Creating a Tradition in Broadcast News: A Conversation with David Brinkley

Abstract

For more than a half-century, David Brinkley has been regarded as a leader in the field of broadcast journalism. Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, seventy-six years ago, he started writing for his hometown newspaper while still in high school, eventually joining United Press upon the recommendation of his journalism teacher. He went to work for NBC Radio in Washington, D. C., in 1943 and beginning in 1952 was assigned to network television coverage of the national political conventions. He quickly established that he could offer unique insights and observations into the process of selecting a president without taking himself too seriously, a quality viewers seemed to appreciate.Four years later, he began co-anchoring the NBC evening newscast, “Huntley-Brinkley Report,” with partner Chet Huntley reporting from New York, while Brinkley remained in the nation's capital. The program became the biggest revenue producer on the NBC-TV network during that era, except for prime-time motion pictures. The series aired from 1956 to 1970, making the transition from fifteen minutes to a half-hour on September 9, 1963. Brinkley made other contributions in the form of special reports such as “David Brinkley's Journal,” which won EMMY Awards in both 1962 and 1963 as the best public affairs series on television. When co-anchor Huntley retired in 1970, the program was retitled the “NBC Nightly News,” and Brinkley continued serving as anchor. He turned those duties over to John Chancellor in 1979 and assumed a commentator's role.Brinkley left NBC in 1981 and joined the ABC Network where he currently hosts “This Week with David Brinkley” from his home base in Washington, D. C. His first book, Washington Goes To War, was published in 1988. It examined the World War II transition period in the nation's capital, including the period of his first national broadcast assignments in the 1940s. His autobiography, David Brinkley, published this fall, documents his personal experiences in network television, utilizing correspondence he received from the American people over the past half-century. This telephone conversation was taped May 5, 1995, and focuses on his key accomplishments and special programs, including the “Huntley-Brinkley Report.”