Goodbye Peter Jennings

I stopped watching broacast news years ago*. But of the big three broadcast networks, ABC was by far the best and -- now that the eulogies show his editorial style -- he largely responsible for the higher bar ABC held. What's more, I felt Peter Jennings to be a very decent, thoughtful, sharp-minded and compassionate person. And he was brilliant communicator.
His most outstanding moment, to my mind, was his marathon coverage of the 9/11 attacks.
I recall his rewording phrases off the teleprompter as he read aloud. He would stop and say, "We actually don't know that yet. A better way to put it is..." He brought a rigor to that terrible day that we all wanted. He did not give air time to assumptions and speculations. He held to what he knew as verified.
But there was one moment that evening when me and my family (gathered around the TV) just took a gasp of human aknowledgement. Peter Jennings turned over his desk to a guest expert. Jennings did this without flourish. It was a small moment where a man whose nerves were as raw as the rest of ours. He got out of his chair and turned his back to the camera without a thought. You could see the wires and casing of the sound equipment on his back. And he just walked away from the desk to let the guest speak. Nothing slick about it. It was just a man who had seen and faithfully reported what was known and got out of his chair as if he was in our livingroom -- or just some guy in a studio.
I thought he deserved some kind of award for his coverage that day.
Peter Jennings also stood out because of his lack of strange affectations that Brokaw and Rather embraced. Granted, he would emphasize words that did not always jibe with the meaning of the story. But this is a small infraction compared to others.
Robert MacNeil (of MacNeil/Leherer fame) wrote a poignant and cutting novel about broadcast new anchoring, "Breaking News." Reading the book I could not help but wonder how much Peter Jennings informed the story.
He had a minimalist style, which is very respectable for a journalist. But he also spoke of a kind of poetry to bring to the news. I honestly see very little abuse of artistic license in his delivery. He rewrote most of the copy himself (as he did, on the fly, during 9/11) and delivered it with a precision and accuracy that made ABC News simply better than the others.
I'm surprised how sad I am to see his passing. I know that I don't know him personally. His fellow journalists can say more.
For some great audio, listen to The Beloved Voice of Peter Jennings
and Terry Gross' interview with hm on Fresh Air.

*I have a lot of respect for journalists. My gripe is with some of the sytemic and marketing aspects of news. But this is not the time/place.