I am sad to report that former “News at Six” anchor and six time Emmy Award winner, Brian Rolfe, has passed away. I was just on the air in Washington, DC, when he passed. I guess you could say that I was at his funeral.
Brian Rolfe had one of the longest and most successful careers in television news. He made it out of the ’70s and ’80s with a decent career in the ’90s, but then came in with a ’01s career that wasn’t good. I can’t tell you what he was doing that caused the demise of his career, I know I can’t. But his last few years were a bit rough.
Brian Rolfe was one of the first anchors to use a helicopter as a news vehicle. He was also one of the first to call out the media for being out of control and on the side of the angels. He was the first to call out what he called the “screw ‘em” culture. His show, “The Rolfe Report,” was an instant success and still remains the go-to show for TV news.
Brian Rolfe died at his desk of apparent suicide. That’s not even the worst thing he ever died. He was also a pretty interesting guy. He wrote a book (which is about how to start your own TV show) and he really tried to change the way that news organizations were run.
Rolfe was a rather controversial figure. He was the first to call out what he called the screw em culture when he was a news anchor on the PBS NewsHour. He was also the first to put it into the “what else is a person supposed to do” category. He was also one of the very first people to start making the distinction between fact and opinion in relation to stories. When you don’t have the facts, you have to make an assumption.
Rolfe was a controversial figure because his views were at odds with the mainstream. He was a controversial figure because he was very quick to criticize what he saw as the mainstream and to take on and fight for what he felt was right. As one person pointed out on the TV discussion show, he was so quick to take on the establishment in the newsroom that he was a bully.
Rolfe was not a bully. At least, not to the extent that he was a bully to people he disagreed with. As a matter of fact he was one of the few news anchors you could actually watch be a bully to. That’s part of his character, part of his personality. He was the one person on the news that you could actually see be a bully.
Rolfe was very quick to get into and out of fights. He was also quick to go back to his anchor chair once he was on the air. He was the one person on the news that had the ability to hold people’s attention, he was the one person on the news that held your interest. He was the one person on the news that you could actually watch be a bully.
The fact is some people don’t like to jump on the Internet. So when you get into a situation like this, how do you handle it? Why can’t you just listen to yourself? That’s what you might do.
The good news is that we’re getting a lot of good news here from a guy who has been on the news for so long, that he seems to have been able to hold it together. You might find that you have to be a little more self-aware when you’re talking to your friends, family and coworkers.
