ABC put on alert for Peter Jennings' passing

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MK
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ABC put on alert for Peter Jennings' passing

Postby MK » Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:38 pm

He's allegedly very, very ill and may pass soon. A shame, he was the best of the 'big 3' (that being Rather, Brokaw and him).
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Postby lukpac » Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:43 pm

Small update.

http://www.nationalledger.com/scribe/ar ... 6142.shtml

Update: Sunday, 9:59am: NewsBlues has removed its earlier statement, which stated that ABC affiliates were preparing for Jennings' death. An ABC spokesperson reiterated that this information was incorrect.


That's the only info Google News has at the moment.
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MK
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Postby MK » Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:59 pm

I hope that's really the case. I was hoping Jennings would make a comeback.

Plus, it'd be a nice f-u to Scrotum on the other forum.
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower



"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto

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Postby Beatlesfan03 » Sun Aug 07, 2005 11:22 pm

Craig

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MK
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Postby MK » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:38 am

Totally sucks. Depressing as hell, but it was nice to see all those tributes on GMA this morning. Cokie Roberts said something about him voting in 2004 and how he was so happy to be able to vote in a country he's called home and studied so closely for so long. No one obviously knew that would be the only election he'd ever vote in, and thinking about that really depressed her.

Well, he did a lot more and seen more in his life than most will ever see. Hell, anchoring by age 27 for a major new network is pretty damn impressive, even if he was too inexperienced during his first shot at it.

R.I.P.

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Aug. 7 — ABC News Anchor Peter Jennings died today at his home in New York City. He was 67. On April 5, Jennings announced he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

He is survived by his wife, Kayce Freed, his two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23, and his sister, Sarah Jennings.

"Peter died with his family around him, without pain and in peace. He knew he'd lived a good life," his wife and children said in a statement.

In announcing Jennings' death to his ABC colleagues, News President David Westin wrote: "For four decades, Peter has been our colleague, our friend, and our leader in so many ways. None of us will be the same without him.

"As you all know, Peter learned only this spring that the health problem he'd been struggling with was lung cancer. With Kayce, he moved straight into an aggressive chemotherapy treatment. 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. In the end, he was not.

"We will have many opportunities in the coming hours and days to remember Peter for all that he meant to us all. It cannot be overstated or captured in words alone. But for the moment, the finest tribute we can give is to continue to do the work he loved so much and inspired us to do."

Reported World-Shaping Events

As one of America's most distinguished journalists, Jennings reported many of the pivotal events that have shaped our world. He was in Berlin in the 1960s when the Berlin Wall was going up, and there in the '90s when it came down. He covered the civil rights movement in the southern United States during the 1960s, and the struggle for equality in South Africa during the 1970s and '80s. He was there when the Voting Rights Act was signed in the United States in 1965, and on the other side of the world when black South Africans voted for the first time. He has worked in every European nation that once was behind the Iron Curtain. He was there when the independent political movement Solidarity was born in a Polish shipyard, and again when Poland's communist leaders were forced from power. And he was in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania and throughout the Soviet Union to record first the repression of communism and then its demise. He was one of the first reporters to go to Vietnam in the 1960s, and went back to the killing fields of Cambodia in the 1980s to remind Americans that, unless they did something, the terror would return.

On Dec. 31, 1999, Jennings anchored ABC's Peabody-award winning coverage of Millennium Eve, "ABC 2000." Some 175 million Americans watched the telecast, making it the biggest live global television event ever. "The day belonged to ABC News," wrote The Washington Post, "… with Peter Jennings doing a nearly superhuman job of anchoring." Jennings was the only anchor to appear live for 25 consecutive hours.

Jennings also led ABC's coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks and America's subsequent war on terrorism. He anchored more than 60 hours that week during the network's longest continuous period of news coverage, and was widely praised for providing a reassuring voice during the time of crisis. TV Guide called him "the center of gravity," while the Washington Post wrote, "Jennings, in his shirt sleeves, did a Herculean job of coverage." The coverage earned ABC News Peabody and duPont awards.

Overseas, and at Home

Jennings joined ABC News on Aug. 3, 1964. He served as the anchor of "Peter Jennings with the News" from 1965 to 1967.

He established the first American television news bureau in the Arab world in 1968 when he served as ABC News' bureau chief for Beirut, Lebanon, a position he held for seven years. He helped put ABC News on the map in 1972 with his coverage of the Summer Olympics in Munich, when Arab terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage.

In 1975, Jennings moved to Washington to become the news anchor of ABC's morning program "A.M. America". After a short stint in the mornings, Jennings returned overseas to Rome where he stayed before moving to London to become ABC's Chief Foreign Correspondent. In 1978 he was named the foreign desk anchor for "World News Tonight." He co-anchored the program with Frank Reynolds in Washington, D.C., and Max Robinson in Chicago until 1983.

Jennings was named anchor and senior editor of "World News Tonight" in 1983. In his more than 20 years in the position he was honored with almost every major award given to television journalists.

His extensive domestic and overseas reporting experience was evident in "World News Tonight's" coverage of major crises. He reported from all 50 states and locations around the globe. During the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 War in Iraq, his knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs brought invaluable perspective to ABC News' coverage of the war in Iraq and the drug trade in Central and South America. The series also tackled important domestic issues such as gun control policy, the politics of abortion, the crisis in funding for the arts and a highly praised chronicle of the accused bombers of Oklahoma City. "Peter Jennings Reporting" earned numerous awards, including the 2004 Edward R. Morrow award for best documentary for "The Kennedy Assassination — Beyond Conspiracy."

Jennings also had a particular interest in broadcasting for the next generation. He did numerous live news specials for children on subjects ranging from growing up in the age of AIDS, to prejudice and its effects on our society. After the events of September 11, and again on the first anniversary, he anchored a town hall meeting for children and parents titled, "Answering Children's Questions."

Jennings was honored with many awards for news reporting, including 16 Emmys, two George Foster Peabody Awards, several Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards and several Overseas Press Club Awards. Most recently, "World News Tonight" was recognized with two consecutive Edward R. Murrow awards for best newscast, based on field reporting done by Jennings on the California wildfires and the transfer of power in Iraq.

Jennings was the author, with Todd Brewster, of the acclaimed New York Times best seller, "The Century." It featured first-person accounts of the great events of the century. In 1999, he anchored the 12-hour ABC series, "The Century," and ABC's series for The History Channel, "America's Time." He and Brewster also published "In Search of America," a companion book for the six-part ABC News series.

"Nightline" anchor Ted Koppel: He and I joked the last time I went to visit him a few days ago that between the two of us, we'd put in 83 years at ABC News. … But I do feel the need to say that he was a warm and loving and surprisingly sentimental man. … For the rest of his life, and I do mean for the rest of his life, he always regretted the fact that he had dropped out of school, and he used to travel when he was overseas with whatever else he needed for his trip and always, he had with him one extra suitcase that was filled with books. He was a student for the rest of his life, even though he had dropped out so early.

Barbara Walters: No one could ad-lib like Peter. Sometimes he drove me crazy because he knew every detail and I would find myself saying, 'But … but …' But he really did. You would think it was all scripted, he was so poetic. But it wasn't. … He just died too young. And if as Ted gave the message [to] finish high school, I want to give a message: If you have kids who are smoking, for heaven's sake, tell them that we lost Peter.

"Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer: When I first arrived here at ABC and walked in, and he was on a special report about the Middle East, and he told the cameraman to turn around because, he said, I know that if you go two streets over, there's a cafe there. And look behind that cafe and there's a park and the trees are there. And I'm thinking, 'I am so out of my league. I've got to leave immediately.' It's customary to say, 'He will not come again.' Peter Jennings will not come again.

"Good Morning America" anchor Charles Gibson: He was our anchor, our mainstay, off the air as well as on. Peter could transform confusion into clarity and make exercise appear effortless. He set standards for us, and he never stopped raising them as he helped audiences understand the major events of our time.

Former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw: We were not just competitors and colleagues — we were friends. We had a lot of opportunities to reflect on this in the last year. It was a competitive brotherhood. We appeared at a number of dinners together and seminars. … We had been together on so many big stories over the last 30 years of our careers and Peter especially, I think, summarized for all of us the feelings that Dan [Rather] and I have — that the three of us had — when he said people often asked, 'Are you friends?' Peter would say we are friends because we don't see each other that often. The fact is we were friends and then he went on to say we have all made each other better.

Former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather: Peter took his work very seriously. But he did not take himself seriously. And he was a little uncomfortable — very uncomfortable — with the word "star" and a little uncomfortable with the word "anchor" because he really did think about himself as a reporter.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell: Peter Jennings was a great man and the consummate professional. His reassuring presence will be missed by all of us.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: I am saddened by the death of my close, personal friend Peter Jennings. To Peter's wife and family, we offer our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences. He will be deeply missed. Peter Jennings represented all that was best in journalism and public service. A man of conscience and integrity, his reporting was a guide to all of us who aspire to better the world around us. I learned from him and was inspired by him.
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower



"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto