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A Slice of Life
by Francine Brokaw
In Touch With . . . Charles Gibson
Recently ABC changed the name of their nightly news from World News Tonight to World News with Charles Gibson. This slight name change reflects the modern world of communication. The ABC News is now available online in a new webcast as well as for download to iPods and other portable devices. The news broadcasts are not limited to evening time slots, and ABC News is now available 24 hours a day. We are constantly surrounded by news and information, and the nightly newscasts are only part of our exposure to world events. With all the new technology, the world is shrinking and what used to sound like a far away land is not so far away any more.
Mr. Gibson recently spoke via Satellite from Cypress where he was reporting the latest from the Middle East. At the time he was awaiting the first shipload of Americans leaving Lebanon. “The military is very careful to say this is not an evacuation. It’s an ‘assisted departure’ of thousands of Americans coming out of Lebanon. And there’s going to be a rather large ship arriving behind us in a few hours. It’s going to carry under 1,000 Americans. So we’re here for that.” Later, Gibson returned to New York where he resumed his anchoring duties. Traveling anchors have been the new paradigm and Charles Gibson admits, “I always carry my passport. It's in a little corner in my briefcase.” He says with a grin, “You are always ready to go.”
Gibson stepped into the spot of anchor after the tragic incident when his predecessor Bob Woodruff was seriously injured by a roadside bomb while reporting/anchoring from Iraq. After that, one might be a little wary about traveling to a war zone, yet that is what reporters have been doing since the very beginning. It is their job to bring us the latest information, and thanks to television we now have the opportunity to see the conflicts in real time, as they happen. The dangers are part of the job, and it’s something the families of journalists must deal with. “To tell you a little bit personally about this,” says Gibson, “I was last week on Cape Cod with my daughter. And when I said that I’m going to go over to the Middle East, we had an interesting conversation that you just have with your kids or with your wife or whatever. And finally my daughter said to me, ‘Dad, I get it. It’s what you do, and I’ve always known it. It’s what you do, and it’s what you love.’”
The day before this interview Charles Gibson reported from a helicopter above the Israel-Lebanon border to give the viewers a bird’s eye view of the situation. He stresses, “You take as much precaution as you can, but you know, yesterday, do you get up in a helicopter and fly over the blue line, the border between Lebanon and Israel? Sure.” He continues, “But you do it in as prudent a manner as you can, and ‘prudence’ is really the word that you keep in your mind.” Everyone is mindful of the dangers and the tragedy that happened to Woodruff, but they are also intent on bringing the news to the public.
Charles Gibson is a respected journalist and has been successful in keeping his personal feelings personal. He strives for impartiality and desires to remain as neutral as he can, but he is human after all, and as one of us he does have his feelings and ideas. “David Brinkley said something once, which I’ve always kept in mind. He said, ‘There’s no such thing as objectivity. There is just lesser degrees of subjectivity.’ And I think that’s true.” He does have some concerns that he expresses but says his goal is “to be very fair” in his reporting.
The public often focuses on the competition between network anchors, but, that’s not the way the anchors look at it. At least not the way Gibson approaches it. “I really don't look at it that way,” he confesses. “I just think these are great [news] programs. And they are the end-of-the-day product of extraordinary news organizations. I happened to have worked for this one for almost 35 years, and I love this organization, and to be able to anchor what I consider its signature news broadcast is - I don't want to get boy-scouty - but it's really an honor.”
The other two members of the new news anchor triad are Katie Couric and Brian Williams, both of which Gibson has personal relationships with. Gibson’s wife was the head-mistress of the school where Couric sent her kids, and he has also has had some social encounters with Williams. “I just have an enormous amount of respect for him. I think he's a terrific broadcaster. And as I say, these are three great news organizations. I happen to think ours is the best, so let's get it on,” he urges with a big smile. “But when I say that, I say that in terms of a competition between news departments that are really looking to give the best half-hour summation of the day's news in as fair and as objective a way as you can.”
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Gibson is planning on staying in the anchor chair at least through the 2008 presidential election, about which he smiles and says, “It’s going to be a great election. It’s going to be fascinating.” He jokes that “there’s somewhere around 122,000 potential candidates for president of the United States. Everybody wants to get in the race, because it’s wide open.” He recalls that the last time there was no front runner in either party this early was in 1952, so he’s looking forward with great enthusiasm to the campaign.
When asked how much he thought the viewers really cared who anchored the news, Gibson responds by making a zero with his thumb and forefinger. He takes it all in stride but intends on presenting the best newscasts the best way he can, as impartial and as complete as he can, and as informative as he can.
© 2006 Francine Brokaw
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