Peter Jennings

[kostgard]

My mother actually cries herself to sleep many nights because she can't quit smoking. She's not weak, but, tobacco is a hell of a drug.

No kidding. One of the things that truly turns me off about smoking is the whole addiction/dependence aspect. I like that I'm not addicted to anything except good snark, and even with that I don't run over people to get to the door so I can log onto CPMCoG during breaks in business meetings the way I've seen people who smoke trample people to get outside, cigarette already in hand. I'm truly amazed at how my mother just up and quit cold turkey one day, and when Jennings admitted that he started smoking again in the wake of 9/11, saying that he was "weak" I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him that we all understand.

I really can't picture anyone truly replacing him. He truly had it all. Anderson Cooper comes pretty close, but not quite. And one of the few journalists I really trust is Christiane Amapour, but I don't think there's any way you could chain that lady to a desk.

[mardigras]

I don't understand why people seem to blame smokers for their health problems when they don't apply the same standard to others. People eat themselves to death, die while riding their bloody stupid motorcycles in city traffic, die in extreme sports accidents, OD, and yet they don't seem to get the same kind of blame that smokers get.

Yes, smoking is a disgusting unhealthy habit that can lead to a horrible death, but people are only human and participate in a lot of unhealthy activities. And lung cancer seems like a horrible way to go.

I never particularly liked Jennings, but I'm happy to hear that he was surrounded by his family when he died.

[discoprincess]

I liked him because he would challenge people on their bull#$@^.

So he would have taken Tiny Tom to task about the antidepressants comment.

I can't imagine who would replace him either. They don't make anchors like they used to.

[kostgard]

I don't understand why people seem to blame smokers for their health problems when they don't apply the same standard to others. People eat themselves to death, die while riding their bloody stupid motorcycles in city traffic, die in extreme sports accidents, OD, and yet they don't seem to get the same kind of blame that smokers get.

OT: Yes, it is one of the few socially acceptable things to harp on. I think it is because cigarettes are labeled as "dangerous" and that cheesecake doesn't have a label that says "this product may kill you." Also, smoke affects others (second-hand smoke) while most of the other things don't (unless an alcoholic drinks then drives or something like that). Mostly I think it is because most people don't understand how addictive smoking is, can't understand why people continue to do something day-in, day-out that they know is so bad for them, and don't understand that addiction is a disease.

Like the late Mitch Hedberg said, you always hear things like "Steve, you're an alcoholic! You jerk!" but you never hear "Steve, you have Lupis! You jerk!"

ETA: Something actually Jennings-related - this article from a BBC reporter on him:

Peter did what he could to halt the downward spiral of television news in America - that terrible turning inward, which means the less you know about the world, the less you want to know about it, and therefore the less a ratings-obsessed industry decides to tell you.

He often forced news items onto his programmes because they were important, not because the producers wanted them.

He loathed the arrival of the Fox network, with its open, noisy adherence to a political agenda, and believed it would destroy the old-fashioned notion of honest and unbiased reporting forever.

As for his own political opinions, I could never work them out. He would not tell me what he really thought about Clinton or George W Bush, and I eventually stopped asking him.

And that's why he was awesome.

[magazinewhore]

PJ epitomized class. He will be missed.

That said, to whoever wrote this:

?board=Celebrities said:

He helped prove that books can only teach you so much.

Jennings was a voracious reader, and that's how he educated himself. He was always reading about whatever interested him. Although he didn't have a formal in-school education, I daresay he still got much of his education from books, just not in a classroom. I'm just sayin'.

[Deleted]

He helped prove that books can only teach you so much

This comment I made was in reference to Peter being a high school dropout and having no college education. I didn't mean that Peter wasn't educated. I only meant that he learned more outside the classroom and that diplomas don't necessarily mean heart, soul, or intelligence. Some things you can't get from books or classrooms.

[Brookie]

You guys are going to snark about being a womanizer on a guy who just passed?? At least give this some time! Jeez!

[Deleted]

You guys are going to snark about being a womanizer on a guy who just passed?? At least give this some time! Jeez!

My sentiments exactly. His body isn't even cold yet. I don't really care what he did in his private life, but as a newcaster, he had my utmost respect and my family and I will miss him at our dinner table.

[mardigras]

Not to be cold, but I've never really understood the death moratorium on snarking.

I totally understand if you're with the family/friends of the dead person. Of course you don't snark then.

But, on a site like this? It's always struck me as a little hypocritical. Let's snark away while they're alive, but the moment they kick off they're Teflon for about a month? That makes no sense to me.

That said, I have nothing bad to say about the man.

[americanchai]

I would still respect Peter Jennings in death even if we found out he has a secret family or something (a la Charles Kuralt).

Did anybody watch GMA this morning? Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters were on and all of them were still choked up, especially the African American lady whose name I don't know. They had probably just come to work that morning and heard it about it minutes before they went on the air. I was weeping buckets.