Dan Rather still won’t let sleeping dogs lie, said Lloyd Grove in Newsweek. Almost eight years after his controversial 60 Minutes segment that raised questions about George W. Bush’s service in the National Guard, the 80-year-old former CBS News anchor has come out swinging against his former bosses, whom he calls “spineless” for backing away from his team’s reporting. “I wanted to tell it as honestly and as candidly as I could with—as Lyndon Johnson used to say—the bark off,” he says of his new memoir, Rather Outspoken. Rather is even still defending the authenticity of the memos, ostensibly written by Bush’s commanding officer, that were widely ridiculed as fakes. “If they were not genuine,” he says, “by this time somebody would’ve come forward and said here’s the proof that they’re not.”
Rather’s book isn’t all score settling, said Susan Whitall in The Detroit News. A great chunk of it is the veteran newsman opining—complete with “Ratherisms”—about the changing news media industry. “I hope I’m a good storyteller,” he says. “I try to convey whatever wisdom I have about the news business—how it really works, as opposed to how people are led to believe it works.” Rather’s advice for young reporters is unapologetically old-school. “Today, with all the pressure to tweet, to put something on Facebook, the temptation is to stay in the office and operate off the Internet,” he says. “I am a big believer of working the ground. You need to go to the fire—run to the fire! That’s the best kind of reporting.”
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