I always had a bit of a crush on Peter Jennings. RIP.

Doohickie if you really did not care that Peter Jennings had died, you would not have made this post.

You may tell us that you are making candy out of clouds but in reality you are drinking buttermilk and calling it root beer.

because it's easiest to talk about him--i'd rather see it than see more space shuttle shit, or baseball/steroids shit, or natalee holloway, or ....

[this is sad]

I agree with amber, I have no desire to see space shuttle shits at all.

I'm a little depressed. I always liked Jennings.

Jennings was a good guy. Everyone seems to have liked him. The news people all lost a friend. It's a sad story and a family story for the news folks. Cut them a little slack.

He wasn't even very old, was he?

Peter Jennings, dead at 67? I just heard some sad news on talk radio - ABC news anchor Peter Jennings was found dead in his New York home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Metafilter community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

He was a Canadian, at least until 2 years ago.

And it seems he was diagnosed with lung cancer last April.

He was 67? I never would have guessed. I had him pegged as much younger for some reason.

Jimmy's on crack?

is this something i'd have to have a tv to care about?

*fires up marlboro light*

It's a sad story and a family story for the news folks. Cut them a little slack.

It just seems like the media was abusing the airwaves for their own special interest. This is a story worth mentioning most of us; it's a story of great import to them. They should not force us to participate in their personal grieving by clogging up the airwaves with stories that are about nothing but him. Based on comments he made about covering celebrity stories, I think Jennings himself would not have appreciated CNN clogging up both the main CNN channel and Headline News with the *same* feed. What was the point of that? I was watching within an hour of his death being announced. I can see it being the lead story, but not the ONLY story on Headline News. I was even okay with playing the little retrospective/tribute to the guy... the first time. But since they were playing it over and over again on CNN, there was no justification for playing it over and over again on Headline News which is the next channel over on most cable and satellite systems.

It struck me very much as the media saying, "Hey one of us died, and we're gonna show you how great we media people are by telling you over and over again what a great guy this guy was." Very disingenuous, self-aggrandizing and also at odds with Jennings' own personal, understated yet classy, style.

RIP.

I hear this on the news this morning and thought "meh". And I knew that someone would have made an FPP out of it and was mildly annoyed before I even saw the post. I mean, I'm sorry the guy's dead, but so what? What makes him more special and noteworthy than, say, my grandmother?

Doohickie - what? You mean there were cable news channels running the same stories over and over again? I'm shocked.

RIP Mr. Jennings.

What makes him more special and noteworthy than, say, my grandmother?
Nothing, except he was on tv everyday for years and years. Your grandma was definitely more special and noteworthy.

Fucking tobacco companies. I hope I live long enough to see smoking be illegal.

Well, Specklet, at least we can be annoyed together.

Specklet, Jennings was part of the spectacle. Your grandma is real.

I agree. How many prefab, talking head "debate" shows must be pre-empted by reporters' deaths before this wrong is righted?!?