According to NewsBlues (and Knowfirst), ABC in the US have alerted affilates to be prepared to report on the death of World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings. He has been suffering lung cancer and has been away from the program since April 5, 2005.
Wikipedia Bio here
1
ABC News US
Started by
Big Dan
, 07 Aug 2005 - 03:31 PM
139 replies to this topic
OFFLINE #1
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Posted 07 August 2005 - 03:31 PM
Wake up and smell the maple nut crunch!
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OFFLINE #2
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Posted 07 August 2005 - 03:44 PM
QUOTE
According to NewsBlues (and Knowfirst),
thanks for the KF credit there Dan.
ABC affils are denying this, which of course means it has happened.
TVSpy, Newsblues, TVNewser are all reporting this.
OT: my neighbour's dad is also dying of cancer and he has rushed up to Townsville to be with him - and I lost my dad just over 5 weeks ago. Death is around me at the moment, wish it would go away
OFFLINE #3
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Posted 07 August 2005 - 03:56 PM
QUOTE (MJH @ Aug 7 2005, 03:44 PM)
thanks for the KF credit there Dan.
ABC affils are denying this, which of course means it has happened.
TVSpy, Newsblues, TVNewser are all reporting this.
OT: my neighbour's dad is also dying of cancer and he has rushed up to Townsville to be with him - and I lost my dad just over 5 weeks ago. Death is around me at the moment, wish it would go away
ABC affils are denying this, which of course means it has happened.
TVSpy, Newsblues, TVNewser are all reporting this.
OT: my neighbour's dad is also dying of cancer and he has rushed up to Townsville to be with him - and I lost my dad just over 5 weeks ago. Death is around me at the moment, wish it would go away
No problems...I'm used to crediting my sources...that's what a 3 year Uni education teaches you
I came across the link on KH, followed it to NewsBlues, checked Wikipedia, then put it here. 
If it has happened, then it is a shame. I've seen a few clips of him presenting, he was the goods.
Oh, and my deepest condolences to you.
Wake up and smell the maple nut crunch!
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OFFLINE #4
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Posted 07 August 2005 - 04:00 PM
QUOTE
No problems...I'm used to crediting my sources...that's what a 3 year Uni education teaches you
I hear you there...
I think its a damn shame that Jennings is near-death, a fine, nay, outstanding communicator, and he p*ssed a lot of people off because he was Canadian - I liked that!
Charles Gibson to take over WNT perhaps - gosh will that weaken GMA, just when it was threatening Today.
I think they should leave Gibson at GMA and give the WNT job to Elizabeth Vargas - the ratings on the nights she's hosted in Jennings' place shows no real switch-off.
OFFLINE #5
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Posted 07 August 2005 - 05:07 PM
Does anyone know what the prognosis was for Jennings?
In any case, it serves as a wake up call to those who smoke. Jennings did the right thing by giving it up in 1988 but started again in 2001 and now it's cost him his life. It's hard to beleive people don't give it up when they see famous people like Jennings and former Premier Jim Bacon die of it.
In any case, it serves as a wake up call to those who smoke. Jennings did the right thing by giving it up in 1988 but started again in 2001 and now it's cost him his life. It's hard to beleive people don't give it up when they see famous people like Jennings and former Premier Jim Bacon die of it.
Edited by SydneySider, 07 August 2005 - 05:08 PM.
OFFLINE #6
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Posted 07 August 2005 - 05:20 PM
QUOTE (MJH @ Aug 7 2005, 04:00 PM)
I hear you there...
I think its a damn shame that Jennings is near-death, a fine, nay, outstanding communicator, and he p*ssed a lot of people off because he was Canadian - I liked that!
Charles Gibson to take over WNT perhaps - gosh will that weaken GMA, just when it was threatening Today.
I think they should leave Gibson at GMA and give the WNT job to Elizabeth Vargas - the ratings on the nights she's hosted in Jennings' place shows no real switch-off.
I think its a damn shame that Jennings is near-death, a fine, nay, outstanding communicator, and he p*ssed a lot of people off because he was Canadian - I liked that!
Charles Gibson to take over WNT perhaps - gosh will that weaken GMA, just when it was threatening Today.
I think they should leave Gibson at GMA and give the WNT job to Elizabeth Vargas - the ratings on the nights she's hosted in Jennings' place shows no real switch-off.
That's right..he was Canadian. He started with CJOH in Ottawa...I wonder how they'll cover his passing.
QUOTE (SydneySider @ Aug 7 2005, 05:07 PM)
Does anyone know what the prognosis was for Jennings?
In any case, it serves as a wake up call to those who smoke. Jennings did the right thing by giving it up in 1988 but started again in 2001 and now it's cost him his life. It's hard to beleive people don't give it up when they see famous people like Jennings and former Premier Jim Bacon die of it.
In any case, it serves as a wake up call to those who smoke. Jennings did the right thing by giving it up in 1988 but started again in 2001 and now it's cost him his life. It's hard to beleive people don't give it up when they see famous people like Jennings and former Premier Jim Bacon die of it.
No idea.
Apart from that, well said. I'd go so far and say:
SMOKING CIGARETTES...F***IN' IDIOT!
I'd like to see a health group use that as an anti-smoking slogan.
Wake up and smell the maple nut crunch!
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OFFLINE #7
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Posted 07 August 2005 - 06:54 PM
I really don't know what to say about this. It truly is a horrible thing to happen.
I suppose that at least one can say that he did his job for as long as he could.
It is wierd to see that in less than one year, the big three of US network news are all gone.
I suppose that at least one can say that he did his job for as long as he could.
It is wierd to see that in less than one year, the big three of US network news are all gone.
OFFLINE #8
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Posted 07 August 2005 - 11:42 PM
QUOTE (SydneySider @ Aug 7 2005, 05:07 PM)
Does anyone know what the prognosis was for Jennings?
Not sure... but he reportedly started treatment with chemotherapy, which usually means that the cancer is advanced. If the cancer is detected early, the patient is usually operated on before undergoing chemo.
OFFLINE #9
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 10:03 AM
NewsBlues has retracted the report - as has Spy News in turn. ABC has denied the reports as false.
Awake and Alert - but never alarmed.
OFFLINE #10
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 12:35 PM
QUOTE (Mr Q @ Aug 8 2005, 10:03 AM)
ABC has denied the reports as false.
Doesn't that mean that they are true if they've denied them as being false..
I know what you're trying to say, though
OFFLINE #11
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 01:50 PM
News coming out of the US that ABC News anchor Peter Jennings has died of Lung Cancer.
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 02:19 PM
QUOTE (cartman @ Aug 8 2005, 11:50 AM)
News coming out of the US that ABC News anchor Peter Jennings has died of Lung Cancer.
Sadly yes... it's been confirmed on the ABC website.
OFFLINE #13
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 02:19 PM
So it wasn't a rumour after all. RIP.
OFFLINE #14
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 02:42 PM
QUOTE
So it wasn't a rumour after all. RIP.
No chance it was a rumour, I'm frankly surprised, yet I understand, why MSpy pulled the story. When NewsBlues reports something it is usually spot-on, they retracted it out of respect for the family apparently.
My favourite US anchor is dead
OFFLINE #15
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 03:59 PM
Here is how CTV in Canada covered it...he started on that network, at local affilate CJOH.
Rest in peace Pete.
QUOTE
Broadcaster Peter Jennings dies at 67
CTV.ca News Staff
Canadian-born Peter Jennings, the anchor of ABC News World News Tonight, has died of lung cancer Sunday at age 67.
"Peter has been our colleague, our friend, and our leader in so many ways. None of us will be the same without him,'' said ABC News President David Westin said late Sunday in New York.
Along with Tom Brokaw of NBC and Dan Rather of CBS, Jennings occupied one of the "Big Three" pinnacles in American TV journalism, presenting the news to millions of viewers.
His smooth delivery and impeccable sense of personal style were trademarks, making him especially popular with urban audiences.
Other top ABC News personalities had the following to say about him.
"He was a warm and loving and surprisingly sentimental man,'' said Ted Koppel.
"No one could ad lib like Peter,'' added Barbara Walters. "Sometimes he drove me crazy because he knew so many details. He just died much too young.''
Jennings loved to be front and centre during a major story.
During the week of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack on the United States, he spent more than 60 hours on air.
"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."
Genetics may have had something to do with Jennings' passion for journalism.
His father, Charles Jennings, was the first nightly anchor in Canadian television journalism and later headed the CBC.
He always kept a picture of his dad prominently displayed in his office at ABC News.
His start
At the age of nine, Peter Jennings had a radio show in Ottawa on Saturday mornings.
He never finished high school or college -- something Koppel said his friend always regretted.
"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.''
The drop-out is the co-author, with Todd Brewster, of two books: The Century and In Search of America.
Instead of getting a formal education, Jennings entered the working world of broadcasting as a news reporter in Brockville, Ont.
Jennings quickly became an anchor at CTV. But while covering the U.S. Democratic national convention in 1964, his work caught the eye of ABC's news president, who offered him a job.
ABC gambled on making him an anchor -- at age 26. His first broadcast was Feb. 1, 1965. In retrospect, even Jennings thought that was a bit much, seeing as he was competing against CBS's Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley at NBC.
Critics pounded on him. He lasted three years before being reassigned as a foreign correspondent -- an area in which he thrived, covering stories like the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
The Middle East became his special bailiwick. He earned a Peabody Award for a 1974 profile of Anwar Sadat.
In 1978, Jennings returned to the anchor desk as part of a three-person team. He was based in London.
But when, Frank Reynolds, one of the other anchors, died from cancer, Jennings was made sole anchor, starting Sept. 5, 1983.
Rising to the top
1986 was a very good year for Jennings. He rose to the top of the ratings and stayed there for a decade. His foreign experience shone through. Even the show's name, World News Tonight, suggested a more sophisticated approach.
Fans responded to his intelligent, controlled style. Jennings said in one interview the anchor should keep his or her emotions under control.
Not only fans recognized Jennings' approach. A 1993 survey by Broadcasting and Cable magazine found Jennings to be the best anchor. Washington Journalism Review named him anchor of the year three straight years.
Times, however, change. Americans lost interest in the world, and NBC's Tom Brokaw surpassed Jennings in the latter 1990s. But Jennings was always close.
Brokaw retired in November 2004 and Rather stepped down in March -- a move seen as prompted by a journalistic scandal.
When Jennings, a long-time smoker, announced he had lung cancer, he said: "I will continue to do the broadcast.
"On good days, my voice will not always be like this," he said, referring to how husky and strained it sounded.
He would never appear on air again.
"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.''
In retrospect, one clue Jennings' health could have been deteriorating was when he didn't travel to Asia to cover the tsunami disaster from the field.
While Jennings was always proud of being Canadian, he became a dual citizen in 2003.
He is survived by his wife, Kayce Freed, and his two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23.
CTV.ca News Staff
Canadian-born Peter Jennings, the anchor of ABC News World News Tonight, has died of lung cancer Sunday at age 67.
"Peter has been our colleague, our friend, and our leader in so many ways. None of us will be the same without him,'' said ABC News President David Westin said late Sunday in New York.
Along with Tom Brokaw of NBC and Dan Rather of CBS, Jennings occupied one of the "Big Three" pinnacles in American TV journalism, presenting the news to millions of viewers.
His smooth delivery and impeccable sense of personal style were trademarks, making him especially popular with urban audiences.
Other top ABC News personalities had the following to say about him.
"He was a warm and loving and surprisingly sentimental man,'' said Ted Koppel.
"No one could ad lib like Peter,'' added Barbara Walters. "Sometimes he drove me crazy because he knew so many details. He just died much too young.''
Jennings loved to be front and centre during a major story.
During the week of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack on the United States, he spent more than 60 hours on air.
"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."
Genetics may have had something to do with Jennings' passion for journalism.
His father, Charles Jennings, was the first nightly anchor in Canadian television journalism and later headed the CBC.
He always kept a picture of his dad prominently displayed in his office at ABC News.
His start
At the age of nine, Peter Jennings had a radio show in Ottawa on Saturday mornings.
He never finished high school or college -- something Koppel said his friend always regretted.
"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.''
The drop-out is the co-author, with Todd Brewster, of two books: The Century and In Search of America.
Instead of getting a formal education, Jennings entered the working world of broadcasting as a news reporter in Brockville, Ont.
Jennings quickly became an anchor at CTV. But while covering the U.S. Democratic national convention in 1964, his work caught the eye of ABC's news president, who offered him a job.
ABC gambled on making him an anchor -- at age 26. His first broadcast was Feb. 1, 1965. In retrospect, even Jennings thought that was a bit much, seeing as he was competing against CBS's Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley at NBC.
Critics pounded on him. He lasted three years before being reassigned as a foreign correspondent -- an area in which he thrived, covering stories like the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
The Middle East became his special bailiwick. He earned a Peabody Award for a 1974 profile of Anwar Sadat.
In 1978, Jennings returned to the anchor desk as part of a three-person team. He was based in London.
But when, Frank Reynolds, one of the other anchors, died from cancer, Jennings was made sole anchor, starting Sept. 5, 1983.
Rising to the top
1986 was a very good year for Jennings. He rose to the top of the ratings and stayed there for a decade. His foreign experience shone through. Even the show's name, World News Tonight, suggested a more sophisticated approach.
Fans responded to his intelligent, controlled style. Jennings said in one interview the anchor should keep his or her emotions under control.
Not only fans recognized Jennings' approach. A 1993 survey by Broadcasting and Cable magazine found Jennings to be the best anchor. Washington Journalism Review named him anchor of the year three straight years.
Times, however, change. Americans lost interest in the world, and NBC's Tom Brokaw surpassed Jennings in the latter 1990s. But Jennings was always close.
Brokaw retired in November 2004 and Rather stepped down in March -- a move seen as prompted by a journalistic scandal.
When Jennings, a long-time smoker, announced he had lung cancer, he said: "I will continue to do the broadcast.
"On good days, my voice will not always be like this," he said, referring to how husky and strained it sounded.
He would never appear on air again.
"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.''
In retrospect, one clue Jennings' health could have been deteriorating was when he didn't travel to Asia to cover the tsunami disaster from the field.
While Jennings was always proud of being Canadian, he became a dual citizen in 2003.
He is survived by his wife, Kayce Freed, and his two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23.
Rest in peace Pete.
Wake up and smell the maple nut crunch!
Follow me on Twitter at @bigdan1985
Follow me on Twitter at @bigdan1985
OFFLINE #16
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 04:59 PM
I guess when I saw this morning that NewsBlues had remove the story, I had hoped - optimistically, but sadly quite unrealistically - that in fact the story was false. Peter Jennings was a great newsman - he was somebody that epitomised all that is good about journalism. His contributions to the US will not be forgotten - he has made a lasting impression on the media industry. Rest In Peace Peter.
Awake and Alert - but never alarmed.
OFFLINE #17
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 05:35 PM
I remember Peter from when Nine used to show WNT at 11am weekdays. I also remember rediscovering him, and WNT, om Sky News. RIP Pete.
Now, the $64,000 question: Who's the next WNT anchor? Charles Gibson? Elizabeth Vargas? Bob Woodruff? Terry Moran?
Now, the $64,000 question: Who's the next WNT anchor? Charles Gibson? Elizabeth Vargas? Bob Woodruff? Terry Moran?
Edited by KmartFreak, 20 December 2005 - 07:25 PM.
"I fell for her like an autumn leaf.......if she were a pie, she would be beef."
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 05:49 PM
QUOTE (KmartFreak @ Aug 8 2005, 05:35 PM)
I remember Peter from when Nine used to show WNT at 11am weekdays. I also remember rediscovering him, and WNT, om Sky News. RIP Pete.
Now, the $64,000 question: Who's the next WNT anchor? Charles Gibson? Elizabeth Vargas? Terry Moran?
Now, the $64,000 question: Who's the next WNT anchor? Charles Gibson? Elizabeth Vargas? Terry Moran?
I'd say Elizabeth Vargas. Leave Charles at GMA, where they're doing bloody well against Today.
Wake up and smell the maple nut crunch!
Follow me on Twitter at @bigdan1985
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OFFLINE #19
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 06:24 PM
I was disappointed that Nine News in Sydney had nothing about the passing of Peter Jennings. I never expected a full report, but I was surprised they didn't have a VO... after all, it was the Nine Network that used to show WNT.
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Posted 08 August 2005 - 06:52 PM
QUOTE (Mark @ Aug 8 2005, 06:24 PM)
I was disappointed that Nine News in Sydney had nothing about the passing of Peter Jennings. I never expected a full report, but I was surprised they didn't have a VO... after all, it was the Nine Network that used to show WNT.
Does anyone know if Seven covered it?
Surprising that Nine didn't cover it seeing it was the lead news story on Ninemsn this afternoon.
