Professor Dan Rather at Harvard University?

July 9, 2006

Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather, who recently left the network after heavy criticism for standing by a story based on forged documents, is being considered for a teaching position at Harvard University.

Published reports in Philadelphia and Boston indicate Rather might become a fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, which is run by Alex Jones.

“I’d love to have him come here for a semester or full year on campus,” Jones told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Dan Rather has all the credentials, as far as I’m concerned.”

Jones told the Boston Herald, “I think that Dan Rather has demonstrated over a long career that he is a superb journalist and that he has more to say and more to do. … I think that he should take this as an opportunity rather than a loss.”

Rather’s CBS career spanned 44 years until he broadcast and then stood by a flaw-laden report about President Bush’s military service in the National Guard.

More than a year after his controversial “Memogate” report which was based on phony documents, Rather stood by the broadcast.

“I believed in the story. The facts of the story were correct,” Rather told former newsman Marvin Kalb. “One supporting pillar of the story, albeit an important one, one supporting pillar was brought into question. To this day, no one has proven whether it was what it purported to be or not.”

To be sure of what he was just told, Kalb responded, “I believe you just said that you think the story is accurate.”

“The story is accurate,” Rather reiterated.

If Rather were to take a fellowship at Harvard, he would be paid $15,000 per semester, along with living expenses.

“He’d be the elder statesman and truth-teller,” Jones told the Inquirer. “He could speak about television with a very powerful voice.”

The idea of Rather teaching at Harvard is getting some negative reaction.

“After Rather’s fall from grace the idea of him teaching at Harvard is both laughable and yet not totally unexpected,” said Don Irvine, chairman of Accuracy in Media. “It is outrageous that they would give him a platform considering how Rather’s career ended but it is the politically correct nature of academia that allows this type of action to take place.”

Irvine continued, “I suggest that Rather teach a course on media ethics, since he apparently has none to help students avoid his mistakes or investigative journalism and the importance of checking facts and verifying the credibility of sources. Maybe that would humble him a bit. Probably not.”

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