Peter Jennings: Looking Bushed

By Stephen M. Silverman

Friday June 26, 1998 12:00 AM EDT

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Did ABC "World News Tonight" anchor Peter Jennings grimace as George W. Bush accepted victory in the Florida election on Sunday? Or didn't he? That is the question that was debated in an unspecified number of e-mails that the anchor received from viewers after the Texas governor delivered his acceptance speech telecast live last weekend. "There were a lot of e-mail messages today that suggested that the look on my face after Bush spoke was disapproving -- even biased," Jennings wrote in his own daily e-mail to viewers on Monday. "Actually, I was struck by the fact that it was a very serious moment, and we treated it accordingly." (Despite Jennings's comment about the volume of e-mails he received, an ABC News spokeswoman told Variety that it was only a small number.) Jennings has previously been accused of a particular political leaning, he admitted. Calling it "the eye of the beholder syndrome," Jennings revealed that a professor once concluded that every time President Reagan appeared on TV, Jennings would smile -- obviously indicating that he was a Republican. "I wondered at the time whether his college thought that was a worthwhile way to spend research money," wrote Jennings.