Journalism+Biography

Tom Brokaw: News Legend Do you like how your news is presented to you, how it is formatted, and what the story is? For most people, this depends on who was the person who reported on the news story itself. The news is a very big industry that ultimately provides its services to everyone in the world. Doing this is a huge undertaking and challenge for the different news reporting agencies. With all of these agencies fighting for the best news stories, it becomes a challenge to compete with the other news agencies. That is why the different news reporting outlets started to differentiate themselves with different types of stories and the news that they report on and publish. While they news outlets were differentiating themselves from each other with their news stories and other things, they were missing a key component to the mix. The news agencies needed to have a hook, something that made them better than the other outlets. They found their hook in skilled reporters. With these reporters, news outlets began to have specialized news in unique ways with the reporters by the way they take in and express the news. Some of these reporters became renowned in their works. One of these reporters is Mr. Tom Brokaw. He has had a wonderful career in reporting and in being the lead anchor on NBC’s Nightly News for many years while actively reporting. He started off small, but rose to glory and has become a news legend. Tom was born on February 6th, 1940 in Webster, South Dakota to Eugenia née Conley and Anthony Orville Brokaw. He was the oldest of the three sons in the family. Tom’s father was a construction foreman for the Army Corps for Engineers. This caused the family to move around and resettle a lot, until they finally settled in Yankton. This is where Tom went to high school. During this time Tom became close to the South Dakota governor, Joe Foss, who he became close friends with, and later talked about him in his book. From there Tom went on to go to The University of Iowa, but this didn’t last too long. He decided the only degree he was getting from Iowa was one of “beer and co-eds”. In 1962 Tom became married to Meredith Lynn Auld, and with his wife he had three daughters, Jennifer, Andrea, and Sara. After leaving Iowa University, he decided to go to the University of South Dakota, and he graduated with a degree in Political Science in 1964. He would later use this degree to become one of the best journalists out there today. Tom began his journalism career in 1962, in Omaha, Nebraska at KMTV broadcasting station. He worked as an editor for the morning news while he was at KMTV. After graduating, he landed a job at WSB-TV in Atlanta, where he hosted the city’s late evening news and was also one of its editors. Also during that year though, he switched to KNBC, where he became its late-night presenter in Los Angeles. He stayed with KNBC from 1965 through 1973. Over the years he had been building up his name and reputation for being a great reporter and news anchor, and in 1973 it paid off big for Tom. He landed a spot at NBC as their Washington Correspondent. In this position he covered many different stories, and many of which were top stories. One of these stories even happened to be The Watergate scandal. Also during this time he was the anchor of the Saturday //Nightly News//. After working for only three years at NBC, he landed the position as the //Today’s Show//’s host in 1976 and would continue to host it until 1982. Then on April 5th, 1982, Tom took a huge step forward in his career when he became co-anchor with Roger Mudd on //NBC Nightly News//. The co-anchoring was short lived though, NBC president, Reuven Frank, decided that the co-anchoring wasn’t going to work out for the network, so he made Tom the solo anchor for the //Nightly News// on September 5th, 1983. He covered many different and top stories while he worked as the anchor. He was the first to have an interview with Mikhail Gorbachev and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tom was also the only network reporter in Berlin when the wall fell. There were many other great stories that he reported in his anchoring career. He even postponed his retirement because of the 9/11 attacks to stay as the anchor and report the news. Also during this time, he was targeted during the anthrax attacks, but luckily never got sick or infected. He stayed reporting the war and other news until 2004, when he stepped down and let Brian Williams step into his shoes and take his role in history. Tom stepped down from anchoring, but he did still stay with NBC. He is now a special correspondent for the network, and he also does many different special things for other networks. Also for a short while, he was the host of //Meet the Press//. Tom Brokaw has become a legend in the news department, with his fantastic attitude and his amazing reporting abilities. Tom has received countless awards and honorary degrees for his actions as an outstanding reporter, and most likely will receive more in the future. Tom has become an inspiration to many and will remain an inspiration to all up and coming journalists. Journalism needs people like Tom Brokaw to stay sharp and interesting. It’s the people like him that keep people interested in the news and always happy to see that familiar face. No matter if it’s good or bad news, they can help you get through it and show compassion, because they’re human too, not just text and bright colors. Journalism has come a long way from its humble beginnings. It has evolved from people screaming and newspapers to people telling a story over the television and having detailed follow ups in the other Medias. So, to answer the question at the beginning, yes, it is because of those innovative reporters that we watch the news and enjoy it. So, next time you see a finely crafted news report, be thankful you have that, and thank the reporters like Tom Brokaw for making it possible with their talents.

Sources: [] [] []