Journalism Retires With This Anchor

 

When a New York City television fixture, WNBC News Anchor Chuck Scarborough, called it quits a few days ago, I could not but help feel that a piece of journalism will retire with him.

For those who are not familiar with this piece of local treasure in the nation’s largest market, Chuck lasted a half-century at the same job! Yes, 50 years with the same employer in the same position. That is unheard of in any industry. In fact, he even outlasted NBC’s parent company — not to mention any other journalist at the station.

The thing about him is that he was remarkably not special, even borderline bland. He actually did his job — he read the news, and reported on it; he did not become the news. No one asked for his opinion, nor did he give it. He was not a flashy personality. He has a good voice and spoke in a measured tone. He was on point and gave you the facts. You respected him, but you did not focus on him. That is how it should be.

Today’s news on television is a joke. Cable is horrible. The network evening news is formulaic and maybe 60-40 neutral where cable is 90-10 opinion and skewed in its voice. The network morning shows are just entertainment with a pinch of news. Local news is still good at doing crime-local politics-weather-sports, but it feels like it is run by the under-40 model class. I have little confidence that I am getting all of the news out there, nor do I feel what is reported is accurate and devoid of bias or opinion.

But Chuck exudes believability. He seems trustworthy and so passionate about doing his job in a way that doesn’t get him noticed. Except for when he played the straight man to co-anchor Sue Simmons.

They teamed up for 32 years until age, drinking, f-bombs, and behind-the-scenes rancor caught up to her. Anyone who lived in NYC in the 80’s, 90s, and 00’s would say they gave the best local newscast.

Chuck debuted as the news anchor on NBC in November 1974. Ford was president a few months removed from Nixon’s Watergate scandal, and Abe Beam was the unpopular mayor of a crime-riddled New York City. The Twin Towers opened a year earlier. SNL would debut a year after Chuck came on the scene.

So much history and news since then flash before me: Mayor Koch, Son of Sam, Studio 54, Crack Epidemic, AIDS, 80’s Wall Street, law-and-order Mayor Giuliani, 9/11, Covid… and thousands of other big personalities, disasters, scandals, storms, murders, sports and championships littered the screen for 50 years with a competent truth-teller helping us know and understand our reality. 

My friend, David, and I, went to NBC studios when we were 15. We just went right in, got upstairs and met Chuck Scarborough and several others who were on the newscast back then. We interviewed him for a good 15 minutes. He was generous with his time. I don’t recall if I ever got the interview published in our high school paper. 

Chuck, we are going to miss you.

Journalism is dying.

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).  This award-winning blog has generated over four million pageviews. With 5,000+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.