I Liked Peter “Paradox” Jennings
9 August 2005
-David Drury
I liked Peter Jennings. He would casually show up from time to time
in my living room and explain things happening in the world to me. Or at least he’d ask the right and timely
questions about the things I wanted explained.
He died of lung cancer just this past Sunday, and I’m missing the guy
already. A lot of people are.
Much is being said this week
in memory of Jennings. But for most
of us, his presence comes down to a 6:30 PM decision we had to make each free evening for the last 20 or so years: Do I watch Brokaw, Rather or Jennings?
It’s hard to think of one of
those guys without thinking of the other two.
They were the triumvate of newsworthiness for
me. As I approached adulthood these
three approached retirement. And as some
generations remember Cronkite I think mine remembers these three as a
whole. But I always liked Jennings best. If I
had the remote ABC was the choice. You
see, Jennings had something I liked. He was sometimes thought of as “putting on
airs” – acting too sophisticated. But
few knew he was a high school dropout, never graduating from High School or
College. He was sometimes targeted by
groups for a presumed “liberal bias” – and was frozen out of the 43rd
President’s White House, never being granted an interview with George W.
Bush. But Jennings was on the cutting-edge of Religious reporting,
taking a keen interest in the current evangelical church trends (including an
extensive report I remember in the 90s on the Seeker Church movement, interviewing leaders at Willow Creek and Daybreak Church among others). But furthermore, Jennings reported on Biblical themes and framed special
reports on Christian History. I always
thought of him as kind of a seeker himself.
A man whose private life was far from pristine—he still seemed to be
asking the biggest questions of life, which led him in his work to ask our
philosophers and theologians and scientists the big questions, instead of just
the leading questions.
I liked Jennings because he was a living, breathing, anchor-desk sitting paradox.
Seen as a bit stuffy by some, he somehow still reported with no coat and his sleeves rolled up often times, as if he just
typed out the report from an old-school Selectric. Often viewed as the “younger outsider” in
fact Jennings was the first of the Anchor Triumvate
to sit the desk and the youngest national new anchor ever, at just 26 (he was
pulled from the role then later was re-promoted to it). Young enough to have been present and reporting
at the fall of the Berlin wall, he was also present and reporting when they
put the thing up. Not having “the edge”
of a wartime reporter, Jennings could still pull off the marathon: more than 25
sequential hours on air (which must be some kind of record) for the Millennium
Eve coverage which some 175 million people viewed, and 60 hours on air alone the week
of September 11th. A longtime
smoker from age 13, after quitting he later reported in the 90s on the search
to regulate and label the addictive product, including two hour-long reports on
smoking. Then, he recklessly picked up
smoking again after September 11th, a major flaw that still shows
you how deeply our supposedly “unbiased” reporters can be gripped by world
events. A proud Canadian often seen as
an outsider, he still authored the US-centric history book The Century and the corresponding television series for ABC and the
History Channel. And in 2003 he became a
US citizen. Besides, I’ve always wondered if we Americans
might need the view of an “outsider” from time to time to get our news.
Yes, Peter Jennings was a paradox. I
liked that about him. There are few easy answers. But there are many really good
questions. Jennings knew this and asked some of the best ones. That’s why I liked Peter Jennings. I hope he found the tough answer to one of his biggest questions. I’d like to see him again.
Peter Charles Jennings
1938 – 2005
More on Jennings:
AP report on Jennings
– great quotes on Jennings from fellow newspeople
BBC on Jennings as
Editor – commentary on his abilities
ABC News Bio on Jennings –
in-house propaganda (with
the “Liberal Bias” J)
Wikipedia
entry on Jennings – Don’t you just love Wikipedia? Be amazed at how up-to-date this is!
Google
Jennings – If you don’t trust me on some detail