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| Thomas McGuane interviews Tom Brokaw |
People of my generation will often recall Walter Cronkite and rave about his professionalism as a TV journalist. In the pre-cable news days, I believe the quality of the news reporting was far more professional. I'll certainly give Cronkite the respect he deserves as really a pioneer in TV News but the two TV journalists that I really felt continued to exemplify professionalism were Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw.
Of course we lost Jennings some years ago at a much too early age. Tom Brokow remains with us and he is to me a dean of TV journalism. A reporter so many Americans tuned into almost nightly. It was how we got the news back then. It wasn't entertainment, it was how people who cared about the world, enlightened themselves. It informed our view of people and events.
Brokaw was diagnosed with multiple myeloma but the good news is his cancer is in remission. If there is anything good that can come from having cancer Brokaw may have found it. During his two years of treatment he turned to poetry as a means to cope with his illness. In a CNN article he talks about it and some of the poets who have crossed his path during this period. Some cool stories. Brokaw is set to release a book about his cancer struggles.
