Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM (July 29, 1938 – August 7, 2005) was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABCs World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer. A high-school dropout, he transformed himself into one of American televisions most prominent journalists. Jennings started his career early, hosting a Canadian radio show at the age of nine. He began his professional career with CJOH-TV in Ottawa during its early years, anchoring the local newscasts and hosting a teen dance show, Saturday Date, on Saturdays. In 1965, ABC News tapped him to anchor its flagship evening news program. His inexperience was attacked by critics and others in television news, making for a difficult first stint in the anchor chair. Jennings became a foreign correspondent in 1968, reporting from the Middle East. He returned as one of World News Tonights three anchors in 1978, and was promoted to the role of sole anchor in 1983. Jennings was also known for his marathon coverage of breaking news stories, staying on the air for 15 or more hours straight to anchor the live broadcast of events such as the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991, the Millennium celebrations in 2000, and the September 11 attacks in 2001. In addition to anchoring, he was the host of many ABC News special reports and moderated several American presidential debates. Having always been fascinated with the United States, Jennings became a naturalized United States citizen in 2003. Along with Tom Brokaw at NBC and Dan Rather at CBS, Jennings formed part of the Big Three news anchors who dominated American evening network news from the early 1980s until his death in 2005, which closely followed the retirements of Brokaw and Rather. Jennings was born on July 29, 1938, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; he and his younger sister Sarah were children of Elizabeth (Osborne) and Charles Jennings, a prominent radio broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Peter Jennings started his broadcasting career at the age of nine, hosting Peters People, a half-hour, Saturday morning, CBC Radio show for kids. His father was on a business trip to the Middle East when the show debuted; upon returning, Charles Jennings, who harbored a deep dislike of nepotism, was outraged to learn that the network had put his son on the air.[2] When Jennings was 11, he started attending Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, where he excelled in sports. After the CBC moved his father to its Ottawa headquarters in the early 1950s, Jennings transferred to Lisgar Collegiate Institute.[2] He struggled academically, and Jennings later surmised that it was out of pure boredom that he failed 10th grade and dropped out. I loved girls, he said. I loved comic books. And for reasons I dont understand, I was pretty lazy.[3] Jennings then briefly attended Carleton University, where he says he lasted about 10 minutes before dropping out.[4] He also attended the University of Ottawa.[5] Although Jennings dreamed of following in his fathers footsteps in broadcasting, his first job was as a bank teller for the Royal Bank of Canada. He had hoped that the company would assign him to its Havana branch; instead, it located him to the small town of Prescott, Ontario, before transferring him to its nearby Brockville branch.[2] During this time, he explored acting by appearing in several amateur musical productions with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society, including Damn Yankees and South Pacific.[6] It was in Brockville that the 21-year-old Jennings started his rise in broadcasting. In 1959, CFJR, a local radio station, hired him as a member of its news department; many of his stories, including his coverage of a local train wreck, were picked up by the CBC.[7] By 1961, Jennings had joined the staff of CJOH-TV, then a new television station in Ottawa. When the station launched in March 1961, Jennings was initially an interviewer and co-producer for Vue, a late-night news program. His producers saw a youthful attractiveness in him that resembled that of Dick Clark, and Jennings soon found himself hosting Club Thirteen, a dance show similar to American Bandstand.[8][9] The next year, CTV, Canadas first private TV network and a fledgling competitor of his fathers network, hired the 24-year-old Jennings as co-anchor of its late-night national newscast.[1] While reporting for CTV, he was the first Canadian journalist to arrive in Dallas after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.[2] In 1964, CTV sent Jennings to cover the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. There, he ran into Elmer Lower, then president of ABC News, who offered him a job as a correspondent for the American network, an opportunity Jennings initially rejected.[10] The job was pretty intimidating for a guy like me in a tiny city in Canada, Jennings later recalled. I thought, What if I screw up? What if I fail?[3] Three months later though, he changed his mind and packed his bags for America.[10] Jennings started reporting for ABC at its New York news bureau.[10] At the time, ABC lagged behind the more established news divisions of NBC and CBS, and the network was trying to attract younger viewers. On February 1, 1965, ABC plucked the fresh-faced Canadian from the field and placed him at the anchor desk of Peter Jennings With the News, then a 15-minute nightly newscast. He replaced Ron Cochran, a fellow Canadian.[2] At 26, Jennings was, and remains, the youngest-ever U.S. network news anchor.[1] ABC was in bad shape at the time, Jennings said. They were willing to try anything, and, to demonstrate the point, they tried me.[11] An inexperienced Jennings had a hard time keeping up with his rivals at the other networks, and he – and the upstart ABC News - could not compete with the venerable newscasts of Walter Cronkite at CBS and Chet Huntley and David Brinkley at NBC. Some in the American audience disliked Jennings Canadian accent. He pronounced lieutenant as leftenant, mangled the pronunciation of Appomattox, and misidentified the Marines Hymn as Anchors Aweigh at Lyndon Johnsons presidential inauguration; his lack of in-depth knowledge of American affairs and culture led critics to deride Jennings as a glamorcaster.[2] It was a little ridiculous when you think about it, he later reflected. A 26-year-old trying to compete with Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley. I was simply unqualified.[12] After three rocky years at the anchor desk, Jennings quit to become a foreign correspondent.[1] On August 7, 2005, just after 11:30 p.m. EDT, Charles Gibson broke into local news in the Eastern U.S. and regular programming on ABCs western affiliates to announce Jenningss death from lung cancer.[1] He read a short statement from the family, and disclosed that Jennings had died in his New York apartment with his wife, two children by his marriage to Kati Marton, and sister at his side.[88] The anchors ABC colleagues, including Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, and Ted Koppel shared their thoughts on Jenningss death. The next morning, Brokaw and Rather fondly remembered their former rival on the morning news shows. Peter, of the three of us, was our prince, said Brokaw on Today. He seemed so timeless. He had such élan and style.[89] Canadas television networks led off their morning news shows with the news of Jennings death and had remembrances from their big three anchors, Peter Mansbridge at the CBC, Lloyd Robertson at CTV, and Kevin Newman at Global.[90] American President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin offered statements of condolence to the press.[91] On August 10, 2005, ABC aired a two-hour special, Peter Jennings: Reporter, with archival clips of his reports and interviews with colleagues and friends. The special drew over 9 million viewers, and was the most watched television program of the night.[92] For the week of his death, World News Tonight placed number one in the ratings race for the first time since June 2004.[93] Jenningss widow, Kayce Freed,[94][95] and family held a private service in New York. Jennings was cremated and his ashes split in half. Half of his ashes remained in his home in Long Island and the other half was placed in his summer home in the Gatineau Hills, near Ottawa.[96] The 57th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 18, 2005, included a tribute to Jennings by Brokaw and Rather.[97] A public memorial service for Jennings was held two days later at Carnegie Hall. Notable journalists, political leaders, and other friends of Jennings attended.[98] Jennings left a $50m estate, half went to Freed; most of the rest to his son and daughter.[99] On December 5, 2005, after much speculation, and nearly eight months after Jennings stopped anchoring, ABC named Vargas and Bob Woodruff co-anchors for World News Tonight Jennings won numerous honors throughout his career, including 16 Emmys and two George Foster Peabody Awards. His work on World News Tonight and Peter Jennings Reporting consistently won Overseas Press Club and duPont-Columbia awards.[13] At the peak of his popularity, Jennings was named Best Anchor by the Washington Journalism Review in 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1992.[16] The Radio and Television News Directors Association awarded Jennings its highest honor, the Paul White Award in 1995, in recognition of his lifetime contributions to journalism.[100][101] In 2004, he was awarded with the Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting from Washington State University. Just eight days before his death, Jennings was informed that he would be inducted into the Order of Canada, the nations highest civilian honor.[103] His daughter, Elizabeth, accepted the insignia on his behalf in October 2005. On February 21, 2006, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg designated the block on West 66th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West as Peter Jennings Way in honor of the late anchor; the block is home to the ABC News headquarters.[104] In October 2006, The Walt Disney Company, which bought ABC in 1996, posthumously named Jennings a Disney Legend, the companys highest honor. He was the first ABC News employee so honored.[105] In January 2011, Jennings was posthumously inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Television Hall of Fame.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 06:06:14 +0000
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