metsfan

2005.08.10　 中國時報 
優質新聞主播 又少一個
紐約客/北縣土城（自由業）

    剛去美國時，最不解的便是看電視新聞（特別是晚間新聞），怎麼搞的，這個年輕的國家，盡找一些老頭子報新聞。特別是三大電視網的三位主播，加起來起碼有兩百歲！就連報娛樂新聞的主持人，都比台灣新聞台的年輕妹妹年紀還大！

    九九年，我從德州搬到紐約。在時代廣場的電視牆上，首次注意到ABC晚間新聞的主播彼得．詹寧斯。詹寧斯先生光輝的過去，我來不及目睹。但是，在紐約期間，有幾件重大新聞事件，卻讓我對他印象深刻，也成為他的忠實觀眾！

    千禧年，他在主播台上，伴隨著二十四個時區的倒數，對於不同時區內的國家及地區，展現他個人豐富的學識及經歷，逐一介紹各國的風土民情及背景！ 

    二○○○年底，難產的美國大選，他坐鎮主播台，在與ABC佛羅里達州當地的記者連線，詢問最新的情形時，該記者回答：「我認為可能是……」詹寧斯當場在連線中，告訴這名記者說，你應該去確認消息。一絲不苟的態度，令我難忘！

    九一一事件發生時，他在主播台上告訴在外的子女們，不要忘了打個電話回家。流露出一個新聞從業人員的人性！而那段期間，他在主播台所展現的超人毅力，實在可與市長朱利安尼相輝映！

    乍聽詹寧斯先生過世的消息，不免興起「老兵不死，只是凋零」的感傷！

Virtually every site with a biography feature for Mr. Jennings regurgitates the same data that someone fed them years ago. They seem to be particularly fond of the kiddie radio show.

I'm afraid I shall have to do the same.
I have no aspirations in the research field.. but if I find anything new, I'll put it here.

Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings was born July 29, 1938 in Toronto, Canada to Charles and Elizabeth Jennings. Charles Jennings was a prominent figure in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) From all accounts, he was a man of high standards and great integrity. Sadly, the senior Mr. Jennings died in 1973. His mother passed away in 1991.

Mr. Jennings has a younger sister, Sarah. From all accounts, he and his sister had a happy, normal (if somewhat priviliged) childhood.

At the tender age of nine, Mr. Jennings hosted a half-hour weekly children's radio show called 'Peter's Program' for the CBC.
I wonder if he's tired of hearing about it yet - in my initial 'fact-finding', I must have seen it mentioned at least fifty times.

Mr. Jennings dropped out of preparatory school around age 16. He tried to take some night university classes, but the combined school and work load was just a bit too much for him. After a time at a small radio station in Brockton, Mr. Jennings was hired at CTV, a private Canadian television network.

Former ABC News President Elmer Lower discovered Mr. Jennings while he was a co-anchor at the CTV. In 1965, he made television history by becoming the youngest news anchor for the ABC Evening News. After 3 years of poor ratings, Mr. Jennings was made a foreign correspondent. He was the ABC News Bureau Chief in Beirut, Lebanon for 7 years. He moved up in the ranks at ABC over the years, doing 5-minute anchor spots on A.M. America before replacing Frank Reynolds as anchor in 1983, after Mr. Reynolds' death. His extensive knowledge of the Middle East is credited as the major reason for his ratings victory over Dan Rather. The interview with Saddam Hussein didn't hurt, either.

Mr. Jennings has earned numerous awards during his amazing career, including:

• Peabody Award in 1974 for his documentary on Anwar al-Sadat.
• National Headliner Award in 1971 for his reporting on the civil war in Bangladesh.
• Harvard University's Goldsmith Career Award for excellence in journalism.
• Radio and Television News Directors Paul White Award.
• Several Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards
• Numerous Overseas Press Club Awards.
• ..and more Emmys than will comfortably fit on a mantelpiece.

Most of the recent references to Mr. Jennings on Internet
sources are for the ambitious "The Search for Jesus" (which I
have not had a chance to see yet). Negative reviews of this work
abound on the net. Mr. Jennings, himself admits, "When you begin
a project like this, you know you're going to offend somebody.
I don't mind offending people - journalists should not mind offending
people if they're in search of the truth." My favorite quote
from these reviews is from Linda Stasi of The New York Times:
"Jennings will probably get stoned, not for having the nerve to
analyze the life of Christ, but for hanging around with intellectuals."

More amusing was the message board thread about Mr. Jennings that I came across on a site called FreeRepublic.com. Just a look at the keywords for the thread is enough give you a good idea of the content: 'Peter Jennings, ABC News, Pro-Castro, Pro-Jesse Jackson, Pro-Sandinistas, Pro-Communists.'
The discussion starts off in a very professional, editorial manner ...it later digresses to nothing more intelligent than this:
"Why doesn't this perverted Communist, Peter Jennings, go back to
Canada where he came from, and leave us freedom loving American
people alone?"
and
"Good thing he's a pretty boy. I will buy him a ticket to Cuba provided he NEVER comes back. Castro would probably have a job waiting for him."

I don't really claim to know all that much about Mr. Jennings' politics.
It has been remarked in a couple of articles that he does not comment
on his views publicly. It's one of the things I like about him.
I doubt that he's a Communist, but...you never know.
I cannot, however, deny the fact that Mr. Jennings is, indeed, Canadian.

From what I have read, Mr. Jennings' personal life used to be the stuff of tabloids. None of it is relevant. His marriage in 1997 to his present wife, Kayce Freed (a producer for 20/20) was his fourth. He has two grown children from a previous marriage: a son, Christopher, and a daughter, Elizabeth (one would assume that she is named after his mother).

出自:http://peterjennings.150m.com/BIO.HTM