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Subscribe to RSSAfter 37 years of working on stories for the NBC News Washington bureau, video editor Rich Clark is retiring after tonight's broadcast.
Several years into his tenure, Rich began numbering every tape he put into an editing machine. He watched the tape technology evolve, and the machines become more sophisticated and speedy; and today when we took a photograph of one of the last tapes Rich handled, his count had reached almost 40,000.
That's a mind-boggling number in a business that is as ephemeral as ours, but Rich stood out all of those years for his solid, steady, quiet professionalism. One veteran put it like this: When a young producer came into Rich's edit room and was unsteady and inexperienced, Rich raised that producer's work up, taught the producer new ways of looking at things, and made that producer better. When an older producer came into Rich's room, frenzied and determined to stake out new visual heights, Rich calmed that producer down with a steady hand and guided the producer back to calm waters and realistic goals.
Rich Clark taught a lot of "Nightly News" producers, and producers for other NBC network broadcasts, a brand of journalism that they could be proud of, and never wavered from his dedication to excellence. Like most veterans, he was a stickler for the fundamentals. From visual clarity to good grammar, he led a generation of journalists. We will miss him, and we wish him well.
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Best wishes to Rich Clark and continued happiness. And I finally get the joke,. "Memoirs of An
Invisible Man" by H.F. Saint "If only you could see me now. If you were to walk into this room now,
you would find it quite empty---an empty chair......etc, etc.(opening paragraph)
On Thursday night it was Obama 2012 vs. Obama 2008 which, of course, brings to mind Clint Eastwood
and the empty chair with the President who, unfortunately, did not renew his vow to move beyond the pettiness
of the Beltway. A pedestrian speech, and I will leave it at that.
Brian, another terrific broadcast this evening and an interesting story about the Mayor of New York which
reminds me that when my brother moved to Florida, Mother would "smuggle" him Red Cream Sodas
I am looking forward to Rock Center later this evening.
Lester, a great broadcast this Saturday evening. Anybody who knows me, knows I have a religious worldview
and in rereading Revelation 22, "the leaves of trees and healing of nations" I thought of the upcoming
UN Meeting later this month and Jane Austen's Elinor who said to her sister Marrianne "It is not
everyone who has your passion for dead leaves." Have a great weekend all!!! PS George Washington
was quoting as saying "You cannot govern without the Bible."
Brian, As always a terrific broadcast. The 2012 election may decide either the renewing of America
or the dismantling of America. It can be the point of no return. Have a nice day and I look forward
to Nightly News this evening because NBC will always be there to report Breaking News.