NEW YORK -- Dan Rather stormed off the set of 'CBS Evening News' over a CBS decision to shorten the broadcast last week, causing the network to go six minutes without transmitting a picture, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The Times, citing CBS staff members as sources, said the incident Friday prompted a flurry of angry telephone calls Friday and Saturday between officials of CBS News, CBS Sports and network management.
The Times said Rather, who anchors the 'Evening News' and is the program's managing editor, was angered when told the newscast would be shortened because the U.S. Open tennis tournament, being broadcast by CBS Sports, was running longer then expected due to a close match between Steffi Graf and Lori McNeil.
But CBS News President Howard Stringer said Sunday the incident resulted from confusion over when the tennis match would end.
Stringer, in a statement read by a network spokesman, said Rather left his anchor chair to telephone CBS in New York to clear up the problem, and the match ended while he was on the phone. The program was being broadcast from Miami where Rather was covering the visit of Pope John Paul II.
'Dan was understandably concerned about a tennis match truncating the 'CBS Evening News,'' Stringer said. 'He thought the problem had been resolved, but at 6:30 p.m., when tennis was still on the air, he left his Miami anchor location to call New York.'
'The tennis ended abruptly, without Dan's knowledge, leaving the network in black,' the statement said. 'When Dan understood the situation, he returned to his anchor position to get the evening news on the air.'
Rather, in a separate statement read by the spokesman, said the public should be able to see the news at its regularly scheduled time in its entirety.
'I would never -- nor would anyone at CBS News -- even think of deliberately allowing the network to go to black,' the statement said. 'I do believe that the 'CBS Evening News' is a public trust and will continue to do anything and everything to meet the responsibility of that trust.'
Rather learned of the decision to shorten the evening news just 15 minutes before the newscast was to air, the newspaper said.
The Times said Rather telephoned New York to tell Stringer he would not be in his anchor chair if the broadcast did not air at 6:30 p.m. as scheduled and that CBS Sports should fill the rest of the half hour.
Stringer telephoned Gene Jankowski, president of the CBS Broadcast Group, and apparently succeeded in getting some of the time back, but the sports crew in New York still needed two minutes of 'Evening News' time to end the tennis coverage, The Times said.
At 6:30 p.m., Rather was in his anchor chair and ready to go, but when CBS Sports did not yield the network air, he disconnected his microphone and walked out of the studio, CBS staff members in Miami told The Times.
Within moments, at just after 6:32 p.m., CBS Sports went off the air, and the network switched to Miami for what it thought would be Rather and the 'Evening News,' but Rather was not there and, for six minutes, the network was 'black' -- an unprecedented event according to CBS members, The Times said.
Tom Bettag, the executive producer, told Rather outside the studio that CBS News had won its point and had gotten most of the time back, but Rather said, 'I told them to have sports fill the time,' The Times reported.
Most of CBS's affiliated stations around the country use the 6:30 p.m. feed, although a second broadcast is made at 7 p.m. for some stations, including the network-owned WCBS in New York.
Bettag, learning the network had 'gone black,' found Rather and - amid a frantic scene at the CBS Miami bureau -- said, 'Dan, we've got to go on the air. We can't let the network be black,' The Times reported.
Rather agreed and returned to the set. At 6:39 p.m., the 'Evening News' went on the air.
During the summer, Rather's broadcast slipped into third place after nearly five years in first place, prompting heated discussion inside CBS News about proposed changes in the 'Evening News' format and speculation that a co-anchor would join Rather on the broadcast.
Last week, a new ratings system took effect, and it showed Rather back in first place.
Rather has clashed with the network in the past. Following a massive layoff of CBS News staff members earlier this year, Rather wrote an angry opinion column in The Times denouncing budget and staff cuts as endangering the quality of the network's news coverage.
