Wednesday, May 29, 2002

Under the Media Geezer Wire

A number of people e-mailed today to ask why I had not posted something on Tom Brokaw's announcement that he would retire after the 2004 election. I think some of you were expecting another Media Geezer hatchet job, which I would ordinarily be happy to provide.

But Brokaw is not a media geezer. He's 62 and will retire at 65, which is retirement age. So good for him.

And as it happens, I wouldn't have done a hatchet job on Brokaw anyway, partly because I worked for him but mostly because his leaving elevates the chatterbox Brian Williams to the anchor chair. Does the man ever shut up? Williams's "acceptance speech" yesterday in Studio 8-H was a parody of a self-absorbed television personality run amok. It read like a Saturday Night Live script.