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November 10, 2006

ed, some of us hardly knew ya

It's a little sad and curious to watch all the 60 Minutes and CBS News hands on TV memorializing Ed Bradley. I don't know much about the show's internal politics, but watching the talking heads yesterday and today you can tell who knew Bradley well, who didn't, who is genuinely remembering him and who seems most aware of being on camera.

Steve Kroft seems to have known him best, having known about Bradley's leukemia for over a year, while Bradley's boss, Don Hewitt, didn't know about the illness at all. (I've read reports of that Bradley and Hewitt had butted heads recently about his contract; hardly the time to inject a life-threatening illness.) That aside, though, Hewitt seems full of genuinely warm workplace memories, as does Andy Rooney. Rooney, as always, presents as a cranky oddball, but to his credit he's resisting the temptation to overclaim Bradley. He's upfront about knowing him in the office and chatting with him about food and sports and jazz, no giant shakes but a connection he seems to have appreciated.

Leslie Stahl had a great story about Bradley bringing all of them together during the show's self described darkest hour, when CBS caved to pressure and spiked Mike Wallace's 1995 skewering of a tobacco executive. Of all the 60 Minutes people, Wallace seems the most off. On Larry King he kept saying things about Bradley that needed to be corrected by Kroft, and even while eulogizing Bradley he seems to be policing the boundaries of his own legacy as 60 Minutes' greatest correspondent.

Most weird, though, is the fact that of all of them country cousin Bob Schieffer seems to be the only person talking about Bradley who has the slightest clue of the role race played in the man's life. Being black when and where he was obviously a key part of Bradley's life, but when the black dude on the news team dies that, by definition, leaves no one qualified to properly discuss the issue. Kroft seems to have known Bradley best, which might explain why, except for enthusing about Bradley's style, he knew to keep mum on the issue of race. That left it to corny old Schieffer to assert (in contradiction to the prevailing "he was a journalist first!" dodge) that being black was a key to understanding Bradley's work and personal life. Schieffer's line - "He didn't wear it on his sleeve, but it was always in his heart" - is a white cliche, but all things considered I think it was a fine thing for him to say.

Posted by ebogjonson in memory, on November 10, 2006 11:00 AM