Cronkite, Rather, Rocketboom
I wanted to take a
moment from all the discussion on PR 2.0 to note a piece of mainstream media news: Dan Rather is leaving CBS. (In deference to Todd Defren, I am sure the official press release was written old school.) Much has been written about Mr. Rather’s 44 years in journalism, and he leaves a great deal of controversy in his wake.
As we prepare for Katie Couric’s ascendancy, I wonder if Dan Rather would have become Dan Rather had his career started today. Can anyone starting today expect to reach the same stature of a Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, or Edward R. Murrow? In a word – unlikely. The impact of the network anchor has changed.
Dan Rather is very much a product of a different era when network news ruled the airwaves with a voice of God authority. Cable and new media have done away with all that, giving viewers multiple sources of news to choose from.
And in an even more bizarre twist, network news must also compete with fake news or news with attitude for viewers’ attention. Today new media has made Amanda Congdon a bona fide celebrity even though the size of the audience watching Rocketboom’s 3 minute daily vlog pales in comparison to CBS Evening News.
And if Dan Rather had started today, would he have automatically pursued a network position? And more poignantly, would he have suffered the same fate had his story about President Bush’s National Guard Service appeared on the Daily Show or in a blog?
It’s all about context I suppose. Even as the stature of network news diminishes, the public unfairly or fairly still holds it to a different standard.
Let me get back to you.
