A Reporter, A Legend

Starting a new blog is on my new year's resolution list. But where do I begin?

I cannot get my mind off of a book "Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life" I read over the holidays. Peter Jennings was the long time anchor of ABC World News Tonight. To his friends and colleagues, Peter is "larger than life". To me, he is not only the image and voice of American television, to some extent, he is the icon of America as I saw it.

When I arrived in USA more than 10 years ago, I was lost in this foreign land. The least I needed to do was to adjust to the newly discovered American accent. The harder task was to figure out what this new country is all about and where I would fit. Peter was my conduit of information then.

The reason I started watching ABC World News Tonight was because of its name. It seemed to be more about the world than any other news program at the time. I was also drawn to the program because of its anchor person, Peter Jennings. Like many viewers I found news delivered by Peter understandable and trustworthy. Throughout the years, Peter continue to be my source of information especially in times of difficulty. Sadly he died of lung cancer in 2005.

This new book, through the narratives of his friends, family and colleague, allows me to see the many sides of Peter Jennings: his insatiable curiosity in the world, his persistence in bringing news worth reporting to his audience, his enthusiasm for his work... What touches me the most is his deep and sincere interest in people. I think that's what made him so great.

Here is Peter, whom we deeply missed: