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ABC News Anchor Peter Jennings Dies at 67
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer 6 minutes ago
Peter Jennings, the urbane, Canadian-born broadcaster who delivered the news to Americans each night in five separate decades, died Sunday. He was 67.
Jennings, who announced in April that he had lung cancer, died at his New York home, ABC News President David Westin said late Sunday.
"Peter has been our colleague, our friend, and our leader in so many ways. None of us will be the same without him," Westin said.
With Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, Jennings was part of a triumvirate that dominated network news for more than two decades, through the birth of cable
news and the Internet. His smooth delivery and years of international reporting experience made him particularly popular among urban dwellers.
"Peter was born to be an anchor," Brokaw said Monday on NBC's "Today." He said he met Jennings in 1966 covering Ronald Reagan's campaign for
California governor and "we had an instant friendship."
"Peter, of the three of us, was our prince. He seemed so timeless. He had such elan and style," Brokaw said.
Rather, appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America" tribute to Jennings, noted that beneath Jennings' polished exterior was a fierce competitor.
"If Peter was in the area code, I didn't sleep," Rather said.
Jennings dominated the ratings from the late 1980s to the mid-'90s, when Brokaw surpassed him. He remained a Canadian until 2003, when he became a
U.S. citizen, saying it had nothing to do with his politics ? he did it for his family.
"He was a warm and loving and surprisingly sentimental man," said Ted Koppel, a longtime friend and fellow anchor.
Jennings deeply regretted not finishing school, and he would have wanted that lesson passed along, Koppel said. He made up for it by becoming a
student of the world, studying cultures and their people for the rest of his life.
"No one could ad lib like Peter," said Barbara Walters. "Sometimes he drove me crazy because he knew so many details.
"He just died much too young."
Jennings was the face of ABC News whenever a big story broke. He logged more than 60 hours on the air during the week of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, offering a soothing sense of continuity during a troubled time.
"There are a lot of people who think our job is to reassure the public every night that their home, their community and their nation is safe," he told
author Jeff Alan. "I don't subscribe to that at all. I subscribe to leaving people with essentially ? sorry it's a cliche ? a rough draft of history.
Some days it's reassuring, some days it's absolutely destructive."
Jennings' announcement four months ago that the longtime smoker would begin treatment for lung cancer came as a shock.
"I will continue to do the broadcast," he said, his voice husky, in a taped message that night. "On good days, my voice will not always be like this."
But although Jennings occasionally came to the office between chemotherapy treatments, he never again appeared on the air.
"He knew that it was an uphill struggle. But he faced it with realism, courage, and a firm hope that he would be one of the fortunate ones," Westin
said. "In the end, he was not."
Broadcasting was the family business for Jennings. His father, Charles Jennings, was the first person to anchor a nightly national news program in
Canada and later became head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s news division. A picture of his father was displayed prominently in Jennings' office
off ABC's newsroom.
Charles Jennings' son had a Saturday morning radio show in Ottawa at age 9. Jennings never completed high school or college, and began his career as a
news reporter at a radio station in Brockton, Ontario. He quickly earned an anchor job at Canadian Television.
Sent south to cover the Democratic national convention in 1964, the handsome, dashing correspondent was noticed by ABC's news president. Jennings was
offered a reporting job and left Canada for New York.
As the third-place news network, ABC figured its only chance was to go after young viewers. Jennings was picked to anchor the evening news and debuted
on Feb. 1, 1965. He was 26.
"It was a little ridiculous when you think about it," Jennings told author Barbara Matusow. "A twenty-six-year-old trying to compete with Cronkite,
Huntley and Brinkley. I was simply unqualified."
Critics savaged him as a pretty face unfit for the promotion. Using the Canadian pronunciations for some words and once misidentifying the Marine
Corps' anthem as "Anchors Aweigh" didn't help his reputation. The experiment ended three years later.
He later described the humbling experience as an opportunity, "because I was obliged to figure out who I was and what I really wanted to be."
Assigned as a foreign correspondent, Jennings thrived. He established an ABC News bureau in Beirut, and became an expert on the Middle East. He won a
Peabody Award for a 1974 profile of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
On the scene at the Munich Olympics in 1972, Jennings was perfectly placed to cover the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes by an Arab terrorist group.
He and a crew hid in the athletes' quarters for a close-in view of the drama.
Jennings returned to the evening news a decade after his unceremonious departure. In 1978, ABC renamed its broadcast "World News Tonight," and
instituted a three-person anchor team: Frank Reynolds based in Washington, Max Robinson from Chicago and Jennings, by then ABC's chief foreign
correspondent, from London.
Following Reynolds' death from cancer, ABC abandoned the multi-anchor format and Jennings became sole anchor on Sept. 5, 1983. Brokaw became solo
anchor at NBC just days later. Rather had taken the CBS anchor job in 1981.
Starting in 1986, Jennings began a decade on top of the ratings. His international experience served him well explaining stories like the collapse of
European communism, the first Gulf War and the terrorist bombing of an airplane over Lockerbie, Scotland. He took pride that "World News Tonight," as
its name suggested, took a more worldly view than its rivals. Fans responded to his smart, controlled style.
"When it's clearly an emotional experience for the audience, the anchor should not add his or her emotional layers," Jennings said in an interview
with the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.
Two-thirds of local broadcasters responding to a 1993 survey by Broadcasting & Cable magazine said Jennings was the best network news anchor.
Washington Journalism Review named him anchor of the year three straight years.
With Americans looking more inward in the mid to late-1990s, NBC's Tom Brokaw surpassed Jennings in the ratings. ABC was still a close No. 2, however.
When Brokaw stepped down in November 2004, followed shortly by Rather, ABC began an advertising campaign stressing Jennings' experience ? an ironic
twist given how his ABC News career began.
But ABC was never able to learn whether Jennings could take advantage of his role as an elder statesman; his cancer diagnosis came only a month after
Rather left the anchor chair.
Jennings was proud of his Canadian citizenship, although it was occasionally a sore point with some critics. When Jennings spoke at the dedication of
a museum celebrating the U.S. Constitution in 2003, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told him, "not bad for a Canadian."
Jennings whispered back his secret: He had just passed a test earning him dual citizenship in the United States.
"My decision to do this has nothing to do with politics," Jennings told The Associated Press at the time. "It has nothing to do with my profession. It
has everything to do with my family."
Restlessly curious, Jennings pushed ABC News to use the turn of the century for a massive historical study. He co-wrote a book, "The Century," with
Todd Brewster and anchored a marathon 25-hour special ending Jan. 1, 2000. Jennings and Brewster also traveled the backroads to write "In Search of
America."
Jennings also led a documentary team at ABC News, which struck a chord in 2000 with the high-rated spiritual special "The Search for Jesus."
"I have never spent a day in my adult life where I didn't learn something," Jennings told the Saturday Evening Post. "And if there is a born-again
quality to me, that's it."
Like Rather and Brokaw, Jennings wasn't entirely comfortable stuck to a studio. He traveled around the world to cover stories and, when he didn't
journey to Asia to cover the aftermath of the tsunami less than four months before his cancer diagnosis, it was noticed.
He is survived by his wife, Kayce Freed, and his two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23.
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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i know this is an odd one to post, but i've always been a fan of peter jennings. granted, most things you hear on network news have to be taken with
a grain of salt, but to me, this guy always seemed very genuine.
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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hollymaconmovies
Member
Posts: 237
Registered: 6-23-2005
Member Is Offline
Mood: Drops of Jupiter
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This is such a shame. I really need to quit smoking.
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CR83
Moderator
Posts: 5221
Registered: 1-23-2004
Location: STL!
Member Is Offline
Mood: Harm's Way
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This is a prime example for people to stop smoking. Mr. Jennings was a Master at his craft.
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crazyfists28
Posting Freak
Posts: 1367
Registered: 2-8-2005
Location: rochester, ny
Member Is Offline
Mood: dale watson
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i didnt realize he was a high school dropout, so when you say he seemed genuine, i'd believe it to, who would think that coming from nothing would
lead to a career like that?...not a big fan of news and anchors, lets face it, all they do is read, but he seemed alright...
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Killthehumans
Senior Member
Posts: 597
Registered: 12-1-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: simon and garfunkal
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when i was a kid i used to watch him on news with my parents back then he was THE "news man" to me. Even as i grew up and started watching CNN i still
considered peter jennings to be "The Main news guy". He had a very pleasant, clear and powerful voice.
just take a look at the papers
your leaders
they\'re killers
they\'re liars
what they do in your
name to make the bodies pile higher
the murders, the terror
they\'ve done it forever
as we sit band and smile
at the script they sell us
but now the victims, they\'re rising
their numbers\'s multiplying
they want their revenge for the years
that they\'ve been dying
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