Was the coverage of Tim Russert’s death really overkill? It might help to put it in perspective by, for example, comparing the amount of air time Russert posthumously received to the amount Peter Jennings did when he died in August 2005. And while that might be the most accurate comparison, keep this in mind: Russert died while still manning a broadcast, while Jennings died three months after his sign-off; when Russert died, there were big-ticket news stories to cover, while Jennings’ passing took place during a lull in major events. The numbers are below.
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It was just one year ago that ABC news anchor and central television news figure Peter Jennings passed away of lung cancer. No, this is not just a reminder that you should quit smoking, it is also a reminder of how the media honored his memory.
There was of course the announcement of his death, the naming of W. 66th St. “Peter Jennings Way,” and ABC stripping his name from their newscast.
What was once World Tonight With Peter Jennings was quickly renamed World News Tonight and then recently dubbed World News With Charles Gibson.
Wait, wasn’t there someone in between there? Hmm? We just can’t wait to see how ABC remembers Elizabeth Vargas.
Remembering Peter Jennings One Year Later [TV Newser, Mediabistro]
From 1962 to 2001, Bill Beutel was part of the ABC team, and many American living rooms. At 75, the news anchor and former host of AM America has died at his home in Pinehurst, N.C.
Beutel will surely be remembered for is signature sign-off, “Good luck and be well,” which was a nightly news staple for 30 years.
He “proved you could be a tough newsman and a gentleman at the same time,” WABC president and general manager Dave Davis said Sunday in a statement. “He was never shrill, always measured, and universally respected the original class act.”
Beutel was the winner of several Emmy awards and a Peabody award, and though he left ABC in 2001, he continued to report overseas for another two years. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment in his life was his ability to leave the world without causing any prime time/daytime host wars at ABC.
He even worked closely with “a young Peter Jennings” (y’know, because saying that was 30 years ago isn’t enough implication that everyone was younger). We imagine those two in heaven sharing a smoke and starting a blog.
Longtime ABC News Anchor Bill Beutel Dies [ABC News]
You know you had a great life when New York City names a street after you. Now, W. 66th St. is called Peter Jennings Way, in memoriam of our trusted nightly newscaster Peter Jennings.
The inauguration ceremony was yesterday, and Jennings family and co-workers made an appearance. Elizabeth Vargas showed, along with Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson. Vargas felt that the street naming was fitting.
“It’s a wonderful public way to tip our hats,” said Vargas, as she waited for the ceremony to begin. “This is the way we enter every day and [the way] Peter entered for 23 years.”
We guess it is is a good ting they went this route, instead of the proposed “Peter Jennings Newsstand,” complete with Marlboro Reds and plenty copies of Newsweek. That speech would have been awkward.
ABC News Location Named Peter Jennings Way [ABC News]
• Connie Chung and Maury Pouvich move to weekends, where we will see them in a way never thought possible. Supposedly, they are expected to be funny. [TV Newser]
• Even though he’s been dead for a few months now, we had to wait for 2006 for the official “Peter Jennings Era” to be over. [TMZ]
• The New York Times ponders what a free press really means. No, of course not for them, for Russia. [NYT]
• What you can expect from Time Warner in 2006: More celeb weeklies, the re-birth of Radar, and Sarah Ivens getting deporting. Hey, Keith Kelly can dream. [NYP]
• Is Katie Couric too scared of the news to be an anchor, or is the public too scared of her handing out the news? Either way, the bejesus is being frightened out of us all. [Chicago Sun-Times ]
• Matt Drudge can contemplate racism, and whack off to photos of Naomi Watts all chained up. We guess feminism already had their story today. [Drudge Report]
• Still mourning Radar. We are so totally depressed that we barely made it out of bed and onto the couch. [Gothamist]
• Your last chance to see quality television journalism airs tonight on ABC. [Mediabistro]
• Ashley Olsen isn’t the only girl who deserves to have a stalker. CNN anchors are people, too. [Breitbart, AP]
• The Daily News finally replaces their EIC…with the Editorial Director? Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been Llyod Grove. [Gawker]
• Following in the footsteps of Ted Koppel is a near impossible feat. Especially if you’re an alien. [WaPo]
• Dick Cheney is the original source of the Valerie Plame leak, despite what the veep’s chief of staff Lewis Libby told a federal grand jury. Scooter says he got the name from journalists, while some legalese leakers say it was Cheney who informed his wingman. (And then the game of telephone stopped when Sally’s mom made the girls turn the lights off.) [E&P]
• We heard over the weekend that Wenner Media was dropping its book division entirely, but now it turns out it’s just department chief Bob Wallace who, along with his assistant, is out the door (who, it’s no surprise to share, we hear has “long been unhappy” with the gig). The publishing unit will stay on, but only because its ties to Disney’s Hyperion Books allow Jann Wenner to maintain control of a media “empire.” And just when Wallace actually got a staff! [WWD]
• Don’t get the wrong idea: When Viacom splits itself into two major units, chairman Sumner Redstone doesn’t plan on exiting, nor (he says) did he ever give that impression. Instead, he’ll help fuel ego battles between Tom Freston and Les Moonves. [NYDN]
• Three hours of American Morning just isn’t enough, so CNN is cutting Daybreak from the 9-10am slot for a fourth hour of O’Brien Squared chatter. [TVNewser]
• Meredith’s purchase of five magazines from Gruner + Jahr might actually have been a wise decision: first quarter profits are up 11 percent. Morale, meanwhile, hovers at Conde Nast levels. [Des Moines Register]
• As expected, David Lee Roth is taking over Howard Stern’s West Coast market on Infinity, while Adam Corolla mans the East Coast gig. Stern, fresh off learning his studio would be outfitted with waterproof walls, is already disinterested. [SmartMoney]
• Diane Sawyer is not taking over Peter Jennings‘ World News Tonight gig, lest you think a major media company would put a woman in such a commanding position. For the record: We said “woman,” not Elizabeth Vargas. [Houston Chronicle]
• Does anyone want the top spot at Men’s Journal? Zinczenko? Foxman? Essex? Bueller? [WWD]
If we knew journalism paid so well, maybe we would’ve at least tried it. The late media man Peter Jennings left this earth with a whopping $50 million fortune, all for reading off the teleprompter.
He’s splitting it with his two kids, ex-wife and widow (who gets the Central Park West apartment), as well as his Peter Jennings Foundation.
Jennings, who died last month after battling lung cancer, reportedly earned as much as $10 million a year during part of his tenure at ABC. His will lists $50 million in personal property and $3.5 million in real property in New York.
In addition to his upper West Side apartment, Jennings owned a house in Bridgehampton, L.I., and property in his native Canada. Most of the rest of the estate is in stock, cash and retirement funds – though Jennings also owned two horses, Cabin Fever and Channel’s Gate.
As for our Jossip-funded estate, we’ve got some certificates for a free week at David Barton’s Gym as well as some spa services. But, uh, we’re going to use all those up before we die, so you’ll get nothing. Nothing!
ABC News President David Westin is hard at work trying to find a permanent replacement for Peter Jennings, quickly growing tired of tossing Charles Gibson and Elizabeth Vargas into rotating anchor chairs while NBC’s mainstay Brian Williams is cleaning up in the hurricane ratings game.
Meanwhile, CBS News prez Andrew Heyward (or rather, CBS head Les Moonves) has been on the hunt since November when Dan Rather stepped down and Bob Schieffer began filling in — and still ABC is expected to name their nightly news replacement first.
But you already knew all this, right?
ABC is conducting its search for a successor very privately. CBS has struggled, although it gave itself the bigger challenge.
NBC’s ratings spiked high in the wake of Katrina and the very visible work of its anchorman, Brian Williams. Even though its anchor decision hasn’t been made, ABC moved aggressively to make sure its biggest names were on the scene with Rita: Charles Gibson and Bob Woodruff both reported from Texas, and Diane Sawyer spent a rare Saturday co- anchoring “Good Morning America.”
If only they had snagged Katie Couric in time, she could’ve uncrossed her legs for CBS instead of hammering nails on the Today show.
• Ted Koppel is finally on the way out at Nightline, with ABC News brass looking to replace him with either Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and (holy shit) Michael Jackson’s favorite interviewer Martin Bashir.
• At the 26th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, onlookers were treated to CNN interviewing their very own Christiane Amanpour about – what else? – reporting!
• Entertainment mogul David Geffen is truly serious about buying the Los Angeles Times, but maybe he’s looking more toward spin control than a new playing. After all, the LAT did hound him on DreamWorks SKG’s being a flop and his refusal to allow public access next to his Malibu pad.
• Tom Wolfe doesn’t need the name of his book I Am Charlotte Simmons to actually be on the book to sell copies. Just his name – in big-ass, bold letters – will do.
• Google is facing its latest lawsuit from book writers, who claim the search giant’s plans to scan and create a database of entire libraries amounted to “massive copyright infringement,” while the Mountain View firm says its plans to wrap the books’ contests in ads constitutes “fair use.”
• At yesterday’s memorial service, Peter Jennings was remembered as a “devoted father, hard-driving journalist and a man who befriended homeless people,” but there was no mention he practically was a definitive version of How To Lose Friends And Alienate People.
• If you were lucky enough to give the Wall Street Journal your business rather than home address, you might’ve been lucky enough to miss their new Weekend Edition.
TVNewser is on the scene at Peter Jennings‘ memorial service at Carnegie Hall and it’s a veritable who’s who of media types.
Ushers: Jon Banner, Bill Blakemore, Raymond Dunn, Jack Friedland, Christopher Islam, Harvey Loomis, Stu Schutzman, Tijs Bellarr Spruyt, Michael Clemente, Barrie Dunsmore, Joe Gluck, Mike Lee, Peter Osnos, and Tom Yellin.
Honor guard: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (La Gendarmerie Royale du Canada) NYPD Emerald Society Pipe & Drum Corps
“Total Praise”
Gates of Praise ChoirWelcome
Dr. Tim Johnson“Farewell to Peter”
Natalie MacMaster
with Brad Davidge and Eddie AaronReflections
Ted Koppel, Bob Iger, Tom NagorskiSuite No. 1 in G Major, Allemande
Yo-Yo MaReflections
David Westin, Todd Brewster, Morton GoldfeinCape Breton Melody
Natalie MacMaster
with Mac MorinReflections
Alan Alda, Mary Brosnahan Sullivan, Charles GlassA Fanfare For Peter
Jon Faddis, Wynton Marsalis and Clark Terry
with Todd Coolman, Lewis Nash and Eric ReedReflections
Chris Jennings and Elizabeth Jennings“Slumber My Darling”
Allison Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
Gates of Praise Choir
It’s just so lovely to watch TVNewser turn into Campbell Robertson for the afternoon.
Don’t forget about Les Moonves. He won’t be having any of that, mind you. With all the attention ABC News has been getting since Peter Jennings death, we can’t simply start ignoring CBS News’ own efforts at reinventing its newscast.
(Oh wait, we can ignore it? Actually, it’s in our contract to mention it.)
So here’s the deal: Les and CBS News prez Andrew Heyward are trying new formats to see which clicks — while completely ignoring what their interns have to say, of course.. Among them:
One version opens with a five-to-seven-minute presentation of the news of the day by John Roberts, the network’s chief White House correspondent, complete with “two-ways” between Mr. Roberts and several reporters. After a commercial break, the pace of the broadcast slows, and two or three “60 Minutes”-style segments are presented, albeit not at “60 Minutes” length, the last of them light and more humorous. After another break, Mr. Roberts, who is neither seen nor heard introducing those segments, returns to wrap up the broadcast with a good-night.
And then, at Jossip HQ, everyone does a Happy Dance. There, we’ve kept you up to date on CBS News. Next!
• All it took for ABC’s evening news to finally beat NBC? Peter Jennings‘ death, ya’ll.
• Bob Woodward’s insider look at Deep Throat is barely making ripples on the newsstand. The Secret Man’s tales of Watergate moved only 61,000 units in its first five weeks, which makes us think the readily available Vanity Fair article – oh, and all that incessant cable news coverage – was more than enough for everyone.
• Mike Savage loves it when you throw your hate mongering in his direction, so don’t stop now.
• Salon is cutting lose its 4,000 members of The Well, the online community founded in 1985 and bought by the indie online publisher in 1999. Those dwindling number of users who still debate politics and philosophy on The Well may soon be bashing Bush under another corporate umbrella, as Salon is opening it up to buyers.
• Once again we’re reminded of the all-powerful New York Times. With the stroke of a keyboard, editorial page editor Gail Collins can make or break a local politico. She also looks great in black latex.
• Despised Us Weekly exec editor Lori Majewski is a goner, but by her own volition. She’s jumped ship to her former home at Teen People, where celebrites are assaulted only slightly less.
• J-school prof Denny Wilkins isn’t sure whether to lie to his students about the media industry and that it’s all about the cash, not the journalism, these days. But these kids are bright folks, we’re sure they’ll quickly figure it out when they’re trying to break through the $30,000 salary ceiling.
After Keith Olbermann’s very public lashing from MSNBC honcho Rick Kaplan over his Peter Jennings/anti-smoking memorial, we assumed the Counterdowner would avoid the subject of tobacco on-air for some time to come.
But his promos for tonight’s show tell a different story. Rather than shake off the subject, Keith is asking viewers to join him in saying “I quit.” Not his job, but smoking.
But if he doesn’t keep the show clean of any graphic descriptions akin to “spitting globs of myself into a garbage can,” we expect to hear a Donald Trump tagline screamed from Kaplan’s office.
UPDATE: Keith writes in to let us know his “I Quit” series began August 9, throwing our humor-reliant timeline out of whack. Oh, and smoking still isn’t something to laugh at, unless your an Altria stock holder.
For perhaps the first time, we’re treating MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman’s column seriously. Normally we’re inclined to treat his media criticism with as much caliber as you view ours, but on this sunny Wednesday, Jon’s got a point.
He’s posturing – well, not so much posturing as asserting – Ebony and Jet founder John Johnson didn’t receive the same media pioneer treatment as he was entitled since his death last week.
When you think about it, Johnson stands as one of the unsung heroes of the post-World War II media explosion. It’s grossly unfortunate that in 2005, someone still has to qualify Johnson’s accomplishments by labeling him as an African-American publishing giant and not simply as an American icon.
Perhaps we can salvage the media’s robbing of Johnson by reclassifying Peter Jennings‘ memorial notes. Rather than calling it the “death of an American news legend,” let’s call it the “death of another stodgy white bloke who slowly and willingly killed himself.”
Better, Jon?
After all the memorial specials and colleague soundbites, it’s still business over at ABC. It’s been just one week since Peter Jennings‘ death and already ABC News prez David Westin has pulled his name from the network’s World News Tonight.
But that doesn’t mean they’re any closer to naming a permanent successor, so Charlie Gibson and Elizabeth Vargas will continue to fill in.
Meanwhile, CBS’s Les Moonves is also taking his time in naming the next host of CBS Evening News, leaving interim anchor Bob Schieffer in place. Only NBC had a transition plan in place, but it turns out that viewers don’t care who’s reading the news, as ratings are staying the same, emphasizing a point we made in early July: It doesn’t matter which white guy sits in the chair.
Confidently aware tackling Peter Jennings‘ death by his lonesome would be insufficient, Adam Moss called on Dan Rather to offer a memoriam for the newscaster in the pages of New York.
It’s all about Peter’s supposed generosity, though we’re not going to waste time interviewing ABC staffers to get the other, more obvious perspective.
Or to take another, more recent example of Peter????????s grace, one to which this writer feels a substantial debt: a discussion panel in which the participants were Peter, Tom Brokaw, and myself. The moderator????????s questions had turned to a topic I was not at liberty to discuss. Answers came to mind but could not be voiced, a frustrating situation, to say the least. Peter, with no need to touch the subject with a ten-foot pole, spoke up in my defense, offering some of the answers I would have liked to have given but could not. Through the years, whenever I got into something controversial????????from just plain bad press to times when I made an outright dumb-ass mistake (there have been so many)????????Peter was among the first to call.
Way to narrow them down for us, Danny boy. And you still can’t discuss said topic? Shame, shame on those confidential sources.
Salon is dipping its feet into the murky waters of Peter Jennings‘ death, calling his passing the “death of panache.” Maybe a little dramatic, we think, because after all we still have Brian Williams — and come on, he tries really frickin’ hard.
Being the ever-progressive title its media kit claims it to be, Salon also takes a peak at where ABC’s evening news is headed now that its star anchor is in no position to reclaim the news desk.
While this and other nonverbal Jennings staples complemented the stories’ content, it seems certain that, at least stylistically, Jennings will have no heir. News managers today aren’t looking to hire Cary Grant, the man of distinction; they’re looking for Matt LeBlanc, the dude next door.
Sweet, because Matt LeBlanc should be looking for a job very, very shortly.
Rick Kaplan has enough to worry about (read: Don Imus, Tucker Carlson, Rita Cosby .. can we stop now?) without crowd favorite Keith Olbermann raising his blood pressure. Such concerns, however, didn’t stop the MSNBC prez from giving the Counterdowner a public lashing immediately after he signed off on Monday night.
Olbermann shared with viewers his own tales of health problems stemming from smoking during his Peter Jennings on-air memorial moment, including such gems as “spitting globs of myself into a garbage can.” Kaplan ran downstairs onto the studio set as the show wrapped and berated Olbermann in front of the crew, even after the shocked Keith suggested moving to a private location.
Kaplan screamed he didn’t care if his 8pm anchor came into work the next day, which may have been a good programming move — if he were talking to Tucker Carlson.
It’s like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm: Must. Move. On. Have to .. move on. Need to .. prevail.
C’mon, ABC, your nightly news has been marching on without Peter Jennings since the beginning of April.
Yes, his death was very sad – so much so that all positive comments from colleagues were met with negative superlatives – but you’ve got a news business to run here. He’s barely been popping into the office the past few months.
So sit Charlie Gibson’s ass in the anchor chair for a few years andbuy yourself some thinking time.
In the meantime, Desperate Housewives is almost back on the air. Turn those frowns upside down — there’s a big dose of happy on the way.