Dan Rather Interview (page: 8 / 9) Broadcast Journalist	Print Interview

After this long journey through school, through college, radio stations, television stations, in 1961 you showed up at CBS News in New York. What went through your mind the first time you stepped into CBS News at 420 Lexington Avenue? What were you thinking?

Dan Rather: As corny as it may sound, I was really excited and I had a big sense of being honored to be there. I didn't know anybody there. I knew the names. Charles Collingwood was still there, Eric Sevareid was there, Winston Burdett, all the big names were there, but I didn't know anybody. But I was thrilled to be there. I wasn't scared, but one look around and just a half day there told me that I was going to have to work harder than I'd ever worked, and I considered myself a pretty hard worker. I was going to have to work smarter than I'd ever worked, and I was going to have to raise my whole game in ways that I hadn't even imagined before I got there. But as it was with first getting into college, once there I was determined to make it. I had no idea how I was going to make it, but I didn't come this far not to stick.

There are a lot of smart people out there with a lot of potential who get opportunities and still don't make it. You got that opportunity. You made it. Why do you think so?

Dan Rather: I always come back to persistence

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Somebody once said, you know, "It's good to be smart, brilliance is even better, but persistence will trump them both if it comes down to that." My whole professional life has taught me of the importance of "if you have a goal don't give up on it. If you have a dream, don't let the dream die." That what's absolutely essential is a fierce blinding determination to make it, and it doesn't always have to manifest itself in aggressive ways. But the persistence of just putting one foot in front of the other and just keep on keeping on no matter what the odds, no matter how dark it looks, just say, "Well listen, if I can make one more minute, I can make one more hour, I can make one more day, make one more week, make one more month." It's impossible to overestimate the importance of that in my opinion and based on my experience. Somebody half jokingly said, you know, "Ninety percent of life is just showing up." I think there's something to that. I think if you show up, that's a lot of it. And then if you stick to it, those are, I think, the two biggest things. Go for it, stick to it. Listen, God's grace and luck plays a lot, timing, all of those things come into it, but I think they're infinitesimal compared to sticking to it.

[ Key to Success ] Perseverance

What makes a good reporter, Dan?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Dan Rather: Curiosity and love of the story. What makes a reporter is being curious, wanting to know what's going on, wanting to know how things work, how they really work as opposed to how they may appear to work. You have to be curious to be a good reporter. And I think you have to have a love of stories and story telling. That's one reason why I think an early introduction to books and making yourself a lifetime reader is essential to being a good reporter.

[ Key to Success ] Vision

What is the responsibility? What is the burden that goes with being a reporter?

Dan Rather: I never feel it's a burden.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. The responsibility is to be accurate and fair. The twin pillars on which good -- never mind great -- reporting, are built: accuracy and fairness. They work together. I pause to say this because I don't want to be misinterpreted. If one aspires to daily journalism, which was always my aspiration, and it's still my first love -- I do a lot of different kinds of reporting, including trying to write books now, but daily journalism is my biggest -- speed is also important. You have to be able to think fast, write fast. But that does remind me, speaking of writing, the bedrock of the craft is writing. Anything in journalism, that's where it begins. And that's pretty much what it's about. That's the bedrock of the craft. A lot of people who aspire to jobs, or careers, lifetimes in radio or television, tend to overlook that fact, and it is a fact. The best producers in television, almost without exception, are good writers.

[ Key to Success ] Integrity

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