The End of an Era

Last night, I had planned on writing about Peter Jennings when I got home from work. I found out that he died right before I left the station. Today, I watched ABC World News Tonight, and found myself tearing up while they did a tribute to him. I always admired Jennings.... he was a journalist, not just an anchor, and those are a dying breed. Plus, that Canadian accent always made me feel at home.

It seems weird that the three top news anchors of my generation have now moved on-- Tom Brokaw handing over the reins quietly, Dan Rather under a dark cloud of suspicion, and Jennings, of course, leaving too soon.

I don't really know if anyone out there can fill any of their shoes. To be honest, I don't watch the CBS Evening News-- I understand that Bob Schieffer has been filling in since Rather left, but I can't see him taking the gig full-time.

I like Brian Williams on the NBC Nightly News, and I think he holds a lot of promise. He seems kind of young, but then again, Jennings was only 27 when he started anchoring at ABC. That's young. Williams manages to convey intelligence and trust without seeming uptight or pretentious, and that isn't an easy line to walk. NBC also did the right thing, by naming Williams as the heir to Brokaw's post years before Brokaw's retirement. It gave people time to adjust, time to get used to him.

I don't know what ABC will do. I don't think Elizabeth Vargas is ready, and though I love Charlie Gibson, he's been shuffled around from show to show so much by the network that I don't know if people would ever accept him as a permanent replacement for Peter. I just hope that they don't give the job to Sam Donaldson. Yeeesh.

By the way, tonight, the title of the show was still "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings." While that's a nice tribute, it also seemed just a little morbid. I hope they drop his name from the title before it gets too weird.

But I digress, as usual. To me, it's really the end of an era. Yeah, I remember Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, and John Chancellor. When they left, it seemed strange, too. But the news business is changing so much more now. Personalities are the only things that keep people watching the networks.

After all, thanks to CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and others, we can catch the headlines 24 hours a day. We don't need to wait until 6:30, like we used to in Cronkite's day. But people kept watching the networks because they trusted the anchors that they'd grown up watching.

Now, the networks risk losing their audience. We don't know Elizabeth Vargas any better than we know CNN's Aaron Brown. I honestly don't know what will happen to the network newcasts, but I think in a few years, there will be some major changes, not only in the shows, but also in their audiences.

Here's to Peter Jennings... the end of a life, the end of an era.