By Joshua Spaman
The Camera Never Blinks: Adventures of a TV Journalist
William Morrow & Company Inc.
April 1, 1977
Page Count: 320
Price: $5.90 - $12.99
Wayne State University
COM 2100, April 10, 2018
Before Dan Rather became a correspondent for the news station CBS, he began his roots in broadcast journalism in a small town in Texas. Rathers would find himself reporting on controversies from all levels of government, even one that would be remembered as Watergate in history.
Rather’s journey began in his hometown of Huntsville, Texas. Here he attended Sam Houston State Teachers College, where he would meet a man who would teach him a lesson he would never forget, said Rather.
Within many chapters of The Camera Never Blinks: Adventures of a TV Journalist, Rather brings the audience back to lessons he learned from this man, Hugh Cunningham. While it may have become somewhat repetitive, it reinforced the importance of the lesson he learned.
“He required us, in class, to repeat out loud the journalist’s creed: ‘A public journal is a public trust,’” said Rather. This was one the lessons that Cunningham taught the students at the college, one that was brought up in later chapters of the book as well.
With the way the book was often written, it seemed to follow the style in which an interview may have followed. Rather wrote in a way that seemed to be a recount of events after having been proposed a question, almost like he recalled anecdotes for a story.
“From the start out goal was to film an interview with the Democratic nominee,” said Rather. This was in reference to an interview with John Kennedy after he had been nominated to be the President in 1960. The way in which Rather wrote about it seemed so casual, as though it was an expectation of the day.
“I just cut through the traffic and squeezed in front of him with a mike,” said Rather, “The security people tried to brush us out of the way but Kennedy stopped.” Many would never have even dreamed of being able to have a one-on-one interview with the nominee for the a position such as the President, yet Rather treated it like any other subject.
On another face this can also be evident of what Rather acted on to be considered a good journalist.
“One of the rules of journalism is, you never report your hunches,” said Rather, “doing so can prove fatal.” In reference to weighing the decision of staying put over the weekend to wait on a tropical storm to get closer to the shore, Rather had to make the call to send a team out. The decision to potentially be able to track the storm on the station’s radar could prove pivotal in gaining notice for the storm, however he could not guarantee that his hunch was right.
“This is actual scale, there’s the state of Texas, one inch equals fifty miles,” said Rather, “The storm actually covered much of the Gulf of Mexico.”
“Carla struck the coast early Monday morning,” said Rather, “The Weather Bureau said later that strong early warnings had minimized the loss of life.” His reporting and persistence to get the information the public as soon as possible prevented a potentially catastrophic disaster.
One of the most notable stories that Rather covered during his time as a reporting journalist was the Watergate scandal.
“We had him on the record as saying, in general, that he thought reporters looked at him, quote, with hatred in their eyes,” said Rather. Aside from the interesting contradicting statement in this sentence, Rather was well aware of the issues many journalists faced trying to uncover the story.
“What’s a bad story?” said Rather.
“Ehrlichman said, ‘A story that’s dead-ass wrong. And you’re wrong ninety percent of the time,” said Rather.
This exchange was in regards to stories being written about Nixon’s potential issues in how he came to office. Many times issues arose with the fact that he did not know Richard Nixon well enough, an issue shared by many other reporters, said Rather.
Rather’s autobiography takes the reader through his many experiences through broadcast journalism, starting from his roots and leading up to his work with the CBS station. He retold stories that would lead many readers to recount the versions they understood from the perspective of the reporter.
“For the working reporter, what is the most important thing,” said Rather, “don’t let the bastards scare you.”