Journalists & Commentators Codexery

David Brinkley

Co-anchor of a top-rated nightly news program for 14 years.

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David Brinkley was a television newsman who co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program from 1956 through 1970.[1] He later hosted ABC's Sunday program This Week with David Brinkley in the 1980s and 1990s.[1]

Life and work

After a medical discharge, he worked for United Press International and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1943 seeking a radio job at CBS News.[2] In 1956, NBC executives paired him with Chet Huntley to anchor convention coverage, and on October 29, 1956, they took over NBC's flagship nightly newscast as the Huntley–Brinkley Report.[3][4] Brinkley's dry wit and simple writing style made the program popular, and his nightly sign-off with Huntley entered popular usage.[4] David Brinkley, the fifth and last child of William Graham Brinkley and Mary MacDonald Brinkley, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina.[2]

While a student at New Hanover High School, he started his journalism career at the Wilmington Morning Star.[2] On June 11, 2003, Brinkley passed away at his Houston residence due to complications from a fall he had at his Wyoming vacation home.[5]

What the cited sources add

A 1991 book by Reuven Frank describes how NBC executives proposed combining Huntley and Brinkley for convention coverage, but had so little confidence they withheld announcing it for two months.[3] A 1968 New Yorker article notes that Brinkley's connections in Washington led CBS's Roger Mudd to say he had the best sense of the city's moods and mentality.[4] The same article recounts that Brinkley once suggested on air that the best way to resolve the Boulder Dam name controversy was for Herbert Hoover to change his name to "Herbert Boulder"[4] A 1983 newspaper article states that Brinkley briefly returned to the network anchor desk as a substitute for Frank Reynolds.[6]

A 1996 SFGATE article reports that Brinkley called Bill Clinton "a bore" during a hot mic incident on election night.[7] An interview with Brinkley from 2011 notes that he blamed only himself for the incident and declined to apologize, stating he meant what he said.[8] During the 1968 Democratic Convention, after NBC correspondents faced interference from Hubert Humphrey's supporters linked to Mayor Richard J. Daley, Brinkley commented on Daley's actions regarding press freedom and, in response to a control room request for objectivity, was heard saying "Mayor Daley had his chance!"[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "David Brinkley, Legendary NBC Newsman, Dies at 82", USA Today, June 12, 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Severo, "David Brinkley, Elder Statesman of TV News, Dies at 82", The New York Times, June 12, 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Frank, Reuven. Out of Thin Air: The Brief Wonderful Life of Network News. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991, pp. 100–102. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "An Accident of Casting," The New Yorker, August 3, 1968. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Veteran newscaster David Brinkley dies", Houston Chronicle, 12 June 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vick, "ABC feeling after-effects of Frank Reynolds' illness", Google News Search Archive, June 21, 1983, p. 1D (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "David Brinkley Signs off with Blast at Clinton", SFGATE, 7 November 1996 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "David Brinkley discusses the Bill Clinton incident - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG", October 26, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "David Brinkley" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: http://www.museum.tv/exhibitionssection.php?page=466 part seven (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article David Brinkley (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

NBC NewsThe Huntley–Brinkley Report

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Test yourself

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1. In what year was David Brinkley born?

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Not quite. The answer is 1920.

2. In what year did David Brinkley die?

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3. In which place was David Brinkley born?

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Not quite. The answer is Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S..

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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