ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Tom Shales
SOURCE: TOM SHALES
``I don't see any particular stopping point,'' David Brinkley said early in 1987. The notion of retirement ``has never entered my head,'' he added. ``I'll work until I cannot work any more.''
Brinkley was a mere 66 then. He's 76 now, and though he isn't stopping, he is slowing down. On Sunday, Brinkley was host of his last edition of ``This Week With David Brinkley'' on ABC after a 15-year run. He'll continue to appear in a kind of commentator role, but he will no longer serve as the center of the show.
To state the painfully obvious, it won't be the same. The show was created as a vehicle for Brinkley when Brinkley left NBC in 1981. Continuing on without him at the helm is almost like doing ``Cosby'' without Cosby. David Brinkley is one of the true giants of broadcast journalism. He helped invent it, as a matter of fact.
On his last show as host, Brinkley interviewed newly re-elected President Bill Clinton. First, Brinkley had to begin with an apology, which he delivered in his usual crisply straightforward way. At the end of ABC's election-night coverage, apparently thinking he was no longer on the air, Brinkley had called Clinton ``a bore'' and made other disparaging remarks.
``What I said ... was both impolite and unfair, and I'm sorry,'' Brinkley told Clinton. It's unlikely the cranky remarks will remain much of a blot on Brinkley's record. No record is spotless, but his has been remarkable for its consistency over four decades in television, and years more in print and radio before that.
In recent months, Brinkley has shown signs of weariness on the air. Sometimes he would ask questions of a guest on ``This Week'' that had already been answered earlier in the show. He would twiddle his thumbs, which made it look as though he were bored. Brinkley seems as bright and smart as ever, but he's probably tired of working hard. He's entitled.
Brinkley's interview with Clinton, except for the apology, wasn't a milestone. Interviewing has never been Brinkley's chief talent. Neither has reporting, really. So what makes him a great broadcast journalist? He is, first and foremost, an essayist, and amazingly can speak extemporaneously as if it had all been written out beforehand.
When Brinkley does write it out beforehand, he's even better. He writes as he talks and he talks as he writes. He's a born communicator and one with a style uniquely suited to the rhythms and textures of TV. He understands words and how to use them effectively, which puts him miles ahead of almost every young newsman and newswoman working in TV today.
Brinkley was irked when he became such a superstar that he couldn't go out to cover a story without being mobbed by fans. Today, unfortunately, a lot of people go into TV news hoping for just the kind of celebrity that Brinkley found a nuisance. Better they should try to communicate as cleanly, neatly and effectively as he does.
Please excuse me for quoting myself, but I began a 1987 piece on Brinkley with a comparison to the movie ``Citizen Kane'': ``To increase respect for his newspaper, Charles Foster Kane recruited nine correspondents from a rival. That was in the movies. In real life, when ABC News President Roone Arledge wanted to boost the prestige of his organization, he only had to hire one man: David Brinkley.''
Brinkley's passage into the next phase of his career has been marked by tributes from peers and sponsors, an hour-long ``Biography'' on the Arts & Entertainment Network, and acres of accolades. There are supposedly ``no second acts in American lives'' but Brinkley's already proved that wrong. The first act was ``The Huntley-Brinkley Report,'' with Chet Huntley, in the '50s and '60s. The second was ``This Week'' in the '80s and '90s.
Anybody who loves television and journalism will want to wish David Brinkley all the best as he begins Act Three.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB