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In an email, Jennings told his senior staff that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer on Monday afternoon. He said: ... "Dear All - Forgive me the group mailing - but it seems the easiest way to tell a lot of people I care for ... about a change in my life," he wrote. "I have been diagnosed with lung cancer. Yes, it was quite a surprise." Jennings added: "There will be good days and bad, which means that some days I may be cranky and some days really cranky! Almost 10 million Americans are living with cancer. I am sure I will learn from them how to cope with the facts of life that none of us anticipated." Peter said he had quite smoking but started again after 9/11. "Yes, it was quite a surprise," the ABC News anchor, who quit smoking 20 years ago, but went back during 9/11, said in an E-mail to colleagues." Peter Jennings, anchor of ABC News' "World News Tonight" for more than 20 years, was diagnosed with lung cancer, he announced Tuesday. Jennings, 66, is scheduled to begin chemotherapy treatments next week in New York, but plans to continue anchoring the news program so long as he is able during treatment. ABC News President David Westin said that from "from time to time" Charles Gibson, Elizabeth Vargas and others would substitute for Jennings. Noticeably thinner and with a hoarse voice, Jennings told viewers near the end of Tuesday night's newscast, which was anchored by Vargus. The news of the illness adds to the tumult caused by Ted Koppel's announcement last week that he would end 25 years as the host of "Nightline," the network's late-night news show. Jennings is a former smoker who quit several years ago. On Saturday, when Pope John Paul II died, Jennings did not assume the anchor chair over the weekend, typical during a major news event. News of Jennings' illness comes a month after Rather departed as anchor on the "CBS Evening News" and four months since Tom Brokaw left top-rated "NBC Nightly News." In a statement, Brokaw said, "Peter is an old friend. I'm heartbroken, but he's also a tough guy. I'm counting on him getting through this very difficult passage." Through a CBS spokeswoman, Rather declined to comment except to say that this was "personal time between Peter and his family." Jennings' straightforward and incomparable news delivery has garnered him many awards, including more than 12 Emmys, several Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards, numerous Overseas Press Club Awards, Harvard University's Goldsmith Career Award for excellence in journalism, the Radio and Television News Directors Paul White Award (as chosen by the news directors of the 3 major networks), and the Washington Journalism Review for the country's best anchor (in the 5 years that they gave the award). Jennings was also honored by the Boston Globe in 1995, which noted that Edward R. Murrow had passed the torch to Peter Jennings. Jennings was formerly married to Valerie Godsoe, followed by Annie Malouf, and his wife of 14 years, Kati Morton (with whom he has 2 children, Elizabeth and Christopher). He is presently married to Kaycee Freed.
His father, Charles, was a leading journalist, announcer, and later executive with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). At age nine, Jennings hosted a half-hour weekly children's show on CBC. He became an interviewer for an Ontario radio station, after dropping out of preparatory school, then joined the CBC as host of a public-affairs program. In 1962, he became co-anchor of Canada's first national commercial-network newscast (CTV). He moved to New York in 1964, and became a correspondent for American Broadcasting Companies (ABC). He became anchor of ABC's nightly newscast (1965-67) Praised for his on-the-spot coverage and his documentary "Southern Accents: Northern Ghettos," however, he returned to reporting in 1968. The move was attributed to his youth, inexperience, and Canadian background. In the early 1970's, he was appointed head of the ABC News Middle East bureau in Beirut. In 1971, Jennings received the National Headliner Award for his reporting on the civil war in Bangladesh. His profile of Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat earned him a Peabody Award in 1974. He served briefly as Washington correspondent for ABC's "A.M. America" (1974-75), then went to London as the network's chief foreign correspondent. In London, he co-anchored the nightly newscast "World News Tonight," and he was appointed sole anchor when the show moved to New York City in 1983. Jennings became known for his straightforward newscasting. His November 1990 interview with Saddam Hussein, just before the Persian Gulf War, was one of few granted to western reporters. |
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