Embattled CBS News anchor Dan Rather – in his first statement since Monday’s scathing investigation report on Memogate – yesterday took almost no responsibility for his part in the scandal.
“Lest anyone have any doubt, I have read the report,” Rather said in a memo circulated in the CBS newsroom.
“I take it seriously, and I shall keep its lessons well in mind,” it said.
In the e-mail, addressed to “All CBS News Colleagues,” Rather spoke about feeling “sadness” – but failed to mention his own role in the flawed Sept. 8 “60 Minutes” segment based on unauthenticated memos about President Bush’s service in the National Guard.
“The panel report is part of a process – a necessary process to deal with a difficult issue – at the end of which four good people have lost their jobs,” Rather wrote.
“My strongest reaction is one of sadness and concern for those individuals whom I know and with whom I have worked.”
Three high-ranking CBS News execs and the segment’s producer, Mary Mapes, were fired or asked to resign Monday.
“Yet good can come from this process if CBS News, and the hundreds of able professionals who labor every day to fill an essential public service in an open society, emerge with a renewed dedication to journalism of the highest quality,” Rather said.
Rather, who returned to the United States on Sunday after covering tsunami-battered South Asia, was back at the anchor desk last night. He made no mention of the report during the newscast.
He skipped anchoring “The CBS Evening News” Monday to “digest” the report and recover from the flight, sources said.
The report, in essence, said Rather had very little to do with content of the flawed report. He simply presented it on the air.
But it did fault him for vigorously defending the facts of the Bush piece even after it quickly became clear that the documents used to support it were suspect.
The TV report suggested that the president received special treatment in the Guard.