The usual silence at the New York Public Library was broken when Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and Dan Rather convened before a packed house for the panel discussion, “From Where We Sit: The Campaign and Network News,” part of The New Yorker Festival, the annual three-day series of talks by authors, artists, filmmakers, and journalists in various city venues.

Author and New Yorker contributor Ken Auletta moderated this Big Three Summit, which was to have focused on the 2004 Presidential election. News breaker-turned-newsmaker Dan Rather reluctantly took center stage, however, due to the apparently unauthenticated memos regarding George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard, presented during his 60 Minutes II special report. Despite Auletta’s repeated attempts to fire questions at Rather concerning the disputed broadcast, the veteran CBS anchor could say little, due to a pending internal investigation. “I’ve been asked by the president of the news division not to say anything more,” Rather stoically stated.

In a rare demonstration of solidarity, on-air rivals Brokaw and Jennings both quickly stood up in defense of Rather. “I don’t think you ever judge a man by only one event in his career,” ABC’s Jennings declared, amidst thundering applause. Brokaw, then just two months away from his own retirement from the anchor/managing editor slot at NBC, forcefully added, “What I think is highly inappropriate is what’s going on across the Internet, a kind of political jihad against Dan Rather and CBS News that’s quite outrageous.”

Rather maintained then that he had no immediate plans to vacate the anchor/managing editor seat he’s filled at CBS for 23 years. “I don’t have a date, I don’t have a time frame,” he insisted. We now know that the time has come. Rather will step down from his anchor seat on March 9, the 24th anniversary of when he first took over the position from Walter Cronkite. Now he’d “rather” focus full-time on his first love, investigative reporting.

Stay tuned....