Journalist Bob Schieffer Retires

Bob Schieffer never wanted to be the story; he just wanted to cover the news.  In signing off for the last time as anchor of Face the Nation, he made that clear.   "The news is not about the newscaster," he said, "it's about the people who make it and those who are affected by it."

Schieffer remembered that he was hooked when he saw his byline in the school newspaper when he was a ninth grader.  He grew up in Ft. Worth, Texas, and went to college locally at Texas Christian University.  He landed his first job at a local radio station, KXOL, working for $1 an hour.   In Sunday's Face the Nation he would recall, "I love the news, and, at the time, every job I have ever had was the best job in the world."

That enthusiasm soon landed him a job at the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.  It was there he got his first big scoop.  He was working in the newsroom following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas.  In his 2003 book, This Just In, he described answering one of the ringing phones.

"A Woman's voice asked if we could spare anyone to give her a ride to Dallas."  

"'Lady,' I said, 'this is not a taxi, and besides, the president has been shot.'"

"'I know,' she said, 'They think my son is the one who shot him.'"  It was Lee Harvey Oswald's mother who had heard her son had been arrested.  

"'Where do you live?' I blurted out, 'I'll be right over to get you!'"  

Schieffer picked her up and drove her to the Dallas police station where police guided him and Mrs. Oswald into an interrogation room.  Several hours later the FBI realized they had a reporter in their midst and ordered him to leave.  But Schieffer had a great story.  

Following the Kennedy assassination, Schieffer got his first promotion from the police beat to covering the county courthouse.  Then The Star-Telegram would send him to Vietnam to cover America's growing involvement there.  The paper had promised that he would interview every Ft. Worth boy he could find.  "I have yet to match the thrill I got when I would...tell a nineteen-year-old kid, 'I'm from the Star-Telegram and your mom wrote me a letter and asked me to look in on you,'" he remembered in his book.  When his assignment in Vietnam ended, he recalled, "I had gone to Vietnam convinced the government was on the right course, and was coming home convinced the course was hopeless." 

Schieffer would be hired by a local television station, but was eager to move a network news organization.   In 1969, he took a job in Washington as a reporter with Metromedia.  His first assignment would be to cover the Nixon Inaugural.  But he still wanted a network news job, preferably with CBS News because Walter Cronkite was his favorite broadcaster.  Loaded down with tapes of his stories, he arrived one day at the CBS News Washington bureau and announced he was there to see the bureau chief.  After making his case to Bill Small, the tough CBS News bureau chief, he left thinking he had failed.  But a week later Small hired him.

In 1970, CBS News assigned Schieffer to the Pentagon beat.  He would later note that he was one of the few Washington reporters who covered all of the four major beats, the Pentagon, State Department, White House and Congress.   Washington was ground zero for news with the Vietnam War, the re-election of President Nixon in 1972, and the Watergate scandal, and Schieffer was deeply involved in CBS News coverage.  Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974.  Schieffer covered Nixon's final departure from Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One.  One week after Nixon's resignation, Schieffer was promoted to White House correspondent replacing Dan Rather, who took over as anchor for CBS Reports.

Schieffer covered Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.  Schieffer also continued his role as anchor of the Saturday edition of the CBS Evening News.  In 1979, Schieffer was asked to anchor the struggling CBS Morning News, a role he carried out for twenty-one months.  He would describe his stint as a "graduate course in learning how to handle on-the-air emergencies."  He requested a transfer back to Washington, and would soon become the State Department correspondent.  

In 1981, Dan Rather would replace the retiring Walter Cronkite as anchor of the CBS Evening News.  Schieffer found himself covering politics.  Meanwhile, CBS went through a change of ownership, which led to a round of deep budget cuts.  In the late 80's, Schieffer became CBS News' Congressional correspondent.  He later said that, "Congress had always been my favorite part of Washington."  He mastered the beat.

In 1991, Face the Nation anchor Lesley Stahl became a correspondent for 60 Minutes.  Schieffer was offered the job and responded, "When do I start."  He wrote, "It didn't take me long to realize that of all the jobs I have ever had over the years, this was the best.  I got to interview everyone who was anyone, and I didn't even have to go to them."

Schieffer anchored Face the Nation for twenty-four years.  He led the expansion of the program from thirty-minutes to an hour.  He hosted presidents and world leaders.  He asked tough questions, but was never confrontational.  He tried to make each program informative and interesting.  At the end of his tenure, Face the Nation was consistently the number one ranked Sunday pubic affairs program.  

As he began his final broadcast Sunday, the 78 year-old Schieffer, speaking with his characteristic Texas drawl, said, "Today we'll keep with that tradition set twenty-four years ago, and stay focused on the news."  While the news business has changed dramatically over the past six decades, there is much for all journalists to learn from Bob Schieffer's remarkable career. 

Thank you Bob.

Brian Williams and NBC News

NBC Newsman Brian Williams announced in a note to news staffers Saturday that he is taking time off from the program.  "In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions. As Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News, I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days,"  Williams wrote.   He concluded, "Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."

Williams' announcement came one day after NBC News executives confirmed they are conducting an internal investigation into false claims made by Williams that he has since corrected.   Williams admitted on his broadcast Wednesday night that, “I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago...I want to apologize.” 

For more than a decade, Williams has repeatedly said, that while on assignment in Iraq in 2003, he was aboard a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire and forced down.  In March 2013, he told David Letterman,  “We were going to drop some bridge portions across the Euphrates so the third infantry could cross on them. Two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire including the one I was in. RPG and AK-47's."

Stars and Stripes, which broke the story, reported that Williams and his crew were actually aboard a helicopter "that was about an hour behind the three helicopters that came under fire."  It quoted the helicopter's flight engineer, "No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft."

But now NBC News and Williams are coming under direct fire.  Meanwhile, new allegations of fabrications by Williams have surfaced, which NBC News is now investigating.  This crisis presents management with a nightmare dilemma.

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams is currently the number one rated network evening newscast in households, and in the key 25-54 demographic, according to Nielsen.  But ABC's World News Tonight is close behind and positioned to move ahead should NBC falter. The New York Post quotes figures from Kantar Media that show Nightly News made about $200 million in annual ad revenue in 2013, $30 million more than ABC's World News.  NBC News executives are carefully watching the ratings to see how the audience responds to the controversy.  A ratings reduction could cost the division millions of dollars and lead to layoffs. 

While working as a reporter for the CBS local New York affiliate earlier in his career, Williams aspired to be Walter Cronkite, once America's "most trusted" newsman.  In 1993, Williams joined NBC News, and he became anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News in December 2004.  He replaced the legendary and beloved Tom Brokaw as the face of NBC News.  Since his ascendancy, he has been a popular broadcaster and an award winning journalist.  NBC News has vigorously promoted Williams as the leading news personality.  So replacing him would be difficult.

Brokaw, in an email to the Huffington Post, denied a New York Post report he wanted Williams fired.  "I have neither demanded nor suggested Brian be fired," Brokaw wrote. "His future is up to Brian and NBC News executives."  In a memo to staffers Friday, NBC News president Deborah Turness said, "We're working on what the next best steps are--and when we have something to communicate we will of course share it with you."  Neither statement expressed support for Williams.

The mistakes Williams has admitted to, and apologized for, have cast a dark cloud over everyone at NBC News.  The news organization is filled with dedicated, hardworking and accomplished producers, reporters and technicians.  This controversy has been devastating, disruptive and discouraging for everyone at NBC News, which has already had its share of struggles over the past few years.

While some critics have called for Williams to be fired, he still has many supporters, including within the organization.  NBC News won't make a decision on his future until it has completed its investigation.  If Williams continues to anchor Nightly News, he owes his viewers and his colleagues a better explanation than he has offered thus far. 

Nonetheless, NBC News should be transparent with the findings of its internal investigation, and publicly release all of the facts it uncovers.  Not to do so would severely undermine its credibility and cast doubts on its commitment to the highest standards of journalism.

Sandy Socolow 1928-2015

The legendary CBS News producer Sanford "Sandy" Socolow has died.  He worked at CBS News for 32 years, during its truly golden years, four of them as Walter Cronkite's executive producer.  He was a rare combination of outstanding journalist and wonderful person, beloved by all those who knew him.

Socolow participated in some of the most historic events in network news.  He was there when Cronkite took over as anchor of the CBS Evening News in April 1962, replacing Douglas Edwards.  Then the evening newscast aired for 15 minutes.  In an interview with CNN, Socolow recounted, "The first night up, he ended the show by saying, I'm paraphrasing, 'That's the news. Be sure to check your local newspapers tomorrow to get all the details on the headlines we are delivering to you.'"

Management did not like that. "In the absence of anything else, he came up with 'That's the way it is.'" But Socolow remembered CBS News President Richard Salant's reaction, "We're not telling them that's the way it is. We can't do that in 15 minutes,' which was the length of the show in those days. 'That's not the way it is.'"  But Cronkite prevailed.

Socolow was there in September 1962 when the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite became the first network newscast to expand to a half-hour.  The broadcast featured a lengthy interview with President John Kennedy filmed at his family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.  The president would be assassinated just 81 days later in Dallas, Texas.  An emotional Cronkite announced to the nation,  "From Dallas, Texas, the (AP) flash, apparently official:  'President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.' (glancing up at clock) 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago."

Socolow worked with Cronkite during the tumultuous 60's, covering the Civil Rights movement, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and the Vietnam War.  When Cronkite returned from Vietnam in February 1968, where he went to get a reporter's view of the war, Socolow recalled that Salant urged him to share his opinion on the evening news.  But Cronkite was reluctant to do so, "He was a purist," Socolow said. "And, a lot of people would say, to a fault, if there can be a fault in such a definition."

Cronkite agreed to share his opinion in a prime time news special, not on the evening newscast.  After observing that the U.S. military was mired in a stalemate, Cronkite said, "It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out (of the Vietnam War) then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could." 

The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite dominated the ratings throughout the 70's, including during the Watergate crisis and the resignation of President Richard Nixon.  Socolow served as CBS News' Washington Bureau Chief from Watergate to President Jimmy Carter's term in office, where he endured the contentious relationship between the Nixon White House and CBS News.

He then served as the final executive producer of The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.  Socolow noted that Cronkite wanted "To retire as undefeated champ, and he made his views known." On Friday, March 6, 1981, nearly 30 million people watched as Cronkite signed off for a final time,  "And that's the way it is, Friday, March 6, 1981. I'll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night."  Socolow continued as executive producer during the Rather transition before taking over as CBS News London Bureau Chief.

Socolow was born in the Bronx on November 11, 1928.  He worked on the school newspaper while attending Stuyvesant High School.  Socolow remembered being at New York's Polo Grounds watching the New York Giants when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  "The public address announcer was heard to say, ‘All active military personnel report to their stations,'" he remembered, "and the game continued."

His parents, who were both immigrants, wanted him to be an accountant because "they will always be needed."  So he attended City College, "because it was free," but dropped accounting after one semester for liberal arts.  He worked at the campus newspaper and became a stringer at the school for the New York Times.   North Korea invaded South Korea on the day Socolow graduated from college.  He was drafted and sent to Japan where, because of his New York Times experience, he was assigned to a radio group in Tokyo.

Following the Korean War he landed a job at the International News Agency (INS), which was a news service run by Hearst.  Because of his junior status at INS, he was assigned to cover Marilyn Monroe's weeklong visit to the U.S. troops in Korea.

He had made many reporter friends at CBS News during the Korean War, and they would lobby their management to hire Socolow.  He was hired by CBS News in 1956 to work in the Edward R. Murrow operation for $125 a week, "before taxes."  Soon Socolow would begin writing and producing for Cronkite, and their personal and professional relationship would continue until Cronkite's death in 2009, decades after they each left CBS.

Sandy Socolow is survived by his sons Jonathan and Michael, and daughter Elisabeth.  As word of his death spread throughout the industry, many of his former colleagues shared their thoughts on Facebook.  Long-time CBS News London correspondent Tom Fenton wrote, "Sandy was one of the best and brightest newsmen of the golden age of CBS News. He was also a warm and generous person, a great boss and a delightful friend. He will be greatly missed by all of us who knew him." 

And that is the way it is.  

(Sandy Socolow was a mentor to me, a wise and loving man who had a huge impact on my life. God bless him, and my deepest condolences and prayers for his family.   They will have a private burial for their father, and a memorial service is in the works for March or April.)

Sandy Socolow and Joe Peyronnin 9/14

 View and extended interview with Socolow by the Archive of American Television 

Remembering Lane Venardos: 1944-2011

Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, Lesley Stahl and Charles Kuralt are among the giants who have been the public faces of broadcast news over the past four decades. But just out of the public spotlight, whether in glittering world capitols or war-torn hellholes, there worked behind the scenes some legendary figures that were held in the highest esteem by their peers. On Friday Lane Venardos, one of the news industry's greatest producers and executives, died at his home in Hawaii.

Lane was a very special person who combined a fiercely competitive spirit, a strong commitment to professionalism and integrity with a wonderful effervescent personality. For nearly thirty years he personified what was great about CBS News.

Lane was an exceptional executive producer because he had a clear vision, he communicated effectively and he was always incredibly organized. "No detail too small" he would often say. His approach would earn him more than a dozen Emmy awards. As an executive producer and then vice president of CBS News his energetic leadership style won respect from all those who worked with him.

Lane was born in post-war Alton, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. He was a product of America's heartland. He started in radio news and had a booming radio voice. "Tall tower full power!" he would frequently blurt out even years after jumping to television. That transition would take place in Chicago in the early seventies where he served as assistant news director at WBBM-TV News. It wasn't long before CBS News recruited him.

In the late seventies, as a producer for The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite in Washington, he helped modernize television coverage of the White House. He applied organization and the latest technologies to presidential trip coverage around the world. He soon was promoted to senior producer. Sir Howard Stringer, now CEO of Sony and then the newly appointed CBS Evening News executive producer, brought him to New York to work with Dan Rather. When Howard was promoted to the CBS News front office two years later Lane took over as executive producer of the broadcast.

For four years in the mid-eighties he served as the executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, and he was proud to point out the broadcast was number one in the ratings during his entire tenure. "The CBS Evening News brings people together every day even for only a brief period of time." he once said. "That carries a special responsibility."

In the late eighties Lane took on the role of vice president of special events coverage. He was the executive producer of 48 Hours on Crack Street, the premier broadcast of that series. Lane led CBS News' presidential election specials, campaign coverage and dozens of specials on major news stories. He led the CBS News operations in Beijing, China, for its highly acclaimed coverage of the student uprising at Tiananmen Square. He was also executive producer of such CBS News specials as Remember Pearl Harbor, Eye on the Earth, and William S. Paley: Tribute to a Broadcasting Giant.

In the early nineties he was promoted to vice president of hard news. There he ran all of CBS News day-to-day news coverage and worldwide bureaus. He was as outstanding an executive as he had been an executive producer.

He retired from CBS News in the late nineties but did not retire from television. His subsequent television credits included several Survivor series, The Apprentice, The Contender and The Biggest Loser.

Yet, for all these considerable accomplishments, friends and colleagues will best remember Lane’s extraordinary sense of humor and personality. "Let's get out there and scratch that surface!" he would often quip. Working with him, no matter how difficult the task, was always fun. His energy, his passion and his down to earth character were incredibly endearing. And he was deeply admired for his strong family commitment.

Lane Venardos was a great friend to thousands of broadcasters throughout the world. For them, Lane Venardos is a legend in television news.

##

A few LANE-isms

A greeting: "Good luck in your own personal career!"
Booming radio voice: "Tall tower, full power!...50 thousand watts, clear channel...broadcasting from the heart of the capital...the capital city's number ONE source for ne-uws...now the golden tones of (insert your name)."
Answering the phone: "Good morning. miracle productions."
Comment during a failed video feed: "It looked good leaving here, New York."
Inspring the troops: "Let's get out there and scratch that surface."
Killing a package: "Boom, boom, boom, boom, you're piece is dead."
Or: "On any other day your story would have been the lede!"
Setting expectations: "Never make the same mistake once."
On being human: "No good deed goes unpunished."
Hard work: "If it is worth doing, it is worth overdoing."
Organization: "No detail too small."
On television investigative reporting. "Your report should be like a rock skipping across the top of the water, never too deep as to slow down the story."
On praise: "You're only as good as your next piece."
Avoiding controvery: "Life is lonely in the middle."
The producer's apology when caught being sneaky: "I don't know how it happened, I am sorry, it will never happen again."
The producer's pledge: "You have my word as a producer!"

Cronkite, Hewitt and Kennedy

The recent death of three giants in my life is sad as well as cause for reflection. Walter Cronkite, Don Hewitt and Senator Ted Kennedy each made an indelible mark on their vocation as well as this country. Their legacies stand out for all who follow.

Walter Cronkite was an icon in his industry. He achieved greatness because of his principled and resolute commitment to accuracy, fairness and decency. He reported the news as it happened. No ruffles and flourishes, rather a straight and unadorned presentation of the facts as he knew them. His approach was the same for Watergate and the Vietnam War as it was for a local fire. He loved a good story. His competitive juices drove him to seek the truth and impelled all those who worked with him. This was most apparent during his historic coverage of the assassination of President John Kennedy and man's first landing on the moon. Sure he suffered ratings setbacks along the way, especially early on to NBC's Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, but, as any good sailor, he stayed on the right course. He was the reason I went to work for CBS News.

Don Hewitt created the most successful television news broadcast ever, 60 Minutes. His formula was simple: "tell me a story." He entered television when the medium was in its infancy. "We were just making it up," one of his colleagues would say of those times. Don's creativity, kinetic personality and youthful exuberance were instrumental in building the foundation, the approach and lingo that are still today television news. His flair and brashness got him fired as executive producer of the CBS Evening News in the early sixties. He was devastated but he was not defeated. He took some time to pursue his idea of creating a "Life" magazine for television that included three fifteen minute pieces. He persuaded Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner to do a pilot and then spent weeks trying to get CBS to air the program. His force of personality and tireless devotion to this project got him a time slot and the rest is history. I was fortunate to work closely with this human dynamo for many years.

Senator Edward Kennedy was the youngest brother in a family filled with ambition and promise. And after the tragic deaths of his brothers, Joe in World War II, and Jack and Robert at the hands of assassins, the torch was passed to Teddy. He became a father figure to all 13 of their children. But the burden of expectation wore heavily on his shoulders. And he feared assassination, once reportedly saying, "I know that I'm going to get my ass shot off one day, and I don't want to."

Senator Kennedy became more reckless and wild, as amplified by two headline grabbing events. In 1969 he drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island leaving 28 year old Mary Jo Kopechne dead. He did not report the incident for several hours, later saying he made a mistake. And in 1991 his nephew William Kennedy Smith was charged with raping a woman after a night out with the Senator during Florida's spring break. Smith was acquitted, but Kennedy was damaged.

In 1980 Senator Kennedy tried to unseat incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter. I remember covering the rugged campaign and witnessing the Senator's erratic performance from stop to stop. Reporters called it "The Bozo Zone." And the end came when Kennedy stumbled through an answer to CBS News correspondent Roger Mudd's question, "Why do you want to be President?" He could not clearly and resolutely state a reason. And I believe he really never wanted to be president.

In 1991 Senator Kennedy met his beloved wife Vicki and settled down. At the time of his death he was one of the most prolific and respected people to ever have served in the United States Senate.

Each of these men made history, made a difference with their lives. Each of them sailed into the wind. A long the way the faced unimagined challenges. Each of them overcame failure with great success. We owe each of them our thanks and we can learn a lot from each man's journey.

Cronkite Farewell

Family, friends and former colleagues gathered to pay their last respects to Walter Cronkite, the legendary CBS News anchorman, journalist and noted sailor. New York's St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church was the Cronkite family church and it provided a beautiful backdrop for the service entitled, "In Thanksgiving for the Life of Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr."

Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric, Morley Safer, Steve Kroft, Diane Sawyer, Charlie Gibson, Barbara Walters, Brian Williams, Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Harry Smith, Maggie Rodriguez, Connie Chung and John Roberts were among the many broadcast journalists in attendance. The crowd also included the legendary creator of 60 Minutes, Don Hewitt, and news executives and producers from throughout the industry.

Grandson Walter Leland Cronkite, IV, gave the first reading, Romans 12:9-21. "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good," it begins. Then there are lines that are reminders of Cronkite, "Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit...do not be haughty...do not claim to be wiser than you are...but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all." Daughter Kathleen Cronkite then led everyone in Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." She was followed by grandson William Maxwell Cronkite Ikard, who read Mark 4:35-41, which concludes, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" Cronkite loved sailing.

Andy Rooney climbed the stairs to the engraved wooded lectern to deliver some remarks. But from the very outset he was upset. He recounted how he had met Cronkite during World War II, when the U.S. Air Force would arrange to take them on bombing missions. The Air Force made it possible for them to file their reports on their return. Then suddenly Rooney said, "Walter was such a good friend. I can't get over it... I just feel so terrible about Walter's death I can hardly say anything. Please excuse me. Thank you." With that he stepped down.

Cronkite's long time producer and friend, Sandford "Sandy" Socolow, then told several little known stories about him. It turns out that Cronkite could not accurately pronounce the second month of the year (February) and CBS News received a lot of complaints. So for many years Cronkite would spend the last two weeks of January rehearsing. When February rolled around Cronkite was fine for a couple days but then his pronunciation would slip for the remainder of the month.

Socolow told of the time Cronkite decided, to the horror of his staff, that he was going to ad lib the Evening News instead of read the news from a script. In those days film was the source of video, and directors would need a seven second cue to roll the film. Cronkite told the directors he would touch his nose when it was time to roll the film. Of course, it didn't work well at all as several times Cronkite's voice stepped on the film story. The experiment was abandoned after two days to the relief of the production crew.

At one point, when his contract was up, long after he was established as the number one anchorman, he decided to tell his bosses that they didn't want a raise. He proposed, instead, that they give him three months off a year. Upon hearing this request one Evening News writer suggested they call Cronkite's boat "Assignment." That way CBS News could then announce to the audience, "Walter Cronkite is away on Assignment."

Sailing friend Mike Ashford spoke for several minutes about Cronkite's love and daring on the sea. Chip Cronkite spoke very personally about his father and some of the experiences they shared together. The Reverend William McD. Tully gave the homily. Near the end of the service the St. Bartholomew Choir sang "Finlandia," a family favorite. Then, as Cronkite's casket was led out of the church, the New York Jazz Academy Classic Jazz All-Stars played "When the Saints go marching in."

Walter Cronkite was once the most powerful person in broadcast journalism, and his career spanned much of the twentieth century. He not only covered history, he was history. Cronkite was always a decent, kind and caring person. He never forgot where he came from. He will be buried in Kansas City next to the love of his life, his wife Betsy Cronkite.

Now Walter Cronkite's spirit will live on in newsrooms across the nation.