Peter Jennings Dies

[Paul Kerrigan]

Peter Jennings, the ABC news anchor who hosted the controversial special on the JFK Assassination has died. The 67 year old recently announced in April that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8864210/

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/JFK_poll_031116.html

Edited August 8, 2005 by Paul Kerrigan

[Christopher T. George]

Peter Jennings, the ABC news anchor who hosted the controversial special on the JFK Assassination has died.  The 67 year old recently announced in April that he  had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8864210/

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/JFK_poll_031116.html

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Hi Paul

Many thanks for posting these links. Jennings, born a Canadian and thus an adoptive American, always seemed a consummate newsman and professional. He made for a friendly figure on the evening news if never quite of the stature of Walter Cronkite or of the quirky controversiality of Dan Rather.

Best regards

Chris George

[Nic Martin]

I can't say I was a huge fan ever since the ABC special where it was heavily implied all conspiracy theorists were nutjobs, but it's still going to be sad not seeing his face.

[Guest John Gillespie]

I can't say I was a huge fan ever since the ABC special where it was heavily implied all conspiracy theorists were nutjobs, but it's still going to be sad not seeing his face.

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Nic,

I remember watching Jennings, self-described "Boy Anchor" on ABC in the sixties (I'd like to say my parents told me about it).

Brent Bozell was not a big fan, as you may have read.

Regards,

JAG

[Nic Martin]

I can't say I was a huge fan ever since the ABC special where it was heavily implied all conspiracy theorists were nutjobs, but it's still going to be sad not seeing his face.

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Nic,

I remember watching Jennings, self-described "Boy Anchor" on ABC in the sixties (I'd like to say my parents told me about it).

Brent Bozell was not a big fan, as you may have read.

Regards,

JAG

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The 60's is one decade that I wish I could have seen, such an important decade. Instead, I just get to ask my grandmother about it - because my mom was born in 1962, and only remembers a handful of popular songs from the late '60s. I remember my grandmother telling me the story about when JFK died, she was ironing infront of the TV, and the news broke in with the information on shots fired. Even as a Republican, she spent the next 4 days infront of the television, shocked that this could happen in America.

Maybe things like this is why the most common thing people say to me is that I have an "old soul." Or maybe that's just because I'm more likely to listen to the Rat Pack than what's on MTV.

[Ron Ecker]

Peter is gone but the truth lives on in Dale Myers's animation.

[Mark Knight]

Let's flash back to 1963....Most TV's were black-and-white sets, purchased in the 1950's. Color sets were available, but were quite expensive. In my hometown, the NBC and CBS stations were on VHF [channels 2 thry 13]...and our TV, an Emerson with a 12" speaker in the lower section of the cabinet, required an adapter to grab the UHF signals. The local ABC affiliate was on UHF, and since we didn't have an adapter, we actually had two channel choices.

So when news of the JFK assassination broke, the choices for most of our community were either Cronkite on CBS, or Chet Huntley and David Brinkley on NBC. By Friday evening, we were getting a nearly steady stream of remotes from network affiliates in and arounf "Big D," such as WFAA and WBAP. I remember the name of Tom Pettit as one correspondent--I believe his reports were on NBC--but I don't recall much about Dan Rather, probably because my folks insisted on watrching the chain-smoking Huntley and Brinkley on NBC.

Jennings came across to me as quite the serious fellow, moreso than Brokaw...and less self-important than Rather. Still, Jennings was good at what he did, and I'm sure he'll be missed--as all household names are--right up to the time he's forgotten completely [which I'm sure will be a number of years from now].

[Pat Speer]

I never liked Jennings and believed his reporting was often biased. His JFK Special was an abomination, far worse than the CBS supposed white-washes of the 60's. I remember watching his coverage of election night 2000, when I first realized the fix was in. He interviewed Dubya about losing Florida, to which Dubya responded that he was quite sure he was gonna win in Florida, and pretty much winked at the camera. Anyhow, that entire evening, whenever he mentioned the New York Senate race, or whenever it showed Senator-elect Hillary Clinton, Jennings would be sure to point out, "and that was of course, the highly controversial Hillary Clinton, the much-reviled Hillary Clinton, the highly divisive Hillary Clinton" and his face would reflect absolute disgust.

That said, cancer is always ugly and sad. I can't help but wish he'd lived long enough to admit he was wrong about the JFK assassination, however.

Edited August 8, 2005 by Pat Speer

[Dawn Meredith]

I never liked Jennings and believed his reporting was often biased. His JFK Special was an abomination, far worse than the CBS supposed white-washes of the 60's. I remember watching his coverage of election night 2000, when I first realized the fix was in. He interviewed Dubya about losing Florida, to which Dubya responded that he was quite sure he was gonna win in Florida, and pretty much winked at the camera. Anyhow, that entire evening, whenever he mentioned the New York Senate race, or whenever it showed Senator-elect Hillary Clinton, Jennings would be sure to point out, "and that was of course, the highly controversial Hillary Clinton, the much-reviled Hillary Clinton, the highly divisive Hillary Clinton" and his face would reflect absolute disgust.

That said, cancer is always ugly and sad. I can't help but wish he'd lived long enough to admit he was wrong about the JFK assassination, however.

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Pat: I totally agree, CBS did many hatchet jobs but the Peter Jennings "special" was just shocking to me.

I also remember that MOMENT in 2000. W made it very clear- (in my opinion)- that Jeb was going to see to it that he get Fla. I too realized then that the election was over.

I always liked Jennings before that, perhaps because I too am a former Canadian,

he just seemed "nice". And a bit liberal, so I would love to know what kind of arm twisting went into that JFK 40th anniversary "special". But I certainly don't believe that the news casters are in any general sense "liberal". They are whores who read the "news". And on this case they make whores look like saints.

Speaking of news: keep an eye on special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. He may be going after our current gang of thieves in the WH.

Dawn

[Tim Gratz]

Dawn, hate to correct you but Jennings never worked for CBS.

That was Dan Rather.

Jennings worked for ABC.

Personally, I prefer Fox News.

[Gerry Hemming]

Dawn, hate to correct you but Jennings never worked for CBS.

That was Dan Rather.

Jennings worked for ABC.

Personally, I prefer Fox News.

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Tim:

Wrongo "Boyo" !! Jennings did indeed work initially [very short gig] for CBS before ABC picked him up. He bombed as a co-anchor and was sent out to the field. When he verily impressed Roone, et al.; he was brought back as a co-anchor. Try using Google's "Bios" old bean !!

Cheers Mate,

GPH

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[John Simkin]

Personally, I prefer Fox News.

It shows. So that is why you are so uninformed about the world.

[Tim Gratz]

My reference to Fox News was just throwing red meat to the wolves! I knew it would generate a comment like John's.

John, do you get "Fox News" in the UK or do you only read about it?

[Tim Gratz]

Gerry is right as he usually is! I'd forgotten that.

[John Simkin]

John, do you get "Fox News" in the UK or do you only read about it?

No we do not get Fox News in the UK. We do have Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers and they are bad enough. There have been a large number of newspaper articles, television documentaries, etc. about the subjective reporting of Fox News in the UK. We also know about your right-wing radio stations. We assume it is because of your corrupted media that the American people have elected George Bush as president. Virtually no one in Europe believes he was voted in on merit.