News Blues: Life After Jennings

ABC backhandedly spotlighted what is increasingly wrong with television news by showcasing what was so right about it for two hours of primetime last evening.

ABC blew out its irresponsible "Brat Camp" show (two kids have gotten back into trouble since the taping - don't you know by now that TV doesn't solve problems?) for a commercial-free tribute to Peter Jennings, the ABC anchor and reporter who died over the weekend.

There was much footage of Peter all over the world reporting, finding facts, satisfying his (and our) curiosity about issues as far ranging as the existence of Jesus and why Daddy beats his kid for not performing on the baseball field. Great historical footage, too, of Jennings' first foray into network news, anchoring the ABC evening news way back in 1965, when his competition was three guys named Huntley, Brinkley and Cronkite. One wonders how the mature, field-savvy Jennings would have stood up to those three icons. (Eventually, David Brinkley joined ABC and teamed up with Jennings on election night and other occasions.)

At the anchor desk, Jennings excelled in knowing when to add to the story with words, and when to shut up, during live special reports. But thankfully, Jennings spent as much time away from the anchor desk as he did at it.

The tribute showed clearly that as long as TV is obsessed with constant cross-promotion and getting high ratings, there can never be another Jennings (a point echoed by the likes of Lynn Sherr, Barbara Walters and others) and you might as well hire a fluffy newsreader away from Fox News Channel who's never even had a passport but can tell you more than you need to know about Jacko. It was almost like watching a funeral for TV News the way it was in the days of integrity.