John Chancellor
John Chancellor | |
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Spouse(s) | Connie Chancellor[1] Barbara Upshaw (second wife) |
Children | 3 |
John William Chancellor (July 14, 1927 – July 12, 1996) was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He is considered a pioneer in television news.[2] Chancellor served as anchor of the NBC Nightly News from 1970 to 1982 and continued to do editorials and commentaries for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw until 1993.
Early career
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Chancellor dropped out of high school, worked odd jobs and enlisted in the Army, serving in a public relations unit during
Chancellor covered issues of national importance while on The Huntley-Brinkley Report.
Chancellor covered the 1957 integration of the Little Rock Central High School, where a young Black girl, Elizabeth Eckford, wanted to attend an integrated school. Chancellor's coverage showed the world the white mob that surrounded her. After Chancellor began to cover the Little Rock story, segregationists followed him around town, growing increasingly angry. Chancellor did not run. Instead, he kept reporting, despite the angry crowds around him.[4]
Chancellor spent a number of years as a foreign correspondent in Europe, with postings in Vienna, London, Moscow, and Brussels (NATO Headquarters).
In July 1961, Chancellor replaced
At the
NBC Nightly News
Chancellor returned to
A perceived lack of stability in this arrangement prompted NBC to go with Chancellor full-time (McGee later moved to
Although Chancellor was a respected, well-spoken journalist and noted author in his own right, his broadcast ratings were eclipsed by
"Red" and "blue" state concept
Chancellor has the distinction of creating the idea of using colors to represent the states won by presidential candidates in presidential elections. For the
Television career
- 1956–70 The Huntley-Brinkley Report(correspondent)
- 1961–62 The Today Show(anchor)
- 1970–82 NBC Nightly News (anchor)
- 1982–93 NBC Nightly News (editorial/commentary)
Later years, post-Nightly News
Chancellor anchored the Nightly News through April 2, 1982, when he was succeeded by a co-anchor team of Tom Brokaw and Roger Mudd. Chancellor remained on the program, providing editorial commentaries until his retirement from NBC on July 9, 1993. During this time of his commentaries, he defined himself as a paragrapher in 1993, just before his retirement.[6]
In 1992, Chancellor was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
Chancellor was the narrator of He also wrote a book, Peril and Promise: A Commentary on America, which was published in 1990. The John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism[8] was established in 1995 and administered by the Annenberg Public Policy Center until 2004. It is now awarded by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Death
After his retirement, Chancellor moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he died of stomach cancer July 12, 1996, two days before his 69th birthday.[citation needed]
Honors
- 1977: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Lowell Thomas[9][10]
- 1983: Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association[11]
- 1988: Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois, Order of Lincoln[12]
- 1993: Television Hall of Fame[13]
- 1995: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series (Baseball)
The author Anne Rivers Siddons gave her first book, a 1975 collection of nonfiction essays, the title John Chancellor Makes Me Cry.[14]
References
- ISBN 978-1-4128-0688-6.
- ^ Services, Tribune News (13 July 1996). "JOHN CHANCELLOR, 68; PIONEER IN TV NEWS". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
- ^ CELEBRATED TV NEWSMAN JOHN CHANCELLOR DIES. The Washington Post via Internet Archive. Published July 13, 1996. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
- ^ Enda, Jodi. "When Republicans Were Blue and Democrats Were Red". Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ "NBC News John Chancellor Interview". Veery Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-25. Interview with Steven Vita.
- ^ Full cast and crew for "Baseball" (1994). IMDb.
- ^ Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism:Site Map Archived 2008-08-30 at the Wayback Machine. Journalism.columbia.edu. Retrieved on 2012-06-23.
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ Pellesen, Gayle (June 27, 1977). "Golden Platers: Col. Sanders meets Gen. Doolittle" (PDF). The Washington Post.
- ^ "Paul White Award". Radio Television Digital News Association. Archived from the original on 2013-02-25. Retrieved 2014-05-27.
- ^ John Chancellor on the Lincoln Academy site, 1988
- ^ "John Chancellor," Television Academy, https://www.emmys.com/bios/john-chancellor#:~:text=The%20John%20Chancellor%20Award%20for,Hall%20of%20Fame%20in%201993.
- ^ Rivers Siddons, Anne. "John Chancellor Makes Me Cry". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-07-11.