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As Dan Rather turns 95 this Saturday — just days before the 2026 midterm elections — the recent documentary “Rather,” about both the newsman’s life and the modern state of journalism, couldn’t be more timely. And now,
it will be easier than ever to watch the 2023 Frank Marshall-directed film, which will now stream for free on YouTube.
Documentary producers Wavelength, Fremantle’s Original Productions and Anchor Entertainment are distributing “Rather” for free on YouTube starting today, timed to the recent Free Speech Week.
“I hope it will give it a much wider audience,” Rather tells Variety of the free YouTube distribution. “I’m also hoping that this documentary may, in some pretty small way, help underscore the importance of defending the First Amendment and freedom of the press — especially at this moment in our country’s history. I think rededicating ourselves to freedom of the press and the First Amendment is especially important.”
As seen in the doc, Rather isn’t slowing down: He continues to write a Substack newsletter, “Steady,” and has plenty of thoughts about the state of the media — and that includes what has happened to his longtime alma mater, CBS News.
“Rather” details his controversial 2006 exit from CBS News, but also the highlights of his legendary 44-year career with the network (also depicted via never-before-seen footage in the doc). So Rather’s take on what has happened to CBS News under new owner Skydance carries weight. To sum it up, he’s not a fan.
“What’s happened at CBS News is sad,” he said. “It is in many ways a disaster, not just for the people who work at CBS News — and there’s still a lot of really good people working there. But this is a further example of big billionaire corporate power in bed with powerful people and the presidency to get control of these operations for their benefit.
“Donald Trump has expressed his extreme dislike for ’60 Minutes.’ So now, he’s gotten his way,” Rather continued. “He cleared the way for a consolidation of corporate power, which in turn cleared the way for doing what’s been done to ’60 Minutes.’ The wreckage of CBS News is everywhere, and continues to this moment. I don’t see how to stop it.”
Rather, who was a “60 Minutes” correspondent before taking over “CBS Evening News” in 1981 (he also returned for the short-lived companion series “60 Minutes II”), notes that the newsmagazine was “pound for pound the best investigative journalism outfit anywhere in television in the world. It was the most profitable television program in the country, and what’s happened is this new regime is trying to turn CBS News into a kind of more sophisticated version of Fox News. What’s happened to CBS News as a as a whole, and 60 Minutes in particular, would be almost unbelievable under the other circumstances.”
Rather said he wasn’t familiar with Bari Weiss before she took over as editor-in-chief of CBS News. “You judge a person by what they do, and what she’s done is she’s quickly turned CBS News in the direction of being a version of Fox News, perhaps a little more palatable. But I didn’t know her beforehand, and I don’t know her now. Frankly, we didn’t hear much about her until she was rewarded with many millions of dollars for her company [‘The Free Press’], and then paid to come in and start destroying CBS News.”
Rather also lauded former “60 Minutes” correspondents Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi for speaking up about the changes — which then led to their exits from CBS News.
“Scott Pelley and Sheryn Alfonsi were two of the best television correspondents in the country, not just on ’60 Minutes,’” he said. “Among the first things that the new ownership did was get rid of both of them. Pelley, who’s has had a long and very good career, you’ve got to admire his guts because somebody needed to stand up, speak out, and start challenging the power. And at a tremendous cost to themselves. They paid the price — which is one of the themes of the documentary, that there’s a price to be paid if you dedicate yourself to trying to find the truth and tell it.”
As journalists face an extreme assault on the First Amendment by politicians like Trump, “Rather” tackles threats against the freedom of the press and how that has become more troubling in recent years. The evolution of journalism is told through the lens of Rather’s Emmy, Peabody and Edward R. Murrow-winning career.
And that includes his warning that TV news has been corrupted by the agendas of the powerful, wealthy billionaires who now control a large portion of the media.
“Much of the American press these days is a combination of our politics in bed with immense corporate power to put out ‘news’ for their benefit, not news for the public’s benefit,” Rather says. “Whatever anyone’s politics may be, whatever the ideological persuasion, they can see how dangerous it is to have this immense corporate power and super billionaires in bed with this. If we’re to remain a country that has anything approaching a free press and a truly independent press, this has got to stop. Better heads than mine might have to figure out how to stop it, but we can’t continue to go in this direction. And I do think that the documentary ‘Rather,’ once it gets to YouTube and gets a wider distribution, may help at least a wee small part in making that point.
“It’s just never been more important to remind ourselves that if freedom of the press dies, democracy dies,” he added. “A truly independent press is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy. I don’t think we teach it quite enough that real news is something someone in power usually doesn’t want you to know.”
Rather is currently focused on covering the midterm elections, particularly in his native Texas: “I’ve always loved covering politics. I’ve never waned it in loving politics. And what a great year to be alive and be covering politics. This race for Senate is a race for the ages here in Texas. However it goes, there will be people writing about this race for many years to come, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.”
“Rather,” which runs 93 minutes, tells three stories at once: The evolution of broadcast journalism and the troubles a free press now faces, along with the slide of American society from hard-fought advances in social justice and democratic freedoms, all told through the lens of Rather’s career.
According to the “Rather” producers, “this free release aims to spark conversation about freedom of speech, journalistic integrity and the importance of a free press. Rather and the film’s production teams are leveraging this powerful moment to shine a spotlight on the work currently being done to protect the freedom of the press, including the work of organizations Rather has long supported in their efforts to safeguard the First Amendment, including the ACLU.”
Marshall, Jenifer Westphal, Joe Plummer, Jeff Hasler, Ethan Goldman and Aly Parker are the producers on “Rather.” Watch the trailer for the film here:
And watch the full film here:
