Dan Departs: I Can’t “Sit Around Doing Nothing,” So “I Will Do The Work I Love Elsewhere,” Rather Says In Statement

Dan Rather‘s statement:

“I appreciate the words and gestures contained in today’s press release by CBS.

I leave CBS News with tremendous memories. But I leave now most of all with the desire to once again do regular, meaningful reporting. My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS’s final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there. As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn’t in me to sit around doing nothing. So I will do the work I love elsewhere, and I look forward to sharing details about that soon.

As I go about deciding where and with whom that can best be done, I want to say how grateful I am to have worked with so many outstanding CBS men and women over the years. From producers, to correspondents, to technical crews, it has been my great fortune to have had some of the best pros in journalism at my back and at my side. They are the true heart of CBS News, and they will always have my respect.

Too much is made of anchors and their personalities, their ups and downs. The larger issues — the role of a free press and of honest, real news in a democracy, the role of technology in supporting a free press, the “corporatization” of news and its effects on news content — all deserve more attention, more discussion and more passionate debate.”

(Transcribed from PDF on TMZ)