Dan Rather's Carry-On Baggage

By Lisa de Moraes
Wednesday, July 12, 2006

PASADENA, Calif., July 11

Former CBS newsman Dan Rather says he'll have complete editorial control over the content of the weekly newsmagazine he will kick off for Mark Cuban's HDNet in October.

"News at its best is a wake-up call, not a lullaby, and I'm not in the lullaby business," Rather told reporters Tuesday at Summer TV Press Tour 2006.

Three weeks after being shown the door by the broadcast network's news division, Rather appeared before TV critics here to discuss details of his new three-year pact with billionaire Cuban.

Rather, 74, said he was relieved to be moving from news "defined by the economics of the corporation presenting the news" to "independent journalism."

The longtime anchor, who left CBS News last month after he and management could not agree on his future role there, said that "nothing I say here is designed to be critical of CBS."

Then he came out swinging.

"CBS is a large organization . . . with a chain of command that looks like the wiring of a nuclear plant. . . . The difference [at HDNet] is that the chain of command begins and ends with me. With 'Dan Rather Reports' I have creative and editorial control."

When he left CBS, Rather already had relinquished his anchor chair at "CBS Evening News" and was reporting for "60 Minutes"; his final year had been marked by controversy over the network's discredited story on President Bush's National Guard tenure.

Rather acknowledged he comes to HDNet with "baggage."

"Yes, I have baggage -- I have the baggage of being a graduate of the journalism school of South Vietnam," he said.

He also acknowledged he was "biased -- I have a very strong bias toward independent journalism."

"Some of what you describe as 'baggage,' " he told one critic, "comes from people who have the following view: Their view is, 'You report the news the way I want it reported or I'm going to make you pay a price and hang a sign around your neck saying you're a bomb-toting Bolshevik or something.' "

Dallas Mavericks owner Cuban, who sat nodding during most of Rather's comments and even applauded him once, has his own equally colorful reputation as a rabble-rouser; he's been fined for bad behavior courtside during games.

This, he suggested, makes him the perfect employer for Rather.

"I've been painted into so many corners, I'm out of corners," Cuban told the critics. "I'm not concerned at all because the work will speak for itself." He said he'd already been inundated with e-mail from Rather detractors and assumed they were pretty worn out by now.

Cuban said he was thrilled to have Rather on board: "Now that he is finally released from the ratings-driven and limited-depth confines of broadcast television, I am excited about the impact Dan can have on the future of news."

Rather choked up several times during the more than hour-long Q&A session, when talking about his legacy and specifically about his role model, Edward R. Murrow.

He declined to comment on a report in the Hollywood Reporter that he's in discussions with American Online about doing work for its Internet news service, other than to say he was interested in other opportunities. However, he said, that his first, second and third priority is HDNet, which is available in about 3 million homes.

* * *

Tragedy has touched Summer TV Press Tour 2006 early.

Shannen Doherty, here to plug her new Oxygen show in which she helps people out by breaking up with their main squeeze for them, was brought to tears when a TV critic asked if she was trying to change people's opinion of her.

The actress gained a reputation of being a super mega diva during her run on "Beverly Hills, 90210" that was only enhanced by her stint on "Charmed."

"I'm not trying to alter anything," she said. "I've answered this so many different times. The only thing I can do in my life is be myself and live it the way I want to live it whether people accept it or not.

"Do I think there is a big misconception about myself out there? One hundred percent. Did I participate in that in the beginning? Yes, I did. Was I 18 years old? Yes. Do I regret it? Fifty percent yes, and 50 percent no, because I . . . I learned so much."

It was heart-wrenching. Critics didn't care. They're a heartless bunch, but we already knew that. They kept on her like a pack of terriers after an adorable little bucktoothed rat with questions about her reputation, the shreds of her career, etc.

"I'm not going to lie. It hurts a lot to read the stuff I read about myself," she said, now completely crushed. "And it hurts my mom a lot." And her mom is in the room -- nice touch.

For her new series, "Breaking Up With Shannon Doherty," she plays a sort of patron saint of dating. In the clip shown to critics, she breaks up with the greasy boyfriend of an aspiring actress. After she introduces herself but before she can perform her act of mercy, he tells her she's the last Coca-Cola in the desert for a thirsty man, or something like that.

Doherty is thrown for a minute, but only a minute; she's a woman on a mission.

"She is scared to break up with you," Doherty perseveres.

"As well she should be," he responds, adding, "I think I have more in common with you . . . you're a lot hotter in person. She needs to be with somebody else. You did a wonderful thing -- are you ovulating?"

Once she'd been reduced to tears, critics could get back to asking her questions about the show:

"Was that the worst pickup line you ever heard?" one asked.

"Yes, and thank you by the way," Doherty said, wiping the tears from her eyes and adding, "Are you single?"

Read more lore from the press tour in "Moraes on TV" at http://blog.washingtonpost.com/tvblog/.