Brokaw, Rather and Jennings Address RTNDA Awards Dinner Attendees
WASHINGTON--Tom Brokaw, anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News, passed along some of the lessons he has learned in his 42 years as a journalist during his keynote address at the 2004 RTNDA Awards Dinner on October 4, 2004, in New York.
"Bias, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder," Brokaw told the audience of award winners and friends. "Facts are your firewall against bias. Facts fairly presented in a coherent arrangement that represents the whole story, not just the parts that titillate."
Brokaw also warned that mistakes should quickly and apologetically be acknowledged. "Factual mistakes are obvious," he said. "However, there are also mistakes of perception and exaggeration, myopia and hubris. They're more difficult to acknowledge but no less important to your personal credibility and that of your organization. When you say, 'We stand by our story,' make damn sure your viewers have a clear, unambivalent idea of why you're standing by your story."
Nearly 500 people attended the Awards Dinner to honor the best in radio, television and online journalism. The black-tie event was held at the Grand Hyatt New York and featured a dinner and show honoring 74 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award winners and five RTNDA/UNITY Award winners. More information about the dinner, awards, speakers and presenters can be found at http://www.rtnda.org/asfi/awards/dinner.shtml.
Dan Rather, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, accepted the Overall Excellence Award for CBS and provided brief remarks. "It's almost boilerplate, in accepting an award of this kind, to say that you are 'humbled,'" Rather said. "Please know, tonight, that I indeed am humbled by this, and by what it represents to CBS News, and to me, personally. Please know, too, that we are resolved to emerge from this trial as an even stronger news organization, so that we may continue to be worthy of your trust and confidence."
Peter Jennings, anchor and senior editor of ABC World News Tonight, reflected on his colleague's situation as he accepted ABC's award for Best Newscast. "Whatever people say about the liberal media-whatever that actually means-and whatever people say about Dan [Rather], some of which seems to me unnecessarily cruel and ugly, in 40 years the evening news has never been driven by ideology."
Jennings also made a case for the continued relevance of the network evening news. "World News Tonight reaches five times the audience of all the cable [news channels] combined on a daily basis, so if we put the three of us together, there is some reason to believe the evening news is not quite as irrelevant as some people wish it to be."
Closing out the evening was Melanie Bloom, wife of NBC reporter David Bloom. She accepted his posthumous award for Continuing Coverage, honoring his reporting from Iraq. Full transcripts of remarks by Brokaw, Rather and Jennings, as well as images from the dinner, are available at http://www.rtnda.org/asfi/awards/dinner04.shtml.
RTNDA's Edward R. Murrow Awards, now in their 34th year, honor excellence in electronic journalism. This year, 53 news organizations won 74 awards out of an initial pool of 3,182 entries from 552 news organizations. Visit http://www.rtnda.org/asfi/awards/murrowshow2004.asp for winners.
The RTNDA/UNITY Awards honor news organizations for their commitment to covering diversity. Visit http://www.rtnda.org/news/2004/070804.shtml for the five winners.
RTNDA is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. RTNDA represents local and network news executives in broadcasting, cable and other electronic media in more than 30 countries.
Comments