A Tale of Two Newsmen
(Rest in peace, Ned Colt. You were a good reporter and an even better human.)
This post is about two well known men who work in television news. One was a newsman of the very highest caliber. The other . . . . . is not.
Let's start with the one who is not, the now suspended Brian Williams. He attained the position of suspended network anchor and news chief by telling and retelling a self aggrandizing lie. A lie about his experience in a combat zone. A lie for no good reason apart from self aggrandizement.
I shall not miss Mr. Williams. Neither do I feel bad for him. I just feel nothing. Another modern "journalist" getting his due. And so it goes.
On the other hand, Bob Simon was truly a giant of the craft of television news telling. He was also fearless in pursuit of the story, particularly stories that originated on the front lines of every one of our many conflicts of the last 50 years. Thirty four times he went into active war zones.
He was on the front lines in my generation's war, Viet Nam. He got there in 1971 and ended his last trip there on one of the last helicopters as Saigon was falling. I remember his reporting very well.
Bob Simon was far more than a war correspondent. Who can't feel warmth and some humor as he talked about endangered elephants, in the bush in Africa. The humor was his partner in the story, a baby elephant not as tall as he was, caressing Simon's neck with his trunk. He did more reporting of this sort than he did of war. All his stories were remarkable, not for the subject matter - although they were that, too - but for the way they were told. A remarkable verbal storyteller on what would seem to be a visual medium.
Through all of that I never got a hint of a second agenda. No bully pulpiting. No politicizing. Just the story told with the pitch perfect chime of lucid, insightful clarity. Told with that unique voice of his, the studied inflection borne of a lifelong need to lose his Bronx accent.
The stories Bob told are the stories of the last half century. And it was only now, in his tragic death, that Bob is the story. He was a pro, every bit the reporter as Cronkite and, in his own way, as trusted and as trustworthy. He was a skilled storyteller, but never, ever, the story. Except once. He became, along with his crew as they were in yet another war zone, a captive of Saddam, beaten by his captors and held pointlessly for 40 days. Which makes his many returns to war zones all the more credible, and more to my point, creditable.
But even after that, he quickly tried to change the subject. Away from him and to the story. Always the story.
I shall miss him greatly. I wish peace to his daughter, who was his producer, and to his wife. I wish peace to all who knew and loved him.
I shall miss his reporting.
Thank you, Mr. Simon. Thank you.
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