David Westin

WASHINGTON, D.C.—"Sometimes the end comes like a thief in the night," said Sam Donaldson.

Mr. Donaldson was standing on a stage at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., yesterday morning, quoting the Bible. Like the hundred or so mourners who had gathered in the large auditorium, Mr. Donaldson was struggling to make sense of the sudden recent death of his friend and former colleague, John "Jack" McWethy.

A week earlier, on Feb. 6, Mr. McWethy had been skiing with his wife Laurie at a resort in Keystone, Colo. He was cruising down an intermediate slope, when suddenly the accomplished, veteran skier lost control and slid chest first into a tree. The fluke crash proved to be fatal. He was 61.  read more »

It's that time of the year when, all across New York, even more TV anchors, producers, and news crews are getting ready to pack up their bags and head out to the frontlines of the presidential campaigns.

That group includes, ABC's Charlie Gibson, who will soon be heading out to New Hampshire.

On Saturday, January 5, Mr. Gibson will be moderating back-to-back Democratic and Republican presidential debates at the campus of Saint Alselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Mr. Gibson will be joined in the questioning by WMUR-TV anchor and political director Scott Spradling.  read more »

On Thursday evening, near a window in a banquet hall overlooking the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in Times Square, Andy Rooney sidled up to a makeshift bar and asked for a bourbon.

No bourbon, explained the bartender. Wine?

Mr. Rooney shook his head no, furled his massive white eyebrows, and shuffled off into the crowd. The barkeep, having just witnessed the potential genesis of a future Andy Rooney rant on 60 Minutes (“The problem with cocktails parties today, is that there are no cocktails…) kept a straight face.

A few minutes later, Mr. Rooney stood nearby a plate of cured meats and talked with The New Yorker's Ken Auletta about football. "We're both Giants fans," explained Mr. Auletta. NYTV, who sports a terrycloth Redskins bathrobe at home, looked for conversation elsewhere.

We had gathered on the second floor of Disney's Times Square Studios at 44th and Broadway to celebrate the newly published book "Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life," which bills itslef as "an intimate portrait of the late, legendary journalist and news anchor, in the words of his family, friends, and collagues."  read more »