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American Morning

Landing Delayed; Peter Jennings Loses Battle With Cancer

Aired August 08, 2005 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A decision made this morning by mission control in Houston that the weather just wasn't good enough to bring Discovery home after its 13-day, five-and-a-half million mile trip around and around and around she went. And so the crew is in the process of getting back into a spacecraft mode. They had gotten ready to be a glider, and make their way down to earth. Seats were installed, suits were put on, and lots of fluids were ingested by the crew, because that stops them from feeling the effects of coming back to the full force of gravity after a long mission. Keeps them from being light-headed.
All of that has to sort of be undone and now we're waiting for what happens tomorrow. The first landing attempt here in Florida will be at 5:07 a.m. in the morning.

Take a look how they come on in. It's not quite the approach, but pretty close in the sense that it takes you down over the peninsula to the shuttle landing facility. This is the southeasterly direction runway. Runway 1-5 they probably would have come in on. It's a three-mile long runway and it lies empty this morning. NASA had hoped to have the orbiter back and perhaps buttoned up in the hangar by now.

In any case, tomorrow we have several opportunities and NASA says one way or another, whether here or Edwards Air Force Base, the shuttle's coming home tomorrow.

Let's check the rest of the headlines now, Carol Costello in with that. Carol?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I hope so. And by the way, we hit the air at 4:30 a.m. in preparation for that possible for that possible 5:08 Eastern landing time.

Now in the news, though, a British judge orders suspect in London's botched bombings to remain in custody. Seven suspects were arrested in a series of raids after the July 21st attacks on the city's transportation system. Another hearing will take place in November.

An Israeli pullout from Gaza is set to go on as planned. The Israeli cabinet approved the first stage of a withdrawal despite a protest from Benjamin Netanyahu who quit his post as finance minister. The former prime minister says a pullout would threaten Israeli security. The withdrawal is set to begin on August 15th.

And a fast-moving wildfire in southeastern Washington State is threatening more residents this morning. Some 175 homes that already have been evacuated. The blaze more than doubled over the weekend to 32,000 acres. Firefighters are hoping cooler temperatures and more rain will help contain that blaze.

Let's get a look at the rain that will fall in Washington State any time soon. Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. No chance of that, I'm afraid. Although temperatures won't be too bad today. The relative humidity out there is going to be 20%. That doesn't help firefighter, either. That just ries out whatever might be moist there at all.

But looking at Philadelphia, also up towards Trenton, there's New York City, a couple of big showers and thunderstorms in the way. La Guardia now, 45 minutes. Newark 30 minutes. Philadelphia 30. San Francisco up to an hour already this morning. So maybe it's a good thing miles isn't trying to get home from Florida. Because there's La Guardia, 45 minutes this early, it's just going up from here. The delays are going to be long in New York, maybe even long in Philadelphia, up to an hour there.

Strong storms into Minneapolis. Delays were 45 minutes, they're now coming down as the storms moved away. 93 in Denver. 70 in San Francisco. Pleasant there, although the marine layer is obvious at SFO, 99 in Phoenix. Maybe a little bit warmer than that. 99 in Vegas. Depends when the storms pop up where you are. If you're in the Southwest, you have known now for days every afternoon the showers are popping up in the heat of the day. Just depends where you are, whether you get to be 107 or 103. But it doesn't matter. As long as it rains a little, maybe it will cool you down.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Doesn't matter. It's still hot. Thanks, Chad.

For decade, he was at the helm of ABC's "World News Tonight." Today we're remembering veteran newsman Peter Jennings. He died late last night at his home Manhattan. He was 67 years old. Just moments ago ABC News President David Westin spoke fondly about Peter Jennings.

DAVID WESTIN, ABC NEWS PRESIDENT (video clip): Yeah, he came back a couple of times. He was on the phone pretty much every day right up to the very end weighing in, making his views known, encouraging us when he thought we were doing well. Sometimes criticizing us, which Peter was not reluctant to do when he thought we were falling short of the mark. He was very passionate following the news, he followed it closely from his home as he was undergoing chemotherapy and things.

So he was very much a presence in the newsroom. He visited us, I don't know, about a month ago, now. Came in and spent a good two, three hours with us all. And then a number of us went and visited him at his home to talk about the news and to talk about what was going on at ABC News and where we should be going.

O'BRIEN: With more now on Peter Jennings' life and legacy, here's CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Peter Jennings was born in Toronto, died in New York, and lived for the world's news.

ANNOUNCER: This is "World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings.

PETER JENNINGS, DECEASED NEWS ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. We're going to begin tonight with Saddam Hussein.

FOREMAN: For 32 years he was ABC's chief anchor.

JENNINGS: I have had, been in a lot of countries, I've covered a lot of great stories. I've been there for some of the great moments of the last 30 years, and I'm really lucky.

FOREMAN: Jennings was born to broadcasting. His father Charles was an anchorman in Canada. At nine, Peter hosted a kids' show. In his teens, he took a radio job. And at 26, without ever completing high school, he joined ABC News.

JENNINGS: This is my first story outside Saigon, and I found out in a hurry. This is Peter Jennings, ABC News.

FOREMAN: And an early stint as anchor pitted him against the legendary Walter Cronkite on CBS and the Huntley Brinkley team on NBC. Jennings was too young, too inexperienced, too Canadian. He lost the position.

JENNINGS: Most Egyptian's thoughts are not on war. They're on inflation.

FOREMAN: So he began building his reporters' resume. The Middle East, on the civil rights trail in the South.

JENNINGS: Started with a single man and it ended with a crowd of ...

FOREMAN: In the farm fields of Cuba.

JENNINGS: Never in the history of the revolution has sugarcane been at important as this year.

FOREMAN: At the Olympic Village in Munich.

JENNINGS: Some of the negotiators let in just a couple minutes ago have come back out and are standing in a group.

FOREMAN: And when he rose to become ABC's chief anchor again, after Tom Brokaw turned the job down, he was ready.

JENNINGS: Ginsberg is charged with anti-soviet behavior. Sharansky charged much more seriously with treason.

FOREMAN: A demanding, often unpredictable boss, he was equally capable of relentlessly driving his staff, or showing great compassion.

JENNINGS: How are you feeling these days?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I feel much better than I did.

FOREMAN: He always delighted in reporting, whether describing a makeshift lamp in Sarajevo.

JENNINGS: They fill it up almost to the very top with water, and then put a thin film of oil on the top.

FOREMAN: Or matching wits with world leaders.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: And I will go to my grave at peace about it, and I don't really care what they think.

FOREMAN: Oh, yes, you do. I can feel it across the room. You feel it very deeply.

CLINTON: You don't want to go there, Peter. You don't want to go there.

FOREMAN: But Peter Jennings was at his best when news was breaking.

JENNINGS: This was an attack on these -- on the United States, no question about it. Everybody said it all day, a declaration of war, an act of war against the United States.

FOREMAN: he loved hockey, history, culture, politics.

JENNINGS: I think when you come home and participate in the democratic process, even vicariously as journalists do, I think it's extraordinarily moving.

FOREMAN: And he loved to understand what drives Americans to work, to play, to dream, to pray.

JENNINGS: I've been in search of America ever since I came to America 30-some years ago. All journalists are.

FOREMAN: He wrote books, married four times, had children and became an American citizen himself, finally two years ago. Peter Jennings promised to keep working throughout his illness and he did. Right up to the end of his own story.

JENNINGS: Have a good evening. I'm Peter Jennings. Thanks and good night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: That was Tom Foreman reporting. Author Todd Brewster co-wrote two best-selling books with Peter Jennings. 1998's "New York Times" bestseller "The Century" and 2002's "In Search of America." Mr. Brewster joins us. First our condolences. I noticed in Tom's package you were tearing up many times and some of the moments that I know you remember very clearly. I also read that your nine-year-old son burst into tears when he heard the news this morning. So we appreciate you coming in to talk to us. I know it's tough. Tell me a little about Peter Jennings, the person. Because we hear a lot from colleagues who talk about his high standings as a journalist, how demanding he could be from journal ifs. What about as a human being?

TODD BREWSTER, CO-WROTE BOOKS WITH PETER JENNINGS: Well, he did have high standards first of all. That has to be said but I find it ironic this morning that the "New York Times" says, I think the headline says something like, "Erudite Anchorman" which gives a suggestion that he was a cold, steely exterior or something, and that he couldn't warm up to human interactions. Quite the opposite.

S. O'BRIEN: A little snow dance the way it sounds.

BREWSTER: Extraordinarily warm person. Extraordinarily warm. There are countless examples. My mother died last year. The first call I got was from Baghdad, from Peter Jennings. But he was always there for his friends. One of the remarkable thing, not unusual. He had a tendency to, I think, value those friendships even more than his professional life. That was a part of what you knew as Peter. The list of friends is extraordinary.

S. O'BRIEN: Have you talked to him a lot in the last four months, as he came out and really shocked everyone when we saw how drawn and tired he looked and announced that he in fact had lung cancer? Had you been in touch? Did he talk to you?

BREWSTER: I think the news, first of all, came as a great big shock to him as well. In that in the months before that I had known he had been feeling poorly. But Peter ran an incredible schedule. He was around the world working both ends of the day, and it was wasn't unusual to see him tired and drawn. Actually it was sort of typical. The way he liked to live. He was a real journalist's journalist in that sense. Liked to travel the circuit, be out there, be where things were happening. I didn't put much meaning to it. I don't think anybody else did, really, that he seemed to be feeling poorly.

So, no. We didn't talk about it being some kind of tragic news, like it turned out to be. I have spoken to him a few times in the past months, and he's been very pissy (ph) trying to struggle with this, and yet he was himself. Right to the end. I last saw him two weeks ago. We had a wonderful evening together. I remember his wife Kayce said, I'm not sure how long he can be with you. Maybe five minutes. It was an hour and a half. And he was just full of warmth and love. It was a great visit.

S. O'BRIEN: You said he had a favorite question had liked to ask everybody. What's that question?

BREWSTER: What surprised you? And he would ask this of reporters. He would ask it of scientists who had just completed studies. He would ask it of people on the street what surprised you? And the quintessential journalistic question, what was different? What was new? He was always looking for that. People who tried to paint him with an ideological brush would be surprised he could go from one end of the spectrum to the other end of the spectrum. Accused from both sides of being ...

S. O'BRIEN: Always the sign of a good journalist, when everybody is arguing about a story.

BREWSTER: For him, that, what was surprising? What, what's new about this? What can you tell me now?

S. O'BRIEN: What's his legacy at the end of day? To think about it, he anchorman of the big three networks. You know, metaphorically speaking overnight, what's his legacy?

BREWSTER: First of, I think that motion, that generation, of course, has passed. The notion of an anchorman being sort of the, one of the two or three sole places where the nation goes for its emotional connection in a major event, I don't think that's going to happen again, we're not as tied together as we were during that period of the Walter Cronkites, the David Brinkleys, the Peter Jennings.

I think his legacy comes in several things. One who worked at ABC who were extraordinary and I think he nurtured them and developed them, he's always looking for their response. He would ask them what surprises they had. That group of people, an extraordinary group of journalists continue on. I think they build on the standards that he respected. He was very worried about where news was going. Television news, journalism in general. Talked about doing a third book that was going to be critical of the news industry, where things were headed. I think the respect he had for standards the wish to bring out the best in people. That's his legacy. I think you'll see that in people that worked with him very closely.

S. OBRIEN: Todd Brewster, thanks for talking to us. I know it's tough time for you and your family. We appreciate your insights.

A short break and we're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: In Peru, a judge orders the arrest of former GE chief Jack Welch. That story, plus a check on the markets this morning. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." You going to start with the markets, just to dangle that tease in front of us?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am, because that's kind of an unusual ...

S. O'BRIEN: Was he in Peru?

SERWER: He was not in Peru but he is actually wanted in Peru now according to wire source. Let's talk about the markets first of all. We have a bit of a rally. 27 points to the up side on the Dow this morning. You can see a couple stocks in focus. Delphi, the giant auto parts company, suggesting it may go chapter 11, bankrupt that is. Down eight percent. Of course, it has ties to GM. That company has a lot of problem. And Baidu, which is that Chinese company that is sort of a version of Google, is up yet again, it went public on Friday and continues to soar up 12% this morning. Up $14 to $137. Here we go again.

S. O'BRIEN: We missed out on Google the first time, look like we're missing out on Baidu this time.

SERWER: I think that's correct. Now for this Peruvian story ...

S. O'BRIEN: I'll bite. Why do the Peruvians want to arrest Jack Welch?

SERWER: This is a remarkably fascinating story, I think. There is a lawsuit going none Lima right now where a former GE employee is charging the company with fraud, and a judge in Peru has ordered the arrest of 23 current and former GE executives including Jack Welch. As of yet, there's no response.

S. O'BRIEN: Just come in for questioning, sir?

SERWER: No. He is ordering them arrested and I have a funny feeling Mr. Welch is not going to be taking a trip to Lima.

S. OBRIEN: If he's smart he's not!

SERWER: No, he's not. And the company has yet to respond to this. They did respond in Peru saying the charges are ridiculous and all parties of innocent. We expect more word from Connecticut where GE is headquartered later today probably.

S. O'BRIEN: The annual GE picnic in lima, canceled this year! All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: CNN LIVE is coming up next. Hey, Daryn, good morning to you. What are you work on?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Soledad. On this Monday morning straight ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY, President Bush signs a new energy bill into law later today. Will it have an affect on those high gas prices? We'll take a close are look at what it means for your wallet.

Also, U.S. families spend nearly $14 billion getting ready for the new school year. We have your top five tips to save you money before the school bell rings. Back to you in New York.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks, Daryn.

There is much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come.

Ahead on "90 Second Pop" -- the "Dukes of Hazzard" comes out on top of the box office. First they had to duke it out in the courts. We'll tell you why.

Plus, the hottest sound of summer is something you probably never even heard of. You dip into hip, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. It's "90 Second Pop" for a Monday with our guest stars today, Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly, "Time Magazine's" Christopher John Farley, he is also author of the book, "Kingston By Starlight." And Amy Barnett from "Teen People." Good morning. Nice jammin' tune to open up the segment with this morning. Let's get to the our first topic, though, which is "The Dukes of Hazzard." The good and bad news. Good news, yippee, they won!

JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: $30 million.

S. O'BRIEN: That's fantastic. The bad news, the lawyers had a lot of work to do and lost a lot of money in the court fight?

SHAW: All this over an obscure movie called "Moonrunners" from the '70s, which no one ever heard of. "Moonrunners," the movie that "The Dukes of Hazzard," the TV show, was based on. Back in '78, Warner brothers, the studio bought that. Of course, here is the movie in 2005 and someone forgot to-to-do a little legal work. Warner brothers had to pay the producer of "Moonrunners" $17.5 million.

S. OBRIEN: He finally made money on that movie!

SHAW: Exactly. The best script they ever wrote.

CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY, "TIME MAGAZNE": The problem, Jessica Simpson not only stars in the movie, she actually had intellectual property Warner Brothers. That is the problem.

AMY BARNETT, "TEEN PEOPLE": I think that lawyer should be taken out and shot if he is responsible for some of these crappy remakes coming to the screen right now, and I hear he has his own production company that's actually going to do more remakes of shows like "F Troop," "Ironside," "Hart to Hart."

S. OBRIEN: When you start going to "Hart to Hart." I love that show!

SHAW: She's got matching license plates.

S. OBRIEN: That was a great show! But I digress. There's a new sound of the summer. I never heard of it. Let's first play a little bit.

(MUSIC)

S. O'BRIEN: I got to tell ya, I like it! What's this called? Reggaeton.

FARLEY: Reggaeton. To really get it I think we all have to dance, though. Reggaeton been around actually for a long time. I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, go back a couple time as year. People have been putting Spanish language lyrics to reggae beats for a long time. Reggaeton is a mix of reggae, salsa, of meringue, of a lot of ...

S. O'BRIEN: Why's it hot right now if it's been around forever? FARLEY: It's hot right now because radio stations are finally programming it, these records of finally selling a lot to mainstream producers, mainstream buyers and people like Daddy Yankee are going there and touring and realizing, hey, the streets are really into this. Now the mainstream is getting hip to it, too.

S. OBRIEN: Big names, right?

BARNETT: Absolutely. I also think it's really interesting, also, companies like Pepsi and Heineken are signing people like Daddy Yankee to do ad campaigns which is ...

S. O'BRIEN: Am I the only person in the world who hasn't heard of Daddy Yankee. Show's hands, plea? Andy Serwer hasn't heard of him either. I'm in good company.

Daddy Yankee. And now he's like hugely popular.

FARLEY: He's been popular a long time but getting the mainstream attention, the mainstream sales that he really had deserved for a long time.

SHAW: Terrifying, reggaeton is the most popular thing on the bar mitzvah and wedding circuit, apparently.

S. O'BRIEN: Good to hear.

Hispanics, yoo-hoo! All right. Let's talk about Elvis Presley the death, the anniversary of that, the 28th anniversary of that.

SHAW: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And 500,000 people, more, went to see Graceland last year. For those this year who think they'll go to pay tribute to the King maybe run into Lisa Marie, run into the family -- not going to happen?

BARNETT: What's happened, Lisa Marie Presley sold the rights of the estate and turned over Graceland to an entertainment company call CKX. They also own "American Idol." So what's happening is the purest Elvis, the hardcore fans who really migrate there every year are concerned nothing will be the same.

S. O'BRIEN: Is everything the same or nothing the same?

BARNETT: I don't know. CKX is -- of course it would be bad if they turn Graceland into an amusement park, but they want to expand Elvis to international regions. They want to take him to the Middle East and expand shop Elvis.

S. O'BRIEN: That will help the Middle East? Elvis!

BARNETT: I think it will be fabulous for hardcore fans, like an Elvis deep fryer verses a George Foreman grill, a head-to-head match!

FARLEY: Really, Lisa Marie Presley is turning over the reins and she's not making the best life decisions. She married, you know, she married Michael Michael Jackson!

SHAW: Now we're getting personal!

That train has left the station about selling it. Right? The company owns it now, and the is there any sense they're going to do something cheesy with Graceland itself? Not only the other projects they have?

BARNETT: Of course, they're focused on making money. Elvis is a $48 million industry. And so for them, this is just a big enterprise. Things are going to change. For example, they putting a Web cam in Elvis' bedroom in Graceland. Like I say, they are expanding the shop. Elvis.com.

SHAW: The only thing that shows is you can actually see outside the windows what Elvis saw.

BARNETT: Right.

SHAW: Who cares?

FARLEY: Putting a Web cam in a window for a dead rock star? Put it in the bedroom of a live rock star. Isn't that more interesting?

S. O'BRIEN: That's a whole other show! You guys, thanks as always. We've got uch more AMERICAN MORNING right after this short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: That's about all the time we have for this AMERICAN MORNING. So long from the Kennedy Space Center. We'll be back tomorrow when the Space Shuttle Discovery will come home, maybe here, maybe Edwards Air Force Base, weather depending.

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