Legendary journalist and war correspondent Dan Rather found himself on the other end of the interview process when he held a news conference on the University of Southern Mississippi campus.
“I much prefer to ask questions,” Rather said as he talked about the current state of the country and journalism at the Thad Cochran Center.
He was the guest speaker this past Thursday for the 2019 Lt. Col. John H. Dale Sr. Distinguished Lecture at the Saenger Theater in Hattiesburg on Thursday night.
When asked if he had any regrets over his 70-plus years in journalism, Rather said he could recall moments when he might have done things differently.
Dan Rather
“Certainly, there are times I look back and say, ‘I could have done that better,’” he said. “Sometimes, it’s ‘I wish I could have done more.’ Other times, it’s ‘I wish I hadn’t done’ a long list of those going back to the very beginning of what passes as my television career. “But, on my better days, I take the advice that I give to others: Do the best you can. I can truly say that however it may have seemed outside, I have always tried to do the best I could.”
Rather said the technological changes and the financing structure in the media today have led to economic trouble in the news business.
“The business model for financing journalism at any level – particularly for financing deep-digging investigative reporting and first-class international reporting has virtually vanished,” he said. “With very few exceptions, no one has followed with a substitute to that.”
As a consequence, he said newspapers are closing all over the country, or combining in order to save themselves and avoid massive layoffs.
USM Associate Professor Heather M. Stur, who coordinates the speakers for the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society, said Rather gives a different perspective from previous speakers.
“In terms of the lecture series, we’ve had people who have served in wars like General David Petraeus, diplomats like Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who made policy,” said Stur. “We’re really excited to be able to bring in Dan Rather because he’s covered everyone in the U.S. all the way from the Vietnam War to the current global war on terror.”