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(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3896399&forum_id=2#35428813)

Rather Walked Off Set of CBS News

By PETER J. BOYER

Published: September 13, 1987

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¶ Dan Rather, angered because CBS decided to shorten the ''CBS Evening News'' to broadcast the end of a tennis match on Friday, walked off the set and caused the network to ''go black'' for six minutes.

¶ The occurrence - six minutes without a picture being transmitted - was unprecedented, according to many CBS members, and prompted a flurry of angry telephone calls Friday and yesterday between officials at CBS News, CBS Sports and network management.

¶ Mr. Rather, the anchor, and the ''Evening News'' staff were broadcasting from Miami on Friday night to cover the visit of Pope John Paul II.

¶ A special ''Evening News'' studio was set up at the CBS Miami bureau, and the ''Evening News'' staff was preparing to go on the air when someone from CBS Sports indicated that the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which CBS Sports was televising, was running longer than had been planned. #15 Minutes' Notice The call came at 6:15 P.M., just 15 minutes before the first transmission of the ''Evening News'' was scheduled to begin. Most of CBS's affiliated stations around the country use that early feed although a second broadcast is made at 7 P.M. for some stations, including WCBS in New York.

¶ When Mr. Rather was told that the tennis match between Steffi Graf and Lori McNeil was closer than expected and that the ''Evening News'' would be truncated, he telephoned New York to protest to Howard Stringer, the president of CBS News, according to several CBS staff members.

¶ Mr. Rather told Mr. Stringer that if his broadcast did not go on at 6:30 as scheduled, he would not be in his anchor chair and that CBS Sports should fill the rest of the half-hour, according to the staff members and CBS officials. Mr. Stringer then telephoned Gene Jankowski, the president of the CBS Broadcast Group, to negotiate an earlier end to the tennis coverage.

¶ Mr. Stringer apparently succeeded in getting some of the time back, but the sports crew in New York still needed a couple of minutes of ''Evening News'' time to wrap up their coverage.

¶ It has been a difficult summer for Mr. Rather, whose broadcast slipped into third place in the ratings after nearly five years in first place. There has been heated discussion inside CBS News over the past few months about proposed changes in the Evening News, and there was for a time speculation that a co-anchor would join Mr. Rather on the broadcast. But last week, a new ratings system took effect, and it showed Mr. Rather back in first place, and many in the organization hoped that the broadcast was past its difficulties. Rather Left Studio

¶ When 6:30 came, Mr. Rather was in his anchor chair, his microphone on and ready to go. But when CBS Sports did not yield the network air, Mr. Rather disconnected his microphone and walked out of the studio, according to CBS people in Miami.

¶ A moment later, at just after 6:32, CBS Sports went off the air, and the network switched to Miami for what it thought would be Dan Rather and the ''CBS Evening News.'' But Mr. Rather wasn't there.

¶ For six minutes, the network was black - no picture was transmitted. Tom Bettag, the executive producer, told Mr. Rather outside the studio that CBS News had won its point and had gotten most of its time back from sports, but Mr. Rather said, ''I told them to have sports fill the time.''

¶ Television stations around the country that carry Mr. Rather's broadcast at 6:30 were dismayed. The Miami station finally broadcast several minutes of a game show to fill the time. Frantic Scene

¶ The scene at the CBS bureau in Miami was frantic, but finally Mr. Bettag was told that the network had ''gone black.'' He found Mr. Rather and said, ''Dan, we've got to go on the air, we can't let the network be black,'' and Mr. Rather agreed, according to sources on the scene. Mr. Rather returned to the set, put his microphone on, and at 6:39, the ''Evening News'' went on the air.

¶ As it happened, the first three minutes and 50 seconds were on tape, and CBS News producers could have filled some of the empty time by transmitting that portion of the broadcast while trying to get Mr. Rather, who is also the managing editor of the ''Evening News,'' into his anchor chair. But that option was dismissed, said one producer, who asked that his name not be used.

¶ ''The managing editor had told the president of CBS News that we were were not going on at all if we couldn't go on at 6:30,'' the producer said. ''Under those circumstances, you can't just take the air.''

¶ Mr. Rather was on a fishing boat in Florida yesterday and could not be reached for comment. Mr. Stringer declined comment.

¶ Photo of Dan Rather

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3896399&forum_id=2#35429832)