I watch from time to time ABC News on Internet. I saw today some reports in memory of Peter Jennings. Some moments after that I have read a report in “the New York Times” about a happy day of his daughter… But why I am so excited to write about Peter Jennings?
I payed more attention to Peter Jennings as journalist after M.B. (my friend from Cleveland, Ohio) had told me that P.J. was a great American journalist. Of course, at that time, in 2004, when I was a Romanian writer, officially invited as journalist in the U.S.A., I had seen a lot of journalists… But for me Peter Jennings was…has been…is a symbol of a happy time of my life; in 2004 I had a family, a wife, a son (studying to become a doctor).
My wife, Livia Iacob, mathematics teacher, died in 2006, some years after a breast CANCER operation. Peter Jennings died in 2005 of lung CANCER. But in 2004 Livia was still alive…Peter Jennings, also!
I was happy to be invited as journalist in the U.S.A. in 2004…to know the U.S.A., to write about American people, about “St. Mary” Cathedral, the oldest Orthodox Romanian Church from the U.S.A., about Romanian American people from Cleveland, Ohio so on.
2004, perhaps the most wonderful year of my life.
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Who was in fact Peter Jennings? (either it’s very late in the night…or very early in the morning…but I feel I have to write my report about Peter Jennings).
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM (July 29, 1938 – August 7, 2005[1]) was a Canadian-American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer. A high-school dropout, he transformed himself into one of American television’s most prominent journalists.
Jennings started his career early, hosting a Canadian radio show at the age of nine. In 1965, ABC News tapped him to anchor its flagship evening news program. His inexperience was attacked by critics and others in television news, making for a difficult first stint in the anchor chair, and Jennings became a foreign correspondent in 1968, honing his reporting skills in the Middle East.
He returned as one of World News Tonight’s three anchors in 1978, and was promoted to the role of sole anchor in 1983. In addition to anchoring, Jennings was the host of many ABC News special reports and moderated several American presidential debates. Having always been fascinated with the United States, Jennings became a naturalized United States citizen in 2003.
Along with Tom Brokaw at NBC and Dan Rather at CBS, Jennings formed part of the “Big Three” news anchors who dominated American evening network news from the early 1980s to 2005. His death, which closely followed the retirements of Brokaw and Rather, marked the end of the “Big Three” era.
This is written in “Wikipedia”… I copy paste and I still remember Peter’s image on a TV screen… I still remember that happy time in Cleveland, Ohio…
Now I read a report in “the New York Times” about Peter Jennings’ daughter, about a happy day for her life… (I discover the date of that report from “the New York Times”: August 30, 2009…) OK, for me Livia is still alive, for me Peter Jennings is still speaking on TV screens from Cleveland, Ohio…
On the first of June (that was Livia’s birthday, too) I’ll try to launch “In memoriam LIVIA IACOB” (a program to support children, teachers, artists, journalists and sportsmen affected by CANCER ). I’ll invite journalists from Romania and from the U.S.A. to launch this CHARITABLE PROGRAM by A DUPLEX Romania – the U.S.A.
I know it’s not easy to build A MEDIA BRIDGE over the Atlantic Ocean; but I consider is my duty to try ! To build A COMMUNICATION BRIDGE to FIGHT TOGETHER against CANCER !
2011 means SIX YEARS WITHOUT PETER JENNINGS for the American people; NOT FOR ME! Peter Jennings is still there, ALIVE in my memory.
2011 means FIVE YEARS WITHOUT LIVIA …for her students, for her mates, for her school; NOT FOR ME! Livia is still here, ALIVE in my memory.