Tom Brokaw

You know who I blame for the terrible tone in American politics? Tom Brokaw. No, not the man himself, but what he represents. Since Dan Rather famously beclowned himself, Mr. Brokaw stands as the last of the respected "voice of God" news anchors (CBS News executive Don Hewitt's phrase). These were the oracles who simply declared what was news and what wasn't. Walter Cronkite, the prize of the breed, used to end his newscasts, "And that's the way it is" -- as if he were speaking not just with journalistic but also epistemological and ontological authority.

You know who I blame for the terrible tone in American politics? Tom Brokaw. No, not the man himself, but what he represents. Since Dan Rather famously beclowned himself, Mr. Brokaw stands as the last of the respected "voice of God" news anchors (CBS News executive Don Hewitt's phrase). These were the oracles who simply declared what was news and what wasn't. Walter Cronkite, the prize of the breed, used to end his newscasts, "And that's the way it is" -- as if he were speaking not just with journalistic but also epistemological and ontological authority.

NEW YORK - Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife escaped injury in a three-car accident on a New York City highway that killed one woman and injured a mail truck driver Friday. The accident happened about 1 p.m. as Brokaw was driving in the left lane of the northbound Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx. The Brokaws said they noticed a spool of cable bouncing in the far right lane, which caused the driver of the green SUV to lose control as she tried to avoid it. The Brokaws said the SUV slid into the middle lane, forcing a mail truck into the couple's lane.

Food, spies, money, politics, education and war are on the agenda for the sixth season of the Baltimore Speakers Series, which returns in October at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Among the eight luminaries who will be speaking in the series sponsored by Stevenson University are former Washington schools superintendent Michelle Rhee, former CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, and sustainable food champion Michael Pollan. In addition, former U.S. military commander in Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal will speak, as will Azar Nafisi, author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran," and Ron Chernow, biographer of business titans J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller.

Tom Brokaw's mother once told him a story that helped shape how he approached his work as anchor of NBC Nightly News. His grandfather, she told him long ago, was a South Dakota farmer in the 1920s. One Christmas, he received enough money to buy a crystal radio set. From then on, Brokaw's grandfather listened to news reports on the two-tube contraption "sitting up half the night, headsets on, forgoing sleep, listening through the static." The image of his grandfather listening, fascinated, never faded.

Like any good journalist, which he indisputably is, Tom Brokaw has a tough time with the word "I." Using "I" means talking about yourself, and saying what you think and feel and believe. It's a great word for a talk-show host. It's a terrible word for a veteran TV journalist who's spent the past 40 years keeping onlookers out of the sanctum sanctorum inside his head. On TV 1968 With Tom Brokaw airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on the History Channel.

A FAMILIAR face, but one not often seen anymore, popped up recently on a rerun of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" on cable TV's Nick at Nite.In this episode from about 1974, the fellow with the familiar face had a short scene with only a few lines. But when he made his unexpected appearance in the WJM newsroom, the surprised studio audience let out a robust round of applause that lasted some 15 to 20 seconds.Was this visitor a famous movie or TV actor? A beloved sports idol? A renowned public official?

PBS and NBC will team up again to provide coverage of the 1996 Republican and Democratic national conventions, PBS President Ervin S. Duggan announced yesterday."

Los Angeles -- Who would have thought three months ago, in the wake of the "Dateline" debacle, that Tom Brokaw and NBC News President Andrew Lack would be crowing about ratings?* Ratings for "Dateline" are now higher than they were before the rigged test-crash of a GM truck was exposed in March. The newsmagazine show now wins its time period almost every week.* "Today" is back in a tie for first place with ABC's "Good Morning America" after running second for more than a year.* And "The NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw" has moved ahead of CBS since the network paired Dan Rather and Connie Chung.

Tonight's planned specials on the Persian Gulf crisis are subject to change, network officials say, depending on the "level of engagement." All networks say they are prepared to go to a round-the-clock all-news format if the country is engaged in war.*CNN: All programming will be Gulf-related from 6 p.m. to midnight tonight. "Crossfire" and "Larry King Live" will deal with the Gulf. Phebe Marr, President Bush's adviser on Iraqi military affairs, will be Mr. King's guest.*CBS: "48 Hours" will examine the Gulf crisis at 8 p.m. on WBAL-TV (Channel 11)

NEW YORK - Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife escaped injury in a three-car accident on a New York City highway that killed one woman and injured a mail truck driver Friday. The accident happened about 1 p.m. as Brokaw was driving in the left lane of the northbound Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx. The Brokaws said they noticed a spool of cable bouncing in the far right lane, which caused the driver of the green SUV to lose control as she tried to avoid it. The Brokaws said the SUV slid into the middle lane, forcing a mail truck into the couple's lane.

Like any good journalist, which he indisputably is, Tom Brokaw has a tough time with the word "I." Using "I" means talking about yourself, and saying what you think and feel and believe. It's a great word for a talk-show host. It's a terrible word for a veteran TV journalist who's spent the past 40 years keeping onlookers out of the sanctum sanctorum inside his head. On TV 1968 With Tom Brokaw airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on the History Channel.

No anchorman in the history of American television has ever been as groomed and prepped as Brian Williams was to take over NBC Nightly News from Tom Brokaw last night. The transition was announced 2 1/2 years ago, and for the past 10 years Williams has been sitting in at the Rockefeller Center anchor desk in New York any time Brokaw needed to be away from it. "One of the things we're very proud of is that we've planned for a long time to make this a very smooth, seamless transition," Neal Shapiro, president of NBC News, said this week.

ONE OF TELEVISION'S greats departed this week, and we bemoan the nation's collective loss. We speak not of NBC's Tom Brokaw - although he handled the overrated task of reading information from a teleprompter as well as anyone - or the highly caffeinated Dan Rather, who adds that folksy sense of dread to the news. (When does the tightly wound anchorman finally leap into the camera like a prairie dog with sunstroke? Watch the CBS Evening News.) But the man we'll miss most is none other than Ken Jennings, the Jeopardy!

Tom Brokaw's mother once told him a story that helped shape how he approached his work as anchor of NBC Nightly News. His grandfather, she told him long ago, was a South Dakota farmer in the 1920s. One Christmas, he received enough money to buy a crystal radio set. From then on, Brokaw's grandfather listened to news reports on the two-tube contraption "sitting up half the night, headsets on, forgoing sleep, listening through the static." The image of his grandfather listening, fascinated, never faded.

A lifeguard named `Dutch' Seventy-one years ago, when I was only 16 and my maiden name was Doris Winter and my home was Baltimore, Md., I went on a vacation with my family to Dixon, Ill., to visit my aunt. While there, my aunt took us to Lowell Park - a park on the banks of a beautiful river - for a picnic dinner. Around 5 o'clock, everyone had gone home except the lifeguard. Knowing I wanted to swim, my aunt called to him - everyone in small towns knows each other - "Dutch! Are you going to stay so my niece can take a quick dip?"

O.J.'s not giving up. There's no quit in the man. He's the Seattle Mariners of double-murder defendants.It's not enough that he has been declared not guilty by a jury of his peers. He wants you to believe he's innocent, too. You, me, your obnoxious brother-in-law, Paula Barbieri's dad, Hertz, everybody.O.J.'s latest trial has moved from the L.A. County courthouse to your front door. And O.J. is willing to take the stand this time, on your porch if he has to.If it's not NBC -- and he really wanted the gig; he just couldn't go through with it because of the darn lawyers -- he's going to tell his version of the story to Larry King or to the New York Times or, for all I know, American Cutlery.

ON AND OFF THE AIR:* Talk about life imitating art -- or at least getting all tangled up together. Tonight's "Real Life With Jane Pauley" (at 9:30, Channel 2) is devoted to an interview with actress Candice Bergen, a.k.a. "Murphy Brown."Does anybody else wish that interviewer and interviewee could switch roles so that Bergen, in her tough TV persona, could ask Pauley a good question?"Jane, you seem to be sitting pretty after all that nastiness with the 'Today' show and Deborah Norville and all. So exactly when do you get the evening anchor chair beside Tom Brokaw on a permanent basis?"

The relationship between television and national memory almost always makes for fascinating holiday viewing. But rarely is the history remembered on screen as heartbreakingly close to home for those in the audience as "In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01" (HBO, 9 p.m.) - a record of that horrible day as seen through the eyes of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and more than 100 of the citizens and workers of that city who bore witness. A body of great film and television documentary is already growing up around the terrorist attacks and our responses in the minutes, hours and days immediately after.

IN THIS TIME of disaster and panic, Americans turn reflexively to the media for the latest information. However, these days we are getting something extra. We're getting cues on how to feel, how to react. Dan Rather let us know it is all right to cry. Tom Brokaw gave us permission to express outrage. Sally Quinn and Maureen Dowd, who write for major newspapers, have shown us what full-blown panic looks like. For those of you looking no further than this space for guidance, allow me to provide a living, breathing example of how to behave in these troubled days.