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Peter Jennings 1938-2005

> I had gone to sleep early Sunday night (August 8th), waking
> up just before 4 A.M. EDT this morning and turned on the TV,
> expecting to see coverage of the space shuttle landing
> (which has now been postponed a day; as a result, I'll be
> going back to sleep for a few hours) but instead, learning
> about Peter Jennings' death.
>
> One thing I had failed to see noted in any retrospectives on
> his career was his short-lived stint (January-October, 1975)
> as the news-update anchor on ABC News' first attempt at an
> early-morning program, the ill-fated "AM America". Jennings
> had been brought back to the 'States from the Middle East
> for that assignment.
>
> In the end, the replacement of "AM America" with "Good
> Morning America" may have been the best for Jennings'
> career, for he was able to return overseas and provide some
> truly top-notch reporting from the Middle East for the
> network. It wasn't that his work for "AM America" was bad;
> his anchor work there was much better than his first
> (1965-67) stint as ABC's evening news anchorman. It was that
> he had a perspective on the Middle East that perhaps no
> other broadcast journalist ever had.
>
> Were it not for the outstanding quality of his reporting
> from late 1975 through early 1978, it's possible Jennings
> may not have been selected as part of the original
> triple-anchor team of "World News Tonight", and thus, would
> not have become "WNT"'s sole anchor in 1983.
>
> And in time, Peter Jennings became a superior anchorman. His
> anchoring on September 11th, 2001 remains one of the
> greatest on-air reporting jobs in the history of American
> television news.
>
Good Morning America is airing not only a fitting tribute but a beautiful tribute to Mr. Jennings.

Over the years as I watched his broadcasts, it seemed that each half hour was a combination of Journalism 101, Advanced Reporting, and the art of broadcasting all rolled into one lecture and taught by the anchor emeritus of American television journalism.

Peter Jennings will indeed be missed, as many have said, but the words fall far short of describing the void that has been created by his passing.
 
> ABC News just broke into local progamming (roughly 11:40 pm)
> here on the East Coast to announce the death of Peter
> Jennings. My thoughts and prayers go to his family,
> friends, co-workers, and everyone that he has touched in his
> many years in broadcast journalisim.
>
>
> Moderator of Charlotte Board
>

RIP Peter Jennings. He was an exellent news anchor. My thoughts and prayers go to his family and co-workers.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
Re: Thanks Charlie Gibson

T.J. commented on Charlie Gibson's anchoring of the ABC News special reprot announcing Peter Jennings' death:

> I think this was probably the hardest Special Report he's
> ever had to do on live air, and I commend him for doing a
> great job.
>
> Peter will be missed greatly.

Didn't Peter Jennings also have to do something similar on-the-air in 1983 when Frank Reynolds died??

I do know that a few weeks before Reynolds' death, Jennings was summoned to Washington to take over Reynolds' seat in the "World News Tonight" anchor set-up (after David Brinkley, Steve Bell, Sam Donaldson and Ted Koppel had rotated as fill-ins) with Richard Threkeld going to London to fill Jennings' usual seat. Thus, Jennings was in Washington when Reynolds died, and for all I know (I don't think I was watching TV when the bulletin of Reynolds' death was first announced) may have had to announce the news that his colleague had passed away.

Having said that, I did see some excerpts of Charlie Gibson's special report (when rebroadcast early this morning, August 8th; I did not see it live) and was very impressed at how he managed to stay focused and pull himself together. A very tough task, but one he managed to pull off and do well.
 
> I had the chance to meet Peter when he was last in Seattle.
> I really enjoy meeting him and will miss watching him on
> ABC.

Speaking of Seattle, KOMO-4, which had TV promos featuring Jennings with anchors Dan Lewis and Kathi Goertzen this past Spring, will air his last interview he made in February[When he was there doing a report on Seattle for "World News Tonight"] on "Northwest Afternoon" today(August 8th).

Peter, you earned my trust.
 
Re: Thanks Charlie Gibson

> Jennings was in
> Washington when Reynolds died, and for all I know (I don't
> think I was watching TV when the bulletin of Reynolds' death
> was first announced) may have had to announce the news that
> his colleague had passed away.
>
I remember Jennings' report on Reynolds following the latter's death -- Jennings kept his composure, but his emotions started to show as he signed off, while a photo of Reynolds was displayed on screen. When it ws displayed, Jennings said off-camera, "For ABC News..." -- I don't think he ever said "goodnight" on that newscast.

Shortly after Reynolds' death, ABC discontinued the "tag-team" concept, and named Jennings as sole anchor of "World News Tonight".

One other memory of Jennings wasn't on-camera, but in print -- decades after it was published. As a TV Guide collector, I bought a TVG from 1965, when Jennings started his first round of anchoring for ABC. The network had print ads in TVG's listings section, which featured a young Jennings standing tall, with the tagline saying "Watch him!"

Too bad ABC was 18 years too early putting that ad out, as Jennings' first stint as anchor lasted until 1968.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by rugrats1 on 08/08/05 04:53 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> > ABC News just broke into local progamming (roughly 11:40
> pm)
> > here on the East Coast to announce the death of Peter
> > Jennings. My thoughts and prayers go to his family,
> > friends, co-workers, and everyone that he has touched in
> his
> > many years in broadcast journalisim.
> >
> >
> > Moderator of Charlotte Board
> >
>
> :(
>
> I wonder if NBC and CBS will have Brokaw and Rather on their
> respective evening newscasts paying tribute. (I'm assuming
> that Rather is still with CBS, I know Broakaw is still with
> NBC, but doing special projects)
>
> -A
>
Brokaw and Rather both appeared on Good Morning America this
morning. Rather is on assignment in Beirut for CBS; Brokaw
was in Montana, probably taking it easy, I don't know. Both
Brokaw and Charlie Gibson commented that it seemed strange not
to have the "third leg of the triangle" there with them this
morning. Both Brokaw and Rather admitted keeping an eye on
Jennings when the three went head-to-head; Rather said that
the last thing you wanted to see was Jennings coming to the
scene of a breaking story (if you were with CBS or NBC, that
is).

BTW, ABC will air a special edition of Primetime, paying tribute
to Jennings, tomorrow night (Tuesday the 9th) at 8/7 Central.

I wonder if ABC will televise Jennings' funeral as they did
Frank Reynolds'?
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by bpatrick on 08/08/05 06:46 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> > I'm pretty sure "Nightline" will be a keeper on Monday
> > night. Rest in peace, Mr. Jennings.
> As was said it is ironic that the 3-anchor team,have all
> gone before their time. Jennings was a great stylist; a
> truely accomplished broadcaster.
>
The changing of the guard happened so much more quickly than
anyone, myself included, expected. First, Brokaw announced
he was stepping down; then Rather got mixed up in "Memogate";
now this. It has all happened in less than a year (I know,
Brian Williams was picked as Brokaw's successor in 2002, IIRC,
but the other changes came more quickly).

It just hit me that Barbara Walters is the only person left
who was a regular anchor on ABC's evening newscast.

Tonight on Hardball, Brokaw pointed out that people once felt
it wouldn't be the same without Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley,
and Sevareid. But he, Jennings, and Rather took the anchor slots,
the public accepted it, and life went on. Now people may be
wondering if watching the news will be the same with three new
faces. I think it will. NBC seems to have made a smooth transition
from Brokaw to Brian Williams, and I still think John Roberts will
eventually anchor CBS's news (alone or as part of a multi-anchor
format). As for ABC, I'm for Charlie Gibson as long as he wants
to do it.

We've gone from John Cameron Swayze/Douglas Edwards/John Daly
in the early days, to Cronkite/Huntley-Brinkley/a succession of
anchors on ABC in the '60s, to Cronkite/John Chancellor/Howard K.
Smith and Harry Reasoner in the '70s, to Brokaw/Jennings/Rather
(and, lest I forget, Frank Reynolds from 1978 to '83).
Now we're probably looking, for the short term at least, at
Williams/Schieffer/Gibson. We'll get used to it.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by bpatrick on 08/09/05 01:16 AM.</FONT></P>
 
In an ideal world, the space shuttle Discovery would have landed at Cape Canaveral this morning (August 9th), and that Peter Jennings would have anchored ABC's coverage from alongside the shuttle landing runway.

He would have ended the live coverage by breaking into a half-smile, noting that given all the problems before and during the mission (the fuel gauge, tiles, foam falling off the external tank, the removal of paper-thin material that stuck-out from between tiles, etc.), the flight of Discovery ended with a successful re-entry and a safe landing. Jennings would have closed by saying that the reason he was smiling was that he, like those at NASA and the many millions watching, were relieved that everything turned out all right.
 
I thought I heard that there would be a private funeral for Peter Jennings this week, but there would be a public memorial service later this month. Maybe that service will be televised.
 
> > > > > ABC News just broke into local progamming here
> > (roughly
> > > > > 11:40 pm) on the East Coast to announce the death of
>
> > > Peter
> > > >
> > > > > Jennings. My thoughts and prayers go to his family,
>
> > > > > friends, co-workers, and everyone that he has
> touched
> > in
> > >
> > > > his
> > > > > many years in broadcast journalisim.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > CNN and Headline News is running the same thing right
> > now
> > > > and they are talking to Aaron Brown who worked with
> > Peter
> > > > Jennings when he was at ABC News. NBC News has just
> > broke
> > > > into local programming at 11:48pm with the story of
> > > > Jennings' passing, and Fox News Channel hit with the
> > news
> > > at
> > > > 11:50pm.
> > > >
> > > > Truly a loss in television journalism and my memories
> of
> >
> > > > watching Peter Jennings was of his calm demeanor and
> > > smooth
> > > > and somewhat comforting delivery on air. He will truly
>
> > be
> > > > missed.
> > >
> > > Agreed...I grew up watching him behind the ABC anchor
> > desk.
> > > Sad and shocking
> > > to see him go, he lent a human touch to events ranging
> > from
> > > 9/11 to the Stanley Cup finals.
> > >
> > Frank Reynolds passed away in '83, I believe Max Robinson
> is
> > no longer with us, and now Peter Jennings.
>
> Max Robinson passed away in 1988 from complications from
> HIV/AIDS. Reynolds passed away from bone cancer (I
> believe).
>
The trio(Reyonlds, Robinson, & Jennings) are having a reunion in the afterlife.<P ID="signature">______________
"Always on the move." Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge Of the Sith</P>
 
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