Had a bit of trouble posting yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to mention the departure of Dan Rather. I got home just in time to catch his closing remarks and sign off.

I don't know when I first became aware of television news, probably while watching it with my parents. My father, in particular, was a news junky, reading two newspapers everyday (the NY Daily News & the local paper, the Norwich Bulletin) and a third paper on Sunday (Boston Herald). He pretty much read the entire thing, not just the headlines & sports scores. He also was a fan of the all-news radio stations out of New York. He'd probably love the chance to watch a multitude of cable news stations.

Anyway, the first time that television news really made an impact on me was during the days following the assassination of JFK. The three major networks pretty much dropped all programming and stayed focused on the events of that weekend. That was probably also the first time that I ever saw Dan Rather over on CBS, although it's possible that I had seen him earlier.

Rather and his predecessor, Walter Cronkite, seemed to always have been there. The major events which shaped the national consciousness were all reported by these two gentlemen, either in person (both having traveled to Vietnam and other places), or turning the story over to some other CBS correspondent. It will seem strange not to see Rather each evening, although I suppose his glory days are over.

I'm afraid that we've probably seeing the last of the reporters like Rather and his ilk. The networks and especially the cable news stations will probably go for safer anchors who won't immediately anger anyone.

Courage, indeed!