Personal and Professional Life of Peter Jennings

Personal and Professional Life of Peter Jennings

Peter Jennings was born in 1938 in Canada, Ontario, as Peter Archibald Charles Ewart Jennings. He was the son of Charles Jennings and Elizabeth Jennings with one sibling by the name Sarah Jennings. His father was a renowned journalist and broadcaster at the CBC or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He dropped out in Grade 10 as he did not achieve the equivalent of what in the American system is known as GED. He was helped by his father, who worked at a television station where he was first introduced to the world of journalism (Mike & Jason, 2005).

His career in journalism began at the age of 9 when he started hosting a show at the CBC show in Canada. He was hired by the CBC radio at a time when his father had gone for a business trip to the Middle East, and after returning to Canada, he was irked by the decision that had been taken by the CBC radio, since he loathed nepotism. According to him, other employees within the company, as well as the Canadian public, would have thought that he influenced the employment of his son (Frank, 2002).

At the age of 11 years, he attended the Trinity College School in Ontario, where he participated and excelled in various sporting disciplines. His father was later transferred to Ottawa in the 1950s, and it is here that he dropped out of school after enrolling at the Lisgar Collegiate Institute. Peter had indicated that he attended Carleton University, where he mentioned that he only attended one lesson. Later on, he attended the University of Ottawa (Mike & Jason, 2005).

Peter always had a dream of following in the footsteps of his father, but unknown to many; journalism was not his first job. He first worked as a teller in the Royal Bank of Canada and during his stint at one of the branches that he contemplated acting and appeared in several music productions, for instance, the South Pacific, the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society, and the Damn Yankees. His professional career in journalism began in Ottawa at the CJOH-TV when the TV station was just beginning its operations. He was hosting a teenage show. He was mainly known for hosting the famous dance show by the name Club Thirteen that was similar to the BandStand how in the United States (Frank, 2002).

Later on, he was acquired by CTV, which was the first private network in Canada, and he left a mark as the first Canadian journalist to arrive in Dallas, Texas, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Additionally, he also attended the Democratic National Convention in New Jersey in 1964, where CTV had sent him. It is while working here that he met with the owner of ABC News by the name Elmer Lower, who led him to his other job, which ushered his breakthrough in the journalism industry (Mike & Jason, 2005).

His first breakthrough occurred in 1965 when he was recruited to be an anchor for their ABC evening news. There are, however, some people who criticized him for his inexperience and lack of an understanding of American issues, thereby forcing him to work for another company in the Middle East in 1968 (Mike & Jason, 2005).

While working in the Middle East, he formed the Middle East Bureau in Lebanon, which was the first news bureau of America in the Arab World. He exhibited his expertise in middle-eastern affairs with a half-hour documentary through the ABC network. He later became familiar with the Israeli Arab world and conducted a series of interviews with Middle-eastern networks (Frank, 2002).

In 1972, he covered the Olympics massacre in Munich of Israeli athletes, and it is here that he exhibited his expertise in Middle Eastern affairs. He mainly aided the American people in understanding Middle Eastern issues. In 1973, he later covered the Yom Kippur War, where he conducted a documentary on the Egyptian president that won him the George Foster Award (Bruce, n.d).

He returned to the United States in 1974, where he began working as the ABC News Washington correspondent.  In 1978, he returned to the company as one of three anchormen for the night show but was later promoted as the senior-most anchor in 1983. Together with Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw, they were the most popular news anchors in the United States from the 1980s (Mike & Jason, 2005).

In the 1980s, for instance, Jennings was involved in high levels news reports such as the revolution in Iran, the invasion of Israel into Lebanon in 1982, and the visit of the pope to Poland in 1983. He always insisted on covering some of the high-level stories, and this angered some of his colleagues at ABC. The confrontations with some of his colleagues made him contemplate moving back to CBC in Canada, but the negotiations did not succeed (Bruce, n.d).

In 1983, Peter signed a four-year contract with ABC, and it is here that he became the sole anchor at their famous news show World News Tonight. In September 1983, he contributed the rise in ABC News ratings after spending some time learning about American affairs. The preparation was mainly conducted in preparation for the campaign in the following season (Bruce, n.d).

In 1984, he was a joint anchor in ABC covering the National Convention of the Democratic Party. They, however, erred in the live coverage by halting the coverage for close to 30 minutes and received a bashing for the same. Despite the criticism, his ratings grew significantly, especially in 1986, during the disaster on the space shuttle. 1n 1989, his ratings grew even more after covering the earthquake in Loma Prieta in the bay of San Francisco. The ratings for ABC News continued to soar for the following weeks ranking as the best company in news reporting in the United States (Mike & Jason, 2005).

The success of Peter continued in 1990, where the ratings of Peter Jennings in the evening show continued to rank as number one. In January, for instance, he introduced the Peter Jennings show, which was a one-hour prime time show on ABC. Additionally, he further made constant reports about gun violence in the United States and drew praises from the American population (Frank, 2002).

He further conducted reports on the killings in the field, which focused on the wrong policies of the United States towards Cambodia. The reports insinuated the United States government was supporting the hostile administration in Cambodia. The stories were supported by the United States citizens and forced the United States to vehemently deny the recognition of the regime in Cambodia (Bruce, n.d).

In 1981, during the Gulf War, Peter initiated marathon coverage of the news story and thereby spending more than half of the 48 hours during the war to cover the war. The coverage of the story orchestrated ABC News to its highest-ever ratings since its inception. In the same year, he canceled a cartoon show on a Saturday morning to bring a briefing of the military in Saudi Arabia (Bruce, n.d).

Peter, together with the crew at ABC, was concerned about the plight of the children who had been affected by the war in Saudi Arabia. In the next day, Peter together with other anchors in the ABC News show conducted an exclusive coverage on the war in Saudi Arabia whereby they contacted military personnel in the war-prone areas and further gave updates about the impact of the war to both those who are in Saudi Arabia as well as to the American population (Mike & Jason, 2005).

In the same year, Peter Jennings continued to produce shows that were mainly targeted at the youth and was always mindful of the language that was used on his shows. For instance, in October 1991, he interrupted a regular Saturday show after finding out that the language used on the Supreme court proceedings was not suitable for the young viewers. In the following year, he conducted various shows that were targeted at the youth and children, which did not only draw the viewers to his show but also made them staunch followers of his activities (Bruce, n.d).

In the same year, which was also a political year, Peter was the moderator for the democratic presidential election, which was anchored through his shows. After the election of Bill Clinton in the same year, he featured two administrators into his show and even anchored the president and the attorney general into one of his shows in the same year.  In the same year, Jennings drew an average of over 10 million shows every night and ranked as one of the most popular news anchors in the United States. In addition, he was also ranked as one of the highest journalist earners in the country (Frank, 2002).

In 1994, there was, however, some critics of ABC radio who touted him as being too liberal. In 1994, the United States mid-term elections, for instance, there were some people who complained about the liberal comments he made on radio. The complaints, however, were blamed on the political stands of different citizens in the country (Mike & Jason, 2005).

In 1995, he won the Award by the company Peabody through his news report about the bombings in Hiroshima, but the reports also drew some criticism. The fact that the news report focused on the untold story of the Hiroshima bombing and revealed the dark side of the United States was obviously expected to rub shoulders with some people who felt that he was unfair to the United States.   Despite the expected criticism, many supported him (Bruce, n.d).

In the same year, television critics further praised him for his coverage of the Simpson murder case. In spite of the praise, his focus was largely on the war in Bosnia, where he devoted a large chunk of his time in covering the story. He steered ABC News towards covering the story more than any other media station in the country (Bruce, n.d).

The above works made him receive various awards, for instance, the Goldsmith Excellence award from Harvard University at the Kennedy government school. In 1995 he covered the referendum in Quebec and was rewarded for raising the popularity of the story in the United States. The Canadian government and press were particularly impressed by his coverage since he was the only anchor who was able to cover the issue comprehensively outside of Canada (Mike & Jason, 2005).

In 1996, the ratings of ABC reduced and were momentarily overtaken by NBC. On learning about the drop in ratings, Peter shifted his focus from the international news to the softer stories in the country. The move was, however, negative and led to a further drop in the ratings. The ratings, however, increased in 1997 to rank as the best night TV show in the country. The ratings, however, dropped in 1998 after some mismanagement issues but still listed as the second-best show in the country (Bruce, n.d).

On the eve of the millennium, Peter focused more on political issues, for instance, in 2000, where he moderated the debate by the Democratic Party. Peter was also the only journalist to travel to Pakistan and India, during President Clinton’s tour to these two countries. On September 11^th, 2001, he was instrumental in broadcasting the events of the attack on the world (Mike & Jason, 2005).

He also moderated the 2004 Democratic Party debate. Later the same year, Peter developed an infection on his upper respiratory, which he termed as agonizing. He termed the situation as disturbing since it forced him to broadcast the events of the Asian Tsunami from New York. In 2005, he informed his viewers that he had been diagnosed with Lung Cancer (Bruce, n.d).

He informed his colleagues at ABC News about his deteriorating health and thanked the management for supporting him during his time at the company. Unfortunately, he passed away the same year but left an indelible mark not only in ABC News but also in the journalism world. He had won various awards and honors during his time as a journalist (Mike & Jason, 2005).

Other than the awards that have been mentioned in this study, he had also won the Paul White Award in 1995, which is the highest award in Radio and Television. In 2004, the Washington University awarded him the Lifetime Broadcasting Achievement award. The Canadian government had also awarded him the highest civilian order in the country, known as the Order of Canada (Frank, 2002).

After his demise, various places have also been named in his honor, including a street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. The street is the official headquarters of the ABC News company. In October 2006, the Walt Disney Company named Peter Jennings a Disney Legend, which is the prime award by the company. In 2011, he was inducted into America’s Academy of Arts Hall of Fame (Mike & Jason, 2005).