20050807
superstar anchor signs off
abc world news tonight anchor peter jennings died tonight in his home with family. he was 67.
we first heard about it on CNN, which had interrupted its nighttime broadcast to announce the sad news.
the most memorable TV shot i have of him is him looking out the window one new years night, i think when 2001 turned into 2002. like many turnovers, he and his staff had been working for almost 24 hours. he was visibly tired, but his face betrayed thinking beyond what he was broadcasting: times square filled quickly for the customary ball drop only after 10 p.m. and cleared before 1 a.m.
"i had never seen times square clear this quickly," one of his field reporters said, to which jennings acquiesced wholeheartedly.
i realized then that he must want to be with his family that night, but he had to work.
all major news outlets paused their own reporting to pay tribute to a reporter who knew so much, even the most mundane facts, as diane sawyer said, like what lay beyond the corner of their building's street - a cafe - and beyond that - a small park. "i better leave. i'm way beyond my league," sawyer said.
"what can we give them?" barbara walters said. "our deepest sympathies, our condolences to his family."
aaron brown's voice weighed heavily on CNN's broadcast as he told how they covered california earthquakes, south america's politics, and how he was in rome when he heard the news why jennings had been off the air for some time now. "it was pretty clear he was saying goodbye," brown said.
and in jennings' final broadcast he said as much, without uttering the words. storytellers never like to make stories - they tell others' stories. the lifelong canadian citizen, dubbed a demanding and unpredictable boss, only decided to receive his u.s. citizenship two years ago. "curious by nature," as ted koppel described him, jennings said millions of americans suffer from cancer, and he will learn how to live with the illness from them.
"I wonder if other men and women ask their doctors right away, 'OK, doc, when does the hair go?'" he joked.
good evening, mr. jennings. i have learned much from you. ¶ 8/07/2005 10:59:00 PM
we first heard about it on CNN, which had interrupted its nighttime broadcast to announce the sad news.
the most memorable TV shot i have of him is him looking out the window one new years night, i think when 2001 turned into 2002. like many turnovers, he and his staff had been working for almost 24 hours. he was visibly tired, but his face betrayed thinking beyond what he was broadcasting: times square filled quickly for the customary ball drop only after 10 p.m. and cleared before 1 a.m.
"i had never seen times square clear this quickly," one of his field reporters said, to which jennings acquiesced wholeheartedly.
i realized then that he must want to be with his family that night, but he had to work.
all major news outlets paused their own reporting to pay tribute to a reporter who knew so much, even the most mundane facts, as diane sawyer said, like what lay beyond the corner of their building's street - a cafe - and beyond that - a small park. "i better leave. i'm way beyond my league," sawyer said.
"what can we give them?" barbara walters said. "our deepest sympathies, our condolences to his family."
aaron brown's voice weighed heavily on CNN's broadcast as he told how they covered california earthquakes, south america's politics, and how he was in rome when he heard the news why jennings had been off the air for some time now. "it was pretty clear he was saying goodbye," brown said.
and in jennings' final broadcast he said as much, without uttering the words. storytellers never like to make stories - they tell others' stories. the lifelong canadian citizen, dubbed a demanding and unpredictable boss, only decided to receive his u.s. citizenship two years ago. "curious by nature," as ted koppel described him, jennings said millions of americans suffer from cancer, and he will learn how to live with the illness from them.
"I wonder if other men and women ask their doctors right away, 'OK, doc, when does the hair go?'" he joked.
good evening, mr. jennings. i have learned much from you. ¶ 8/07/2005 10:59:00 PM
