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The state funeral for former President Gerald Ford brought all three network anchors to Washington DC for live coverage. Their evening newscasts offered a recap of the day's solemnities at the National Cathedral. With one more day of coverage still to come--his burial tomorrow in Grand Rapids--Ford's observances have already surpassed those for Ronald Reagan in minutes of coverage on the networks' nightly newscasts. No disrespect to the dead--but Ford's funeral has been overplayed.

Along with the two Presidents Bush and Ford's Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, NBC's former anchor Tom Brokaw offered a eulogy at the National Cathedral on behalf of the White House press corps. "We are at our best when we come together on these occasions," he mused about the American people in general. "The streets along the motorcade route were lined with citizens, three and four deep," ABC's Charles Gibson (subscription required) observed. At the cathedral, "the theme of Ford's decency was what everyone stressed."

CBS' Katie Couric saw "a simple funeral--no horse-drawn caisson, no riderless horse, not a procession, but a motorcade." NBC's David Gregory disagreed. He called it "an elaborate farewell--for a modest man." That modest theme was echoed by mourners, NBC's Bob Faw found. Along with the political dignitaries, "everyday Americans respected, indeed identified with, this Accidental President…an uncommon commoner."

Andrew Tyndall 1/3/07 9:10:58 pm

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