Signing
off …

Good evening. This just in… Sen. Bill Frist said today
he has looked at some videotape and disagrees with the diagnosis
that Peter Jennings has died of lung cancer.

On a more serious note: This is a sad day for the media.
Like all high-profile personalities, Peter Jennings certainly
had his critics.
But he also had sincerity, credibility and dignity, qualities
that can no longer be taken for granted in the "Runaway
bride" era of network news.

A note to our younger readers: There was a time when real
anchormen stuck to the facts, when "both sides of a story"
meant more than split-screen yakking by partisan hacks.

Peter Jennings will be greatly missed as one of the last
remaining links to a time when news reporters reported the
news.

Related stories:
Schiavo
autopsy reveals media in persistent vegetative state —
June 17, 2005
Dan
Rather hangs up his gasoline suit — March 11, 2005