Editing Dan Rather (section)

=== Fired from CBS News ===
In June 2006, reports surfaced that CBS News would most likely not renew Rather's contract.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> According to a ''Washington Post'' article, sources from CBS said that executives at the network decided "there is no future role for Rather".<ref>{{cite web |title=No future role at CBS for Rather |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/amp/No-future-role-at-CBS-for-Rather-1206277.php |website= Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=June 16, 2006 |access-date=August 17, 2019}}</ref>

On June 20, 2006, CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus announced that Rather would leave the network after 44 years.<ref>{{cite news|author=David Bauder|url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dan-rather-signs-off/|title=Dan Rather Signs Off|work=CBS News|date=June 20, 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622105927/https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/19/national/main1727285.shtml|archive-date=June 22, 2006}}</ref> Rather issued a separate statement which accompanied the news of the departure:<ref>{{cite web|last=Johnson |first=Peter |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-06-15-dan-rather_x.htm |title=Dan Rather will leave CBS after 44 years |work=USA Today |date=June 15, 2006|access-date=June 4, 2012}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I leave CBS News with tremendous memories. But I leave now most of all with the desire to once again do regular, meaningful reporting. My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS's final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there. As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing. So I will do the work I love elsewhere, and I look forward to sharing details about that soon.}}

==== Lawsuit over ouster from CBS Network ====
On September 19, 2007, Rather filed a $70&nbsp;million lawsuit in the [[New York Supreme Court]] before judge [[Ira Gammerman (judge)|Ira Gammerman]], against CBS, its former parent company [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]]; CBS President and CEO [[Leslie Moonves]]; [[Sumner Redstone]], chairman of both Viacom and CBS; and [[Andrew Heyward]], former president of [[CBS News]]. Rather accused the network and its ownership and management of making him a "scapegoat" in the Killian story. A CBS spokesman claimed that the lawsuit was "old news" and "without merit".<ref name="Fox News"/> On September 21, 2009, Rather's lawyers claimed that Bush's military service would be proven to be a sham, and Rather would be vindicated.<ref name="Martinez"/> On September 29, 2009, a New York state appeals court dismissed Rather's lawsuit against CBS.<ref name="web.archive.org"/><ref name="Honan"/> On January 12, 2010, New York's top court refused to reinstate Rather's breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS Corp. In his book titled ''Rather Outspoken,'' Rather claimed that the lawsuit "took a big whack out of my time, my psyche and my bank balance, but even so, it was worth it".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Byers|first=Dylan|title=Dan Rather: CBS lawsuit was 'worth it'|url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/04/dan-rather-cbs-lawsuit-was-worth-it-121602|access-date=2020-12-15|website=POLITICO|date=April 25, 2012 |language=en}}</ref> On May 18, 2012, Rather appeared on ''[[Real Time With Bill Maher]]'' and claimed he had been fired for reporting a story about George W. Bush's year of absence from the reserve unit he served with, and that the news corporations had been "very uncomfortable" running the story.<ref name="Verizon Media"/>