Not knowing what each day will bring.
- John Chancellor
NBC News national anchor, national reporter, and national commentator John Chancellor
on the subject of what is the most rewarding aspect of journalism
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
From 1970 to 1982, I wrote most of what I said on the air as anchor of the NBC Nightly News, which meant a lot of writing between four and six, five days a week. Twelve years of that was enough to set my circadian clock. I am at the top of my form in the late afternoon. Putting together a half-hour network television news program takes a full day of hard work. And when that’s done, the anchor has to go into the studio and communicate. David Brinkley used to say it was the only job he knew of where you have to be at your best when you are most tired.
- John Chancellor
John Chancellor on the subject of his work process
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
From 1970 to 1982, I wrote most of what I said on the air as anchor of the NBC Nightly News, which meant a lot of writing between four and six, five days a week. Twelve years of that was enough to set my circadian clock. I am at the top of my form in the late afternoon. Putting together a half-hour network television news program takes a full day of hard work. And when that’s done, the anchor has to go into the studio and communicate. David Brinkley used to say it was the only job he knew of where you have to be at your best when you are most tired.
- John Chancellor
John Chancellor on the subject of his work process
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
In the late 1940's, many of us at the Chicago Times (it had not yet merged with the Sun) thought of ourselves as being outside society, looking in at it. As though we were visitors at the zoo. Newspapermen were vagabond journeymen who worked strange hours and lived in downtown hotels. Today we live in the suburbs, serve on boards and attend seminars at journalism "schools." I liked it better the old way.
- John Chancellor
John Chancellor on the subject on how journalism has changed since he started his career
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
That we are going through another dinosaur-extinction period. In the late 1960s, American journalism was completely transformed by the extinction of three powerful general circulation magazines. The Saturday Evening Post died, along with Collier’s and Look. Life became a cripple. This was a disaster for magazine writing, photography and art. Today, three network evening news programs and three national news magazines, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report are trying to survive in a world transformed by cable news, all-news radio, national newspapers, specialty magazines and other alternative sources of news and information. I think change is great, and I know it’s inevitable, but I’m not sure what will replace these large dinosaurian institutions.
- John Chancellor
John Chancellor on the subject of what disappoints him about the journalism world of his time
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
- John Chancellor
John Chancellor on the subject on how journalism has changed since he started his career
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
That we are going through another dinosaur-extinction period. In the late 1960s, American journalism was completely transformed by the extinction of three powerful general circulation magazines. The Saturday Evening Post died, along with Collier’s and Look. Life became a cripple. This was a disaster for magazine writing, photography and art. Today, three network evening news programs and three national news magazines, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report are trying to survive in a world transformed by cable news, all-news radio, national newspapers, specialty magazines and other alternative sources of news and information. I think change is great, and I know it’s inevitable, but I’m not sure what will replace these large dinosaurian institutions.
- John Chancellor
John Chancellor on the subject of what disappoints him about the journalism world of his time
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
Reporters who cover American politics are the top of the line, in my view. Walter Mears of the AP, Jules Witcover and Jack Germond, Judy Woodruff, David Broder, R.W. Apple, Cokie Roberts, Thomas Byrne Edsall, Jon Margolis of the Chicago Tribune. The best writer in television news is Charles Kuralt.
- John Chancellor
John Chancellor on the subject of what journalists he respects
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
- John Chancellor
John Chancellor on the subject of what journalists he respects
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
Most journalism is impersonal, which hides the sentiments of the journalist, and that's how it should work. Columnists and commentators develop political and personal identities; we make arguments and reach conclusions that go beyond reporting the news. Over time, the attentive reader or viewer comes to know what makes us tick. Some of us become flagrantly narcissistic.
- John Chancellor on the subject of the difference between the journalist and the journalism
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
There’s an old newspaper word which describes my function at NBC News: paragrapher, one who writes brief items for the editorial page.
This fits me nicely, because I’m an old newspaperman.
- John Chancellor
On the subject of where John Chancellor places himself in journalism at this time
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
- John Chancellor on the subject of the difference between the journalist and the journalism
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
There’s an old newspaper word which describes my function at NBC News: paragrapher, one who writes brief items for the editorial page.
This fits me nicely, because I’m an old newspaperman.
- John Chancellor
On the subject of where John Chancellor places himself in journalism at this time
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
- John Chancellor
On the subject of what artists John Chancellor admires
Published 2019
Interview 1993, by fax
This interview was retrieved in 2019 and first published in Veery in 2019.
This interview was retrieved in 2019 and first published in Veery in 2019.