Bye bye, Mr. Jennings

The highlight of my short career dabbling in journalism had to be when I got to meet Peter Jennings through the Columbia J-School boot camp for college newspaper leaders. He leaned back on a chair at the head of a long table at ABC studios wearing a dust blue shirt, looking even more youthful and fresh-faced than the college students who sat around him (this was in the summer of 1999, before the infamous 60-hour work week he pulled during 9-11).

As viewers you can see an anchor on T.V. every night and feel like they are part of your family. But what was cool about meeting Peter Jennings was that familiarity was still there when I met him in person…. he was an instant uncle…. like he knew me too. He spoke about how NOT to become an anchor too early in your career, and the importance of learning foreign languages. I asked him how he communicated when he went to Bangladesh and he said “I was covering Bangladesh before you were born” (spoken just like an uncle) he said that the Indian army translated for him…. which might not be the best idea at the time, but hey we live and learn. I guess they didn’t have as many choices back then when it comes to translators, so you have to deal with the cards you get.

As shocked and upset as I was to read about his death many days later (it wasn’t covered at all in the Australian news) I feel so lucky that I got to meet him at all.