Legendary news broadcaster Dan Rather thrilled fans on Thursday, September 24, by sharing his first social media photo in over six years. Rather, who anchored the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from 1981 to 2005, was right where you might imagine: in a button-down shirt while sitting at his home desk, ready to type out his latest take on world events.
Rather, 94, also shared the photo on X (formerly Twitter) and Threads for a simple reason: to let people know he continues to write posts for his Steady blog. He captioned the photo, “Dan Rather here. Working on Steady, my Substack about news and politics. Check it out and join us. The link is in my Instagram bio. Stay Steady.”
Thousands liked Rather’s post, and many shared that seeing Rather looking happy and healthy — and still writing — was a day brightener.
“Ah, this brought me such a smile,” one person wrote. “Read your book What Unites Us this summer and it was such a good read and reminder of the good in all of us. ❤️”
Another commented, “Miss you on Instagram. So grateful for you and your integrity, clarity and humanity. I can’t tell you how many times I have said quietly to myself, “steady”, when this time we’re going through seems so terrifying hopeless. Thank you Mr. Rather”
Someone else gushed, “Iconic & wow – a journalist who keeps producing at 94 🙌”
In May 2026, Rather did appear in a web exclusive interview with CBS Sunday Mornings correspondent Mo Rocca to talk about his career. He got his start in radio, but joined CBS’ TV news operation in 1962.
“In 1962, most people still got most of their news either from newspapers or from radio,” he told Rocca. “But television news was exploding and with stories such as the civil rights movement of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
“Nobody knew what the hell they were doing,” he admitted. “We were just making it up as we went along. But with radio, you knew exactly what to do. And I felt more confident with radio than I did with television.”
But Rather quickly found his way on TV, covering some of the biggest stories of the century, including reporting live from Dallas during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, covering international conflicts like the Vietnam War, and serving as White House correspondent during the Johnson and Nixon administrations, including covering Watergate.
In 1975, Rather became a co-anchor of 60 Minutes, but gave that role up in 1981 to replace another news legend, Walter Cronkite, at the CBS Evening News anchor desk. In 1988, Rather also took on hosting CBS’ hour-long news show, 48 Hours. Not surprisingly, he received countless broadcast journalism awards, including numerous Emmys and Peabody Awards, and the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award in 2005, the year he retired from CBS Evening News.