do is get along with the person or the organization or the institution that you’re covering.”

It is Rather’s view that “at least one of the networks” has made “a conscious decision . . . to subscribe to this--what I would call--new journalism. One has done it.”

Asked if he meant ABC, Rather stared without speaking and then said:

“I’ll only talk about CBS. Members of the Administration rather constantly tell our people, ‘When are you going to wise up? When are you going to get the message?’ ”

The message being delivered, says Rather, is that there’s “a very popular President” and CBS’ “coverage is--they won’t use the word independent. . . . Our coverage applied to Reagan and Bush is exactly what it was applied to Presidents Johnson and Carter. Neither of them, by the way, saw CBS News as a favorite. I wear that, for CBS, as a badge of honor. When a Democrat gets elected, we’ll get many of the same criticisms we get now.”

Rather thinks that changing TV attitudes toward news apply “to foreign coverage as well. Increasingly, American news organizations have slipped over into the view that we can curry favor with the guy in power or the people in power if you make it your first order of responsibility to make them (instead of television viewers) your client. That is, have them believe that you’re doing things their way.

“It may be that by not moving with what’s perceived to be this new sense of gravity in coverage, we’ve hurt ourselves. But I don’t believe it.”

Assessing the CBS network’s future, Rather says: “I like our chances. I think we’ve been through the worst of what we had to go through. I certainly hope that’s true. Painful decisions were made about us, for us, earlier than they were made at some other places.

“With the network as a whole, perhaps we’re in the upper middle on the survivability scale. As a news division, I think we’re at the top. We have 50 years of experience of knowing how to survive in good times and bad. We all know that with ratings, they come and go.”

As for himself, Rather acknowledges that for a while not long ago, seemingly under pressure from the ongoing tensions at CBS News, he appeared to be trying too hard to be likable on screen, even forcing smiles.

“I wouldn’t argue with anybody who made that assessment,” he says. “Looking back on it, that’s probably true. I wasn’t aware of it at the time. I didn’t say to myself, ‘I feel this pressure.’ I care a lot about CBS News, and I tend to take things within me.”

Rather, who succeeded Walter Cronkite 10 years ago as anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” has a contract that runs through 1994: “I signed a 10-year contract in 1980, and then in 1984 I signed another 10-year contract.”

Would he like to continue in his job beyond retirement age?

“Yes. I like this job and I want to keep this job. I’ve never been more comfortable with where I am and what I’m doing.”