Dan Rather at SXSW: Journalism is gutless, spineless

by Kaitlin | March 13, 2007 at 08:33 am

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Dan Rather, formerly of CBS (he left last year due to well publicized scandal), now of HDNet, was the keynote speaker at this year's SXSW Interactive. He spent much of his hour-long speech talking about the past, present and future of journalism. He also criticized his contemporaries (and himself, actually) for bowing to the powers that be rather than serving citizen interests, and he talked about the future of journalism and the internet.

Bloggers were out in full force for the event, as well, and had some interesting things to say about Mr. Rather's words.

In his speech, he touched on the state of the Internet as a way to get information and news to people.

"The Internet is a tremendous tool for not just news, (because) its potential is unlimited for that," Rather said, but for "illumination and opening things up."

But he spent most of his time on stage talking about why he thinks many people have lost faith in journalists.

One reason for that, Rather said, is that a sense has developed that questioning power, especially at a time of war, is perceived as unpatriotic or unsupportive of America's fighting troops.

That's "a very serious charge in this country," Rather said.

"We've brought it on ourselves," he added, "partly because we've lost the sense that patriotic journalists will be on his or her feet asking the tough questions. My role as a member of the press is to be sometimes a check and balance on power."

Rather responded that he sees a lot of potential in the Internet, and in the blogosphere in particular, but that he worries about anonymity on a lot of Web sites and blogs.

He said it's very easy to attack someone when you don't have to put your name to your complaints. He's not sure how to strike the right balance between professional and citizen journalism, but he believes the market will eventually provide that solution.