I don’t think I’m overstating it by saying this evening at about 6:59 PM will be one of the most monumental moments in recent television history even though it is likely to occur with little or no fanfare. I already wrote about the end of the network news as we know it last week, but that moment of which I spoke actually arrives tonight when Tom Brokaw signs off as the anchor of the NBC Nightly News for the last time. Beginning tomorrow, Brian Williams will be sitting in the anchor chair. It won’t be the first time since Williams has been subbing for Brokaw for nearly a decade, but now the chair will actually belong to him. If the reports are true, Brokaw will sign off as usual tonight and Williams will say hello without much more than maybe an acknowledgement tomorrow, all in order to create a seamless transition meant to highlight the broadcast and lessen the emphasis on the man who has been its face for 22 years.
Of course, NBC isn’t exactly ignoring Brokaw’s departure. The MSNBC/NBC News web site has an entire section titled “Tom Brokaw: Eyewitness to History,” and last Friday Dateline NBC aired a two-hour special focused on the stories Brokaw has covered over his 40-plus year career. So Brokaw isn’t going quietly, except, supposedly, on the show all the hubbub is actually about.
In a way, this treatment is simply a mirror of the modern network evening newscast. There’s not much fanfare because there’s not much to it. Yes, the three broadcast networks still get a far larger audience than the cable nets, but that audience is still far smaller than it was 20 years ago. 
While NBC has always been a major force in network news, Brokaw is the man who made the NBC Nightly News the dominant ratings champ, far surpassing CBS which had been the top newscast for years thanks to Walter Cronkite. Dan Rather has always been angry and shown a perceived bias and Peter Jennings often appeared somewhat aloof and highbrow, but Brokaw always came across with that everyman Midwestern charm and sensibility, and as is often the case with the American general public, the person who audiences think most represents themselves is the one who they’ll watch.
I’m a bit sad for Brian Williams, in fact, because he does not inherent a chair the has the meaning it once did, nor will any of the other future network anchors. I’ve actually always been a fan of Williams. He has a very easygoing delivery, and is extremely quick on his feet. He also knows how to deliver a line with sarcasm, although I’m sure that is not one of the most important qualities for those watching the evening news. Williams proved his affability once again last night during his appearance on The Daily Show. Not only did he stand toe-to-toe with Jon Stewart , but in a battle of deadpan comedy, Williams may have actually slaughtered Stewart, and I don’t think the fake anchor/host would disagree with me. At one point, he even said to Williams, “I think you’re better at my job than I am,” or something to that effect.
Yet for some reason, audiences have never completely taken to Williams. Unlike journalists who think he may not deserve the chair because he doesn’t have the reporting experience the greats did – and who really cares about that anymore since most people consider anchors glorified teleprompter readers – modern audiences seem to care more about likeability than gravitas these days. And so far, Williams doesn’t seem to strike the likeability home run with his previous hosting gigs. Maybe that will change with NBC’s enormous built-in audience, or maybe Jennings is getting overly excited at the chance of being the only member of the old-guard left with the coming of Spring.
Whatever happens, it is Brokaw’s departure that means the most today and in some low, barely-audible frequency, it will probably reverberate for some time. But in an age where people tend to look for news with which they agree — or discount stories with which they don’t – and eschew anything that might even appear to resemble straightforward unbiased journalism because, you know, that’s just dull, the disappearance of the old media standard is actually something to mourn. Sure, I don’t know how I’d live without instant news access, without 24 hour cable and internet, but just cause there’s more doesn’t mean it’s all better. And no matter how good Williams may become, he can’t stop the natural progression we’re now witnessing. Yes, there will be an NBC Nightly News tomorrow night, but when Tom Brokaw says goodbye this evening, the reality is that the original age of broadcast journalism will start saying a final farewell with him.
Out of Focus 