20 Questions: Dan Rather

Nancy Collins, a reporter for The Washington Post, caught the peripatetic Dan Rather when he touched base at CBS headquarters in New York. Actually, it's a good thing we sent her to interview a fellow journalist: When neither of the tape recorders Collins was carrying proved functional, Rather gladly lent her his.

1.

[Q] Playboy: What advice would you give a young person who wanted to go into broadcast journalism?

[A] Rather: Don't! Forget it. It's too crowded. Even if through some miracle you were able to get a break in the business, the pay is low, the hours are long, there are a lot of headaches--and it'll ruin your personal life.

2.

[Q] Playboy: But come on, Dan, be honest. What about the glory, the recognition?

[A] Rather: There's damn little. Oh, of course, for those who make it to the top in this business, there's probably too much glory. But even if you want glory and think that television is the place to get it, then you're still wrong, because glory comes faster and easier in any one of a dozen other professions than it does in this one. The reality for most people in this business is standing in the rain outside the police station for $115 a week.

3.

[Q] Playboy: What do you have that other TV personalities/reporters don't?

[A] Rather: A lot of luck. Listen, there are any number of people out there--pride won't let me say very many people--who are better than I am on a story. I try to get the best out of myself, but in television terms, there are at least 15 people with CBS who are as good as I am.

4.

[Q] Playboy: Under what circumstances would you kill a juicy, sexy story if it concerned the private life of a Government official?

[A] Rather: If in my judgment it affected his performance as a public official or needed to be taken into account when judging his performance as a public official, then I'd report it. If in my judgment it didn't, then I wouldn't be interested.

5.

[Q] Playboy: But don't you think that the way a person handles his private life is an indication of how he might handle his professional decisions?

[A] Rather: It can tell you something, but not always. And there is a point beyond which reporting on someone's personal life is unfair and none of our damn business. Take drinking, for example. If a Senator is consistently drunk on the floor of the Senate, then it's obviously a story and shouldn't be concealed. That's germane to his performance. But if he's off at Cape Cod for two weeks and he's at a party and gets really bombed, I wouldn't report that.

6.

[Q] Playboy: Have you ever smoked marijuana?

[A] Rather: I prefer not to answer that one.

7.

[Q] Playboy: Have you ever snorted cocaine?

[A] Rather: I prefer not to answer that, too. If I were going to do it, I would not do it in violation of the law. Let's just say I would not do it in this country under any circumstances. This may sound corny, but I find myself thinking more about my kids when it comes to things like marijuana and cocaine. In addition to everything else, I'm a father and I feel pretty strongly about that. Part of my role as a father is to set an example.

8.

[Q] Playboy: What's your idea of a good time?

[A] Rather: That's easy: being with Jean Rather on Bill Johnston's boat in the middle of Lake Travis, Texas--with a little Willie Nelson playing on the stereo in the background.

9.

[Q] Playboy: What other kinds of music do you listen to?

[A] Rather: I like Hank Williams and Haydn.

10.

[Q] Playboy: What's better than sex?

[A] Rather: Nothing. No, let me amend that. Honor is better than sex.

11.

[Q] Playboy: What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

[A] Rather: Making my marriage work. That requires more concentration and more of one's self than anything I know. The hardest thing I've ever done professionally is cover the Kennedy assassination, while the hardest physical thing was to get myself certified for diving, because I am not a good strong natural swimmer. One of the hardest things I've done in terms of deciding what was best was whether or not to leave CBS in 1974.

12.

[Q] Playboy: What cracks you up?

[A] Rather: Say Gerald Ford is at an all-star baseball game and it's between innings, so he's being interviewed. I'm thinking, Hey, great idea for Ford to be at the game if he wants to keep himself in line for things. He looks good. He's got a good tan. He's even got on the right tie. And then the interviewer says, "You know a few things about baseball, Mr. President. . . ." And Ford says, "Oh, yes. I watch a lot of baseball on radio." Now, that cracks me up. I love it.

13.

[Q] Playboy: Do you have any heroes?

[A] Rather: Yes. Eric Sevareid, Charles Collingwood, Walter Cronkite and Hugh Cunningham, a teacher of mine. But without being preachy about it, let me tell you who I really like. I love the guy who goes to work every morning, comes home every night, brings his pay check in every week, breaks his ass for his kids and ends up dead at 57. And out of my high school class of roughly 400, at least 200 of them are like that.

14.

[Q] Playboy: What do you think of Roone Arledge?

[A] Rather: What I see, I like. Before he started the new ABC evening news, there was a lot of loose chatter that he was going to cheapen it. Well, one of the first things he did was put Frank Reynolds on. Now, Frank Reynolds is a class operator. I wish we had him. And thus far, I'd have to say that Arledge himself has been a class operator.

15.

[Q] Playboy: What do you think of Fred Silverman?

[A] Rather: I know Silverman, because he was at CBS. And Silverman is an absolute, demonstrated class operator. The picture of Freddie Silverman as the Attila of the television business was never true and I think he's now in the process of proving that at NBC. After all, he's running the whole show. God knows, the television business is filled with its share of charlatans, cheap-shot artists and people interested only in selling--but it also has a lot of very smart, high-principled people, and Silverman is one of them. I just hope he doesn't beat our head in.

16.

[Q] Playboy: Most people think the men on television news (concluded on page 222)Dan Rather(continued from page 183) are sexier than the women. Why is that?

[A] Rather: Most of the sexy women--and there are exceptions--are attracted to the entertainment side of television, because it's easier for them to make it in those other areas. If you have a great deal of personal attraction, it's easier for you to be on Charlie's Angels. Broadcast journalism remains a man's domain. Men make the decisions. There's no joy in my saying that, but that's the reality. It takes such a long time for women to work up. Let's say a woman gets into journalism and says to herself, I've got to prove myself as a reporter. So she does those things that it takes to prove one's self as a reporter--such as standing in the rain outside the police station for ten or 15 years. After ten or 15 years of that, it's pretty hard to hold your complexion together, honey, and pretty hard to keep your figure. And by the time she's 40, they begin to say in the business, "Well, old Jill is one hell of a reporter, but she looks hard around the edges." When they say that about a man, it's a compliment.

17.

[Q] Playboy: What makes a woman sexy to you?

[A] Rather: Intelligence. And experience. Which is maybe why I find myself attracted to somewhat older women. It's very difficult for me to find someone in her 20s sexy. In fact, I could almost make the same case for a woman in her 30s.

18.

[Q] Playboy: Name some high-profile women you find sexy.

[A] Rather: Well, I think Rosalynn Carter is sexy. One, she's intelligent; and, two, I think she's physically attractive. And there's a gentleness to her that is very appealing. Also in the Carter Administration, I think that Juanita Kreps is a very attractive woman. Now, I've never been around her, you understand, but from a distance, she seems attractive. I'd also have to include Connie Chung and Lesley Stahl at CBS on the list.

19.

[Q] Playboy: Are there any women outside politics or the media you find sexy?

[A] Rather: Doris Lessing. Why? Depth. A mile of depth. She's seen a lot. Again, there's a certain silliness to this, because I do not, in fact, know Doris Lessing. I just feel I know her through her writings. And then there's also Suzy Chaffee, the skier. I don't know her, either, but she exudes a tremendous energy and vitality.

20.

[Q] Playboy: You've recently been named one of the "most watchable" men in America. To what do you attribute this honor?

[A] Rather: Oh, my animal magnetism, of course.