4.+Peter+Jennings

Peter Jennings 

Aim: Peter Jennings for many Americans was the face of nightly news for around 22 years. He was a very prominent news anchor until he died. Being a news anchor his main goal or aim was to report news as unbiased as possible. Peter Jennings reported on events such as the Persian Gulf War and 9/11 (Bio). Peter Jennings as well hosted a 23 hour long reporting of the millennial celebration to which he was given praise for doing. Peter Jennings ultimately wanted to educate the people of America what was happening in the world while he was recording. He was the what people referred to as one of the big 3 reporters in the 80s and the 90s (ABC).

Audience: Peter Jennings’ audience is the entirety of the US. ABC put Peter Jennings on a mainly US show called “World News Tonight” which he was the anchor of for 22 years. He reported to everybody from children to adults. For adults that just watched his daily nightly broadcasts, he was a revered news anchor. He did plenty of documentaries that talked about issues around the world. To children, he allowed them to call into the station and ask question to people like Bill Clinton (SourceWatch). When he did the millennial celebration, around 175 million people tuned into the program. That was a record breaking live news broadcast and that was the audience that Peter Jennings commanded.

Cultural: The impact that Peter Jennings had on his audience was immense. In one study done found, "In every case, those who watched ABC voted for Reagan in far greater numbers than those who watched CBS or NBC" (The Tipping Point 76). Peter Jennings was found to give a slight bias towards Republicans. This was done purely by expression as he smiled quite often at Reagan as opposed to the Democratic challenger. Just this slight bias, seemed to have caused ABC viewers to vote more Republican rather than Democrat. This is also seen as extra weird as ABC is usually slightly liberal. The cultural impact of Peter Jennings has also been seen through his reporting. People who watched news reports on 9/11 or when the Challenger Shuttle exploded called his reporting calm and professional. People often turned to Peter Jennings rather than Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather when difficult news came in (Bio). This demonstrates his cultural impact on his audience quite well.

Historical: Peter Jennings was born on July 29, 1938. When he was 9, he hosted his own radio show up in Canada. It appears that he was destined to become a journalist from the start. He however dropped out of high school at 17 and worked as a bank teller until he hosted a TV show in Canada. From there he was hired by ABC and he eventually became the anchor of World News Tonight (ABC). Jennings covered many events such as the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, and other large world events. He along with Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather are referred to as the 3 Big News Anchors. Peter Jennings will for sure be remembered as one of the greatest journalists in the modern era.

Sources: "Peter Jennings." //Bio//. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. < http://www.biography.com/people/peter-jennings-14821326>.

"Peter Jennings." //ABC News//. ABC News Network, 1 Nov. 2005. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. .

Gladwell, Malcolm. //The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference//. 1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 2000. 76. Print.

"Peter Jennings." //SourceWatch//. SourceWatch. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://www.sourcewatch.org/i <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans',sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ndex.php/Peter_Jennings>.