Dan Rather is launching a weekly show on the progressive The Young Turks Network, the veteran news anchor announced Sunday.
“The Young Turks? Really? Who would have thought it?” Rather, 86, joked while introducing the program, “The News With Dan Rather.” The gig is significantly different from his 24-year career hosting the “CBS Evening News.”
“At this age and stage in my life, my attitude is, ‘What the hell,’” he said Sunday in an interview with CNN. The show ― a 30-minute program set to air on the network’s YouTube channel at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays ― will be broadcast from Rather’s office and will focus on the biggest news of the day, original reporting and stories he thinks need more attention.
The move is partially motivated by President Donald Trump’s hostile attitude toward the media, Rather told CNN.
“I feel strongly that when you have a president who is continually, relentlessly damning the press, individuals by name, individual institutions and calling the press the enemy of the people ― listen, this has to be resisted,” he said. “These efforts to convince the public that people in the news are dealing in fake news is, quite frankly, bullshit.”
This isn’t Rather’s first foray into working with somewhat under-the-radar networks. After leaving the “CBS Evening News” in 2005, he hosted a weekly news show called “Dan Rather Reports” on the cable network AXS TV until 2013.
The newsman said he was cautiously optimistic that his show with The Young Turks could reach conservative news consumers.
“I don’t kid myself that we are going to have much effect on someone who is a follower of Breitbart or Fox News,” he said. “But even if we can have a little effect ― I think some of the authenticity can get through to some of these people.”
The first episode is scheduled to air Monday.
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