Rather bids 'good night' with message of gratitude

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Broadcast's longest goodbye is over. After almost a quarter-century in the role, CBS anchorman Dan Rather delivered his final evening news report last night -- a moment closely anticipated by friend and foe alike.

"Before I say good night this night, I need to say thank you," Mr. Rather said. "It has been a privilege."

Mr. Rather chose to end his last newscast with a special update on a survivor of the September 11 attacks, using now rarely aired, disturbing footage from the destruction of the World Trade Center.

The grave newsman gazed steadily into the camera and turned the moment into a personal soliloquy -- and dramatic swan song.

"To our soldiers in dangerous places. To those who have endured the tsunami and to all who have suffered natural disasters, and who must find the will to rebuild. To the oppressed and to those whose lot it is to struggle, in financial hardship or in failing health. To my fellow journalists, in places where reporting the truth means risking all," Mr. Rather said.

"And to each of you: 'courage,'" he concluded.

Resolute, his job done 24 years to the day after he replaced Walter Cronkite, Mr. Rather bid the nation good night. The last shot showed CBS News employees giving a standing ovation.

In a marked difference from Tom Brokaw's December exit from NBC, Mr. Rather's on-camera retirement came at his career's low point and amid criticism even from some longtime colleagues.

"One can have too much passion. I wish on some occasions I had reined my passion in," Mr. Rather said on "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers," a one-hour retrospective overflowing with close-ups, old film footage, personal observations and a few regrets. "Too much passion, melded to loving the work, can lead to mistakes."

One of those mistakes created turmoil at CBS when an election-season "60 Minutes" report on President Bush's Vietnam-era military service relied on documents that persistent bloggers in Web journals proved to be forgeries.