Media plays solemn tribute to Edward Kennedy
Photo credit: AP | A news ticker in Times Square announces the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. The last surviving brother in a political dynasty and one of the most influential senators in history, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a year-long struggle with brain cancer. He was 77. (Aug. 26, 2009)
The first Kennedy brother died before the advent of television, while the assassination of the second virtually launched modern television news. The death of the third was another defining television moment in a year - 1968 - filled with so many other convulsive TV moments.
And finally, Wednesday arrived: The death of the fourth. By contrast, this was almost another day at the office for the TV news trade. Coverage was evenly paced, solemn, and deeply respectful - almost the exact opposite of the bubbleheaded hyperventilation in the hours and days following Michael Jackson's death.
TV was absolutely ready for this one, and morning TV - which understandably dominated Wednesday - got the equivalent of a 10-length lead when the family announced the death at 1:30 a.m. With the exception of some major interviews and statements that arrived later in the day - President Barack Obama's, or Vice President Joe Biden's emotional tribute, or riveting testaments by Sen. Chris Dodd or former President Jimmy Carter's interview on CNN - the morning shows set the tone for the entire day.
"The champion of liberal causes, even when they were out of fashion," said Matt Lauer of "Today."
"This giant life, this Shakespearean life, of suffering and of achievement," said "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer.
Viewers saw variations on those two central themes the rest of the day.
Network anchors and reporters scrambled for flights to Hyannis Port - Brian Williams was there by noon. Cable editors and directors cued to the footage that by now is almost as familiar as our own home movies - the impossibly young, beaming Ted basking in the glow of his older brothers' love, or the quavering voice at Bobby's funeral; and, once again, and again, that still photo of a young woman named Mary Jo Kopechne who died so many years ago.
Viewers hunting for - or avoiding - instances of presumed network bias needn't have bothered. CNN and MSNBC probably spread out a little more widely than Fox News Channel, but the latter matched their emotional pitch: "He was a good man and we remember him as that today," said "Studio B" anchor Shepard Smith.
Wednesday night were the big network specials, but the major TV event is Saturday, when Ted Kennedy will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery near his brothers. That's when the most storied, and made-for-TV political dynasty of the 20th century will officially end. The family legacy passes to a new Kennedy generation then.
Talk about era-ending "closure" and inescapable symbolism - the networks certainly will.
