TV

World keeps Tom Brokaw working

In town for United Way benefit, former NBC news anchor sees need for a new 'Greatest Generation'

By Diane Holloway
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Sunday, September 24, 2006

Tom Brokaw, who admits he has "flunked retirement," is coming to Austin on Monday to talk about the political divide in this country, the need to remember our soldiers in Iraq and to urge people to "get your hands dirty" to help solve some of the country's pressing problems.

He doesn't talk much about journalism any more; he mostly talks about the world and the need for good deeds.

"You won't be surprised to learn that I use 'The Greatest Generation' as an example," said Brokaw, whose 1998 book of the same name was a bestseller. "There are lots of ways you can give back besides writing a check. But to solve a lot of these issues, you've to get your hands dirty."

Wachovia is sponsoring Brokaw's appearance for an event to benefit United Way Capital Area.

Brokaw, 66, stepped down as anchor of the "NBC Nightly News" in December 2004 after more than two decades at the helm. But he hasn't slowed down. When he's not traveling, writing, lecturing and volunteering, he's filing special reports for NBC.

"We have big, complex issues facing us today, and the country is deeply polarized," Brokaw said in a phone interview from his New York office. "I'm concerned about the professional gunslingers in both parties that have created a culture of negative advertising and character assassinations."

The upcoming midterm elections will be the first time Brokaw hasn't anchored NBC's political coverage since his "retirement." His new role hasn't been decided, but he insists he's not pining to spend hours in front of the big red-and-blue map.

"I did hang it up pretty easily," he said. "I'm kind of thinking to myself, 'Do I really want to be up past midnight?' "

Brokaw does make a prediction about the election's outcome, however: "This could be the year that we throw everybody out. Incumbents are going to have a rough time."

Lately Brokaw has been less concerned about politics, which used to be his journalistic passion, than the American soldiers serving in Iraq. He has always retained an affinity for veterans, which prompted his book on World War II soldiers.

"However people feel about the decision to put our army in Iraq, we cannot forget the men and women in uniform," Brokaw said. "That's inappropriate."

In a piece that aired on "Today" on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Brokaw mourned the lost opportunity for empathy and unity from the rest of the world.

"We're struggling with perception that it's our way or the highway," Brokaw said by phone last week. "Diplomacy has not been on the front burner for a while."

Brokaw bounces among his New York office, his Montana home and speaking engagements and reporting projects all over the world. He has, as he concedes, failed miserably to retire.

"It was supposed to be a 65/35 split, with 65 percent of my time for me," he chuckled. "But it's flipped the other direction, and I've got to get that reversed. I'm part of what they call the 'new old people.' We're having a hard time acknowledging that it's time to slow down."

dholloway@statesman.com; 445-3608