Tonight: ‘Peter Jennings Reporting’

Tonight, Peter Jennings‘ final documentary airs on ABC. “Peter Jennings Reporting: Breakdown — America’s Health Insurance Crisis” airs at 10pm.

In the introduction to the special, Charlie Gibson notes that Jennings reported more than 60 documentaries during his tenure at ABC. “So many of these programs often revealed Jennings at his very best — as a remarkably thoughtful newsman and reporter of the first order,” Verne Gay writes.

Jennings was unable to narrate this last special, but he does appear on-screen. He conducted most of the interviews before he learned he had lung cancer, and the broadcast was written and edited while he underwent treatment.

Gay reviews: “There is no hellfire or damnation in “Crisis” about a subject that has drawn both; instead Jennings and producer Keith Summa present a (mostly) thorough, intelligent and balanced hour on a subject of vast importance while the conclusion veers perilously close to this: The country’s health care crisis, in which over 40 million-and-counting are uninsured while insurance rates continue their unabated rise, is the fault … of us. That may not be the culprit we’d prefer, but “Crisis” offers a compelling reason why it’s the logical one.”