“You get to the truth, or as close to the truth, as humanly possible…or be prepared to face the consequences,” says news anchor Dan Rather at the opening of Rather. Directed by Frank Marshall, Rather lifts the veil on the eponymous journalist, best known as the host of the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes. The many nuances of Rather are showcased throughout the lean 95-minute runtime, laying out his childhood and 60-year marriage to Jean Goebel. But primarily, the emphasis is on Rather, the journalist, and how that made him a figure beloved as well as hated. So much so that former President Richard Nixon was recorded saying how much he despised Rather.
As Rather himself lays out, his parents loved newspapers, so it was understandable that he’d internalize that and decide to be a reporter. He started out working for the Associated Press, making his debut covering a record-breaking flood in Galveston, Texas. From there he became the face of reportage on the American Civil Rights Movement. For Rather, this marked the first time viewers were able to see racism so prominently on the then-burgeoning world of television. What he experienced during this time remains seared in his memory, so much so that he says he can still recall the smell of crosses burning.
From there the documentary becomes a trajectory of Rather participating in nearly every major event in American history, whether that be the war in Vietnam to the the presidency of Nixon and Reagan. What Marshall does so skillfully is balance Rather’s historical significance with that of his personal life. Rather’s daughter, Robin, discusses her father’s fear at having their house burgled after his covering the Watergate scandal–he scared off the burglars by cocking a shotgun–and being assaulted on the street by a random man, something Rather’s enemies positioned as a hoax. The goal is to emphasize how Rather’s coverage of these events soon transitioned to the world of Fox News and the coverage of world events we get today. For Marshall and Rather, their belief is that Rather covered history without commentary when compared to the world of Fox News and other organizations today.
If you’re a news or history junkie, or know little about Dan Rather, this is a great start. The documentary has hard-hitting archival footage but keeps things moving at a sprightly pace. And for all Rather’s seriousness, moments discussing his wife and family make him relatable and charming. Recommended.
Which public library collections should include this Dan Rather biography?
Rather is a valuable addition to public libraries in categories like Biographical Documentary, documentaries focused on world history or journalism, or Documentary Film Collections. It’s a complement to media education and film programming focused on world events, journalistic practices, and history of the American Civil Right Movement, Vietnam, or Watergate.
What academic subjects or media education courses would benefit from this Dan Rather biography?
This documentary supports various subjects including political or social history, Documentary Studies, and Journalistic Ethics or Media Biases. Media libraries curating documentaries focused on the rise of entertainment journalism, as well as instructors teaching about the changing landscape of media will find merit in it. This would also be great in explorations of documentary as biography.
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