Online Journalism Blog

On November 22, 1963, the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy was first reported by then-CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather and only a handful of other journalists – at least when compared to the amount of coverage it would have received in today’s internet-driven world.

During his time on C-SPAN, Rather explained that coverage of the event would be all over computers as soon as it happened. Bloggers would be blogging. Tweeters would be tweeting. And the internet, which has become the dominant place of information, would be jam-packed with facts, thoughts and opinions about JFK’s assassination.

At the time of Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency during the early 1900’s, people of the world were living their lives around the radio.

Since then, JFK was president during the transformation to television and now, with technology constantly evolving, President Barack Obama is the first to rule the United States during the internet age.

Rather has noticed these trends in America and around the world as reporting and journalism continually transforms throughout the ages.

At the time of Kennedy’s assassination, Rather noted that television and radio were the only channels of communicating this tragic event to the public. The channels of information were much fewer and narrower at that time than today.

And with these fewer channels, people relied so much on the way the news was reported on television. The death of JFK was such a huge deal around the world and so much was being put on reporters such as Rather to report the news in an unbiased way.

It’s “important for young journalists when something like this happens [to know] that it is such a hammer to the heart for the country as a whole,” said Rathers, who was thrust on the spot to report the crisis, “and these things don’t happen so as a professional, you are hit with the same emotions as everyone else. ‘Who did this?’ But as a professional, you need to seal out own emotions and focus on the job at hand.”

This ability to focus on one specific task and “zone out” the rest is something Rather needed to do throughout his journalism career. He made it a habit of getting in, getting the facts and reporting the story for the public the way he thought it should be reported – as honest as possible.

“I will do my best to set aside my prejudices as possible and give you as close to the truth as possible no matter what,” Rather said.

When covering the White House, Rather made certain he had a “steel spine and backbone,” not caring about what anyone inside the White House thought about him. He just got the facts out for the public as truthfully as possible.

Tucker Carlson, editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller, was also on hand with Rather during the discussion on C-SPAN. He noted that those with authority were much more adept at cowering reporters and getting their spin on what reaches the public. But to become a true journalist, you must be willing to take on people in authority.

Rather jumped in with Carlson on this topic, explaining that news is something people need to know that somewhere somebody doesn’t want them to know (particularly someone in power).

But to make sure a journalist is on the right track, they must be curious, determined and have the ability to write well, according to Rather.

Without these three characteristics, it will be difficult to become the same type of journalists that Rather and Carlson have been throughout their professional careers.