Dan Rather to discuss the crisis of American journalism and why people should care

Dan Rather is the 2009 Mary Alice Davis Distinguished Lecturer
Photo credit: Lynton Gardiner

Event: Distinguished journalist Dan Rather will talk about the future of news, the crisis of American journalism and why people should care as part of the Mary Alice Davis Distinguished Lectureship at The University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism.

This lecture is free and open to the public thanks to the Mary Alice Distinguished Lectureship and the School of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.

When: 4-5:30 p.m. Oct. 22, 2009

Where: Texas Union Ballroom. Maps of the campus are available online.

Background: Given his distinguished record and his long exposure on television around the globe, Rather may be the best-known journalist in the world. He has covered virtually every major event in the world in the past 50 years including Hurricane Carla, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; the civil rights movement; the White House and national politics; and wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia and Iraq. From his first days as the Associated Press reporter in Huntsville, Texas, Rather has more than earned his reputation as the "hardest working man in broadcast journalism."

Having served as anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News for 24 years, Rather is currently the anchor and managing editor of "Dan Rather Reports," which started broadcasting on HDNet in 2006. He continues to interview the world's most important and compelling figures, from the famous to the infamous. Rather's passion for the news, for getting the story and taking on the most challenging assignments in journalism, is unmatched. He has interviewed every United States president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush and virtually every major international leader of the past 30 years. He landed two news-breaking interviews with Saddam Hussein, in 1990 and in 2003. In 2004, as a correspondent for "60 Minutes II," Rather also broke what was arguably that year's biggest story—the abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Mary Alice Davis, who died in 2004 from ovarian cancer, is remembered as a remarkable writer who championed the role of journalism in a democracy. She wrote for the Daily Texan as an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin and later wrote for the Austin American-Statesman and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The Mary Alice Davis Distinguished Lectureship was created in 2005 by the Davis family and brings notable journalists to campus to discuss the role of journalism in society. Past lecturers include: Maureen Dowd, Molly Ivins, Jim Lehrer and Michele Norris.

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Event Contact:
Hilary Stanco
512 471 1845
or
Media Contact:
Erin Geisler
512-475-8071