As Dan Rather turns 95 this Saturday — just days before the 2026 midterm elections — the recent documentary “Rather,” about both the newsman’s life and the modern state of journalism, couldn’t be more timely. And now, it will be easier than ever to watch the 2023 Frank Marshall-directed film, which will now stream for free on YouTube. Documentary producers Wavelength, Fremantle’s Original Productions and Anchor Entertainment are distributing “Rather” for free on YouTube starting today, timed to the recent Free Speech Week.
I think rededicating ourselves to freedom of the press and the First Amendment is especially important.” As seen in the doc, Rather isn’t slowing down: He continues to write a Substack newsletter, “Steady,” and has plenty of thoughts about the state of the media — and that includes what has happened to his longtime alma mater, CBS News. So Rather’s take on what has happened to CBS News under new owner Skydance carries weight. To sum it up, he’s not a fan.
But this is a further example of big billionaire corporate power in bed with powerful people and the presidency to get control of these operations for their benefit. I don’t see how to stop it.” Rather, who was a “60 Minutes” correspondent before taking over “CBS Evening News” in 1981 (he also returned for the short-lived companion series “60 Minutes II”), notes that the newsmagazine was “pound for pound the best investigative journalism outfit anywhere in television in the world. It was the most profitable television program in the country, and what’s happened is this new regime is trying to turn CBS News into a kind of more sophisticated version of Fox News.
What’s happened to CBS News as a as a whole, and 60 Minutes in particular, would be almost unbelievable under the other circumstances.” Rather said he wasn’t familiar with Bari Weiss before she took over as editor-in-chief of CBS News. But I didn’t know her beforehand, and I don’t know her now. Frankly, we didn’t hear much about her until she was rewarded with many millions of dollars for her company [‘The Free Press’], and then paid to come in and start destroying CBS News.” Rather also lauded former “60 Minutes” correspondents Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi for speaking up about the changes — which then led to their exits from CBS News.
Pelley, who’s has had a long and very good career, you’ve got to admire his guts because somebody needed to stand up, speak out, and start challenging the power. And at a tremendous cost to themselves. They paid the price — which is one of the themes of the documentary, that there’s a price to be paid if you dedicate yourself to trying to find the truth and tell it.” As journalists face an extreme assault on the First Amendment by politicians like Trump, “Rather” tackles threats against the freedom of the press and how that has become more troubling in recent years.
The evolution of journalism is told through the lens of Rather’s Emmy, Peabody and Edward R. And that includes his warning that TV news has been corrupted by the agendas of the powerful, wealthy billionaires who now control a large portion of the media. If we’re to remain a country that has anything approaching a free press and a truly independent press, this has got to stop.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
