Brokaw said that while Rather had a long and distinguished reporting career, "No one knows better than Dan that he has also been a lightning rod for controversy and criticism. But I think he deserves to be judged on his whole career and not just on this final episode."

At a New York City media forum in October, Brokaw saved his sharpest words for Rather's critics on the Internet, saying they had waged "a kind of political jihad against Dan Rather and CBS News that is quite outrageous."

The NBC anchor singled out the Media Research Center's L. Brent Bozell, who he said was "doing as much damage as he can, and I choose that word carefully, to the credibility of the news divisions."

Editor's note: