• by November 2, 2004

THE GREATEST ANCHOR OF OUR GENERATION - Tonight, after American voters have their say - or, more likely, in the days and possibly weeks ahead, when the American courts ultimately have their say - we'll finally know which White House tenant will be packing his bags.

But another equally profound departure, overlooked in all the hoopla surrounding the presidency, will be taking place. And it is one that, in some ways, represents a more significant change for several generations of Americans, even the greatest one.

Tom Brokaw, the long-running face in front of and brain behind NBC News, will be stepping down as the network's news anchor. It will mark the biggest changing of the news media guards since Walter Cronkite retired as the venerable anchor of CBS News.

In a society where spinning wheels often seem to loom so large, Americans have always sought to wrap themselves around a newsman who could, well, cut the cloth. And like Cronkite before him, Brokaw has come to represent some of that thread in the fabric that makes us a great society.

Hey, don't take our word on it. Just ask the American public. Actually, the researchers at InsightExpress just did. And what they found was that Americans trust Brokaw far more than any other news anchor, and by a significant margin.

Asked who they trust to give news coverage that is "balanced, with no bias," 28 percent of the people surveyed last week by InsightExpress named Brokaw. The next most trusted ABC anchor was Peter Jennings, who was cited by 24 percent. Placing a distant third was CBS' Dan Rather.

Interestingly, that places Rather barely ahead of Tim Russert (16 percent). Even more interesting, is that Russert is well ahead of Brokaw's NBC News anchor heir Brian Williams, who commands trust among just 8 percent. That puts Williams behind PBS' Jim Leher (15 percent), and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly (12 percent) and Britt Hume (10 percent).

While Brokaw isn't exactly riding off into the sunset of network news (he will continue to do special projects for NBC), his retirement as anchor symbolizes the beginning of the end of what could well be called the greatest generation of TV news. He is the first of the Big 3 news anchors to step down, and many would argue that Dan Rather, while still a rock solid newsman, shouldn't be far behind. Peter Jennings too.

In a bigger way, Brokaw, Rather, and Jennings represent the end of era of TV newsmen that carry the legacy of Cronkite, Edward R. Morrow, and their ilk. They also represent a time when Americans depended on network news to frame the issues of their day. That clearly is no longer the case in an era of 24-hour cable news, news Web sites, and now, blogs, which are diluting the significance of any individual news outlet, or news outlet's anchor.

Brokaw's departure is symbolic in another way, because he personally brokered the deal that put NBC into news partnership with Microsoft, creating the first network-based cable news channel spin-off, MSNBC, as well as its companion Web news site.

Brokaw did this as a result of a chance personal encounter with Microsoft's Bill Gates in which one thing led to another thing. That's the stature of Tom Brokaw. And it's why we'll miss him, at least as part of our daily news diet.

It also reminds us of our own personal encounter with Brokaw. Not that he'd remember it, but we were in the office of then NBC News President Andy Lack, when Brokaw suddenly burst in, energized about some news development he just had to kick around with the boss. Upon noticing us sitting in a chair, he demurred apologetically, then proceeded to pump Lack for his perspective.

Needless to say, we were enthralled by the up-close encounter. It was one of those moments for us when you feel like you're privy to the real thing. It was a moment we would describe only as being star-struck. Like being in the presence of greatness. In fact, the only other personal encounter we can recall like that was actually meeting another greatest - Muhammad Ali.

Who do you trust to give you news coverage that is balanced, with no bias:

Tom Brokaw	28%
Peter Jennings	24%
Dan Rather	18%
Tim Russert	16%
Jim Leher	15%
Bill O'Reilly	12%
Britt Hume	10%
George Stephanopoulos	8%
Brian Williams	8%
Bob Schieffer	8%
Paula Zahn	7%
Larry King	6%
Tony Snow	6%
Chris Matthews	5%
Aaron Brown	4%
Gwen Ifell	3%

Source: InsightExpress. Base = 500 people surveyed online on Oct. 29.