2008 Woodie Awards
Appreciating the Career of a Legend
A Reflection on the Legacy of NBC Newsman Tom Brokaw
DeStefano, Wendy
Issue date: 11/18/04 Section: Opinion
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On Dec. 1, legendary NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw will leave his highly rated nightly newscast NBC Nightly News after 22 years of hosting the show.
Brokaw's departure from NBC news reminds me of Jay Follet's death in James Agee's Pultizer Prize-winning novel A Death in the Family.
In the novel, Jay's family copes with his death in various dramatic emotional ways while grieving the loss of their family's soul.
And I'll miss the man who I've respected and trusted like my own father. Like a good parent, Brokaw has always been there to take control and console the nation whenever it experienced a crisis.
The New York tri-state area will miss our adopted son from Yankton, South Dakota.
My dad still remembers watching the "young kid" hosting The Today Show with Jane Pauley over 20 years ago. We both can't believe that the still-young-looking and attractive gentleman is 64-years-old.
He inspired me at a very young age to pursue politics and journalism as careers because of his style of covering the news, his honesty, and his charming and humble personality.
He has made watching the news an intellectually stimulating and blessed opportunity in becoming informed about the world surrounding me.
I can still vividly remember the night of the 1988 Presidential Election coverage, the night Germany was tearing down the Berlin Wall, the 1989 Los Angles earthquake, Operation Desert Storm, the Los Angeles riots, the 1992 Olympic games, and the first World Trade Center attack.
I also recollect David Koresh's Waco compound, the Oklahoma City Bombing,the 1996 Olympic games, the Whitewater Investigation, September 11, President Bush's post-9/11 Presidential speeches, and the 2004 Presidential debates.
Even more recently, I watched Brokaw call Ohio correctly for President Bush during NBC's 2004 Presidential Election coverage.
Throughout his career, Brokaw proved to young people that they possess the power to change the world with diligence, good intentions, and a lot of hard work.
Brokaw's departure from NBC news reminds me of Jay Follet's death in James Agee's Pultizer Prize-winning novel A Death in the Family.
In the novel, Jay's family copes with his death in various dramatic emotional ways while grieving the loss of their family's soul.
And I'll miss the man who I've respected and trusted like my own father. Like a good parent, Brokaw has always been there to take control and console the nation whenever it experienced a crisis.
The New York tri-state area will miss our adopted son from Yankton, South Dakota.
My dad still remembers watching the "young kid" hosting The Today Show with Jane Pauley over 20 years ago. We both can't believe that the still-young-looking and attractive gentleman is 64-years-old.
He inspired me at a very young age to pursue politics and journalism as careers because of his style of covering the news, his honesty, and his charming and humble personality.
He has made watching the news an intellectually stimulating and blessed opportunity in becoming informed about the world surrounding me.
I can still vividly remember the night of the 1988 Presidential Election coverage, the night Germany was tearing down the Berlin Wall, the 1989 Los Angles earthquake, Operation Desert Storm, the Los Angeles riots, the 1992 Olympic games, and the first World Trade Center attack.
I also recollect David Koresh's Waco compound, the Oklahoma City Bombing,the 1996 Olympic games, the Whitewater Investigation, September 11, President Bush's post-9/11 Presidential speeches, and the 2004 Presidential debates.
Even more recently, I watched Brokaw call Ohio correctly for President Bush during NBC's 2004 Presidential Election coverage.
Throughout his career, Brokaw proved to young people that they possess the power to change the world with diligence, good intentions, and a lot of hard work.