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August 08, 2005
Jennings Dead
Peter Jennings has died. And with Dan Rather in disgrace and Tom Brokaw in retirement, it seems like a coda on an era, the end of a time when Americans could agree on where they got their news from and how reality looked. Maybe not -- maybe I'm young and packed with nostalgia for a consensus I never experienced and that never existed.
Maybe.
His obituary is here.
August 8, 2005 | Permalink
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It's good to not have known Peter Jennings personally, because no doubt I would have been intimidated yet simultaneously willing to try to casually impress him with my brilliance, all the while coming off like a yapping poodle that doesn't know when ... [Read More]
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Comments
There were several generations of newscasters. The first generation were the radio correspondents, who detailed the rise of Hitler for an American audience, who read very little of it in the isolationist press of the day. Murrow and Sevareid belonged to this generation. Sevareid, late in his career did a couple of minutes of commentary at the end of the CBS nightly news -- I don't remember what he said, but he said it so beautifully, with cadences so poetical in their rythym, I long to hear them even now. The second generation included Huntley-Brinkley and Walter Cronkite. Their dignity and integrity were front and center; the "theme song" for Huntley-Brinkley was a movement from Beethoven's 9th Symphony, as played by the RCA Symphony Orchestra, in its heydey. Jennings belonged to the third generation, chosen largely for their youthful sex appeal. Compared to Brokaw, a moron with a lisp, and Rather, with his Texas-sized ego, Jennings, a high-school dropout who made great, was the standout. But, he belonged to the generation of network television news's decline from authority, integrity and concern to soundbite and attitude. The great liberal media, which he exemplified, is gone.
Posted by: Bruce Wilder | Aug 8, 2005 11:03:00 AM
I'd echo Bruce - though I can't recall the Sevareid/Murrow years, I was there for the Crokite/Huntley/Brinkley (I'd also include Chancellor) period, which includes Watergate; I think they were the period when America agreed generally on reality and where the news came from. When Jennings, Brokaw and rather arrived, close to each other, there were initial rumblings about declining standards (Broadcast News is partly about this), which have only gotten more shrill as audiences declined on their watch. I will miss Jennings tremendously. I keep thinking, though, that at some point, if only to get some sanity back into the political culture, we will get back to a place where there's more agreement on just what news and information is out there. It's probably wishful, but I can dream, can't I?
Posted by: weboy | Aug 8, 2005 11:57:10 AM
I think those days are over. Look, the 1960s-1970s were an aberration. Prior to that, a lot of news was delivered by folks with a partisan axe to grind (McCormick, Hearst papers, Winchell, not to mention the post-Revolutionary papers).
The 1960s-1970s were largely an aberration b/c the Big Three weren't primarily motivated by profit or ratings -- in fact, the networks (partially b/c of lack of competition, partially b/c they actually liked the prestige) mostly shielded the news division from profit concerns.
I hate to tell you this, but Fox News and the inevitable liberal counterpart are probably the future. Once those who deliver the news are motivated solely by ratings/profit, they deliver the news the way they think the LCD wants to hear it. More pandering re: trial of the month, more of an ideological bent, etc...
Posted by: Chris R | Aug 8, 2005 12:10:56 PM
One hopes that this is not the end of the anchorman who worked his/her way up as a beat reporter and a correspondent. It seems like so many young journalists are thrown immediately onto a sound stage without having developed any reporting skills. It's to the point where it's actually jarring to see Andy Cooper or Chris Jansing out on location.
On a lighter note:
"the end of a time when Americans could agree on where they got their news from"
This reminded me of a comment I sometimes hear on the public radio wordplay game show "Says You!"
More Americans tune their radios to "Says You!" than any other appliance.
I'm pretty sure the Daily Show with Craig Kilborn used this too: "More Americans get their news from TDSwCK than any other nationality" or something like that.
Posted by: diddy | Aug 8, 2005 12:35:16 PM
It's not just you - I feel the coda, too.
Posted by: Ali | Aug 8, 2005 1:09:34 PM
I agree that it's an end of an era.
In today's media world of celebrity breakups, kidnapped Caucasian girls and shark attacks, Jennings passing - coupled with the departures of NBC's Brokaw and CBS' Dan Rather - signifies the true end of an era. Network news, already on the ropes, may never again be the same. People no longer have to wait until 6:30 p.m. to take stock of the news; instead, there's an unending news cycle perpetuated by cable news and the Internet.
While this trend, on paper, is a good thing, it often fails in practice. In an environment where breaking news and flashy stories prevail, we're losing the perspective that network news offered. We're adrift without an anchor, no pun intended. The sheer amount of news with which we're confronted can be staggering. What we're not being confronted with these days, sadly, is analysis - looking beyond the headlines and asking the probing questions that we were taught in journalism school represented the basis on which our chosen field was built.
We've truly been empowered to be our own journalists, our own news seekers. This is a good thing, to be sure, but we're also losing touch with the long-range view the news used to provide. It's like we're being handed names, dates and sound bites without any background and being asked to provide our own narrative. Jennings and his colleagues helped provide that narrative.
As time goes on, anchors like Jennings are being replaced with people like Bill Hemmer, hairpieces with no more knowledge of the news than the viewer at home. Level-headed journalists have given way to the Nancy Graces of the world. Pundits and former politicos are replacing professionals and a world where Bob Novak is given more airtime than Bill Moyers is a sad one, indeed.
While we mourn the loss of one Jennings - one of the giants of the field - we must also mourn the loss of something larger, of the time when news was news, entertainment was entertainment and never the twain shall meet. The news paradigm has forever shifted, though not necessarily for the better. Until the whos, whats, wheres, whens and whys replace the bottom line in the newsroom, I'm not convinced that we're headed in a better direction.
Posted by: Joseph | Aug 8, 2005 2:20:14 PM
I'm only 26, so I missed the other generations. But I did grow up on Jennings specifically. Heard his voice every night. Then when I got older, found myself actually paying attention to what he said. I'm fortunate enough to get home at 6 each day, so I barely miss a 6:30 broadcast. It may not be what it used to, and even though I'm well versed on the days events through the internet, its a good way to start the evening off right. Its a shame the medium is failing, but cable news is just horrible.
Do people really sit around and watch cable news? Its pathetic.
On a another note, I know its probably too early to make a statement like this. But if they name a permanent replacement, I hope its Elizabeth Vargas. Yes, partially because she would be the first woman anchor, but I think she's better than Charles Gibson, Terry Moran, or guy with big eyebrows.
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