Jennings: News, not melodrama

Friends say Peter Jennings was always sensitive about dropping out of high school to pursue a career in broadcast journalism.

Though he lacked formal education, he became a distinguished scholar in the affairs of an often dangerous world. Mr. Jennings, died from lung cancer Sunday at 67, and most Americans will remember him as the anchorman who was the face of ABC News. Some may not recall that it was his remarkable record of work as a foreign correspondent that gave him the credibility to report to the nation five nights a week for 22 years.

He was in Berlin during the 1960s when the Wall was going up, and he was there again in 1989 when it came down. He established the first U.S. television news bureau in the Arab world as bureau chief in Beirut. He was in Gdansk, Poland, as the Solidarity labor movement overthrew the communist government. He was in Munich in 1972 and covered the tragic Summer Olympics when terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage and murdered them. He reported from Vietnam, Red Square and all 50 states.

Mr. Jennings' stylish demeanor never detracted from substance. Perhaps his finest work came after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. He was on the air for 60 hours and handled the most difficult assignment with aplomb, guiding Americans through the turbulent days without slipping into melodrama or speculation. Mr. Jennings didn't pretend to know something he didn't. He provided context without dispensing irrelevance. All those years of work in the field taught him how to strike the right balance between restraint and poignancy. Viewers knew they were in good hands. His colleagues at ABC and throughout the industry knew they had someone to emulate.

Though he dropped out of school, Mr. Jennings stayed a student for the rest of his life. The most important lesson he absorbed was how to sit in the anchor's chair and remain a newsman.