ABC News’ Charlie Gibson took a break from his anchoring duties recently to urge students at his father’s alma mater to be honest and fair. Gibson made the remarks during commencement ceremonies at the school.
“It sounds old-fashioned, but I will tell you there are ethical imperatives in this life,” Gibson told members of the graduating class. “Compassion. Honesty. Fairness. Trustworthiness. Respect for others. If those things are not the bedrocks of your life, you will suffer for their absence in time. And I would wager you won’t much like yourself.”
Gibson also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the ceremony and established a scholarship in his father’s name. Gibson’s father graduated from Union in 1923. As for the memorial scholarship, Gibson contributed $75,000 to help create the Burdett Gibson Class of 1923 Scholarship, which will be awarded each year to a student in need.
Former CBS anchor man Dan Rather may be off the network news shows, but he’s still in the news business. (A newspaper columnist recently wrote: “Rather isn’t gone. It just seems that way.”)
Rather has gone from anchoring the “CBS Evening News” to anchoring “Dan Rather Reports,” HDNet news program. In the seven months since he signed on Rather has done stories on dangerous chemicals in trailers given to Hurricane Katrina victims, drug cartels that have rendered large swaths of Mexico lawless, and civil rights enforcement within the current U.S. Justice Department.
The 76-year-old commands a 21-person staff, but is the only on-air reporter. The crew has a full hour to fill (there are no commercial breaks), but Rather says he loves the challenge.
“I love doing it,” Rather recently told reporters. “I love the liberating quality of it. It’s been an absolute joy for me.”
Rather’s show airs 14 times a week (new episodes premiere Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET), but there’s no estimate of how many people watch since the show is only available to six million of the nation’s 111 million homes with televisions.