Reuven Frank (7 December 1920 – 5 February 2006) was an American broadcast news executive.

Life and career

Born Israel Reuven Frank (he later dropped his first name) to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, he earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of s ...

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

. He served four years in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, rising to the rank of

sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...

. After completing his studies at the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism ...

, he worked for three years at the ''

Newark Evening News The ''Newark Evening News'' was an American newspaper published in Newark, New Jersey. As New Jersey's largest city, Newark played a major role in New Jersey's journalistic history. At its apex, ''The News'' was widely regarded as the newspaper ...

'' as a

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

rewrite man Rewrite and rewriting may refer to: *Script doctoring, revisions to an existing script for stage and screen productions *Rewriting, methods for replacing elements of a formula with other suitable expressions, in mathematics, computer science, and ...

and night

city editor A city editor is a title used by a particular section editor of a newspaper. They are responsible for the daily changes of a particular issue of a newspaper that will be released in the coming day. Mostly they stay at the publication at night and t ...

. At the insistence of

Gerald Green Gerald Green (born January 26, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 18th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. Know ...

, he joined

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

as a writer for the ''

Camel News Caravan ''The Camel News Caravan'' or ''Camel Caravan of News'' was a 15-minute American television news program aired by NBC News from February 16, 1949 to October 26, 1956. Sponsored by the Camel cigarette brand and anchored by John Cameron Swayze, i ...

'' in 1950. Frank was a key figure in bringing television news out of the shadow of radio news by emphasizing the importance of visuals in telling stories. He paired

Chet Huntley Chet is a masculine given name, often a nickname for Chester, which means ''fortress'' or ''camp''. It is an uncommon name of English origin, and originated as a surname to identify people from the city of Chester, England. Chet was ranked 1,027th ...

and

David Brinkley David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, '' The Huntley–Brinkl ...

for the first time to co-anchor NBC's coverage of the 1956 Democratic and

Republican National Conventions The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

. Later that same year, he created the groundbreaking '' Huntley-Brinkley Report'', and was its producer until 1964. The national catchphrase "Good night, David" "Good night, Chet" was credited to Frank. Frank's

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

included

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning report '' The Tunnel'' (1962) about the escape of 59 Germans through a passage under the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...

. It received the

for program of the year, the only documentary ever so honored. In the 1970s, he created and was executive producer of '' Weekend'', a news magazine hosted by

Lloyd Dobyns Lloyd Allen Dobyns Jr. (March 12, 1936 – August 22, 2021) was an American news reporter and correspondent. He worked for NBC from 1969 to 1986, hosting '' Weekend'', ''NBC News Overnight'', and '' Monitor''. Early life Dobyns was born in New ...

that originally aired one Saturday a month from 11:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. The program received a Peabody award.

Linda Ellerbee Linda Ellerbee (born Linda Jane Smith; August 15, 1944) is an American journalist, anchor, producer, reporter, author, speaker and commentator, noted as longtime Washington correspondent for NBC News and host of NBC News Overnight. She is wide ...

later joined as co-host. Frank served two tenures as president of

, from 1968 to 1974 and from 1982 to 1984, and mentored such journalists as

Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of '' ...

John Chancellor John William Chancellor (July 14, 1927 – July 12, 1996) was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He is considered a pioneer in TV news. He served as anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News'' from 1970 to 1982 and continu ...

, and

Andrea Mitchell Andrea Mitchell (born October 30, 1946) is an American television journalist, anchor and commentator for NBC News, based in Washington, D.C. She is NBC News' chief foreign affairs & chief Washington correspondent, reporting on the 2008 presi ...

. His memoir, ''Out of Thin Air: The Brief Wonderful Life of Network News'', was published in 1991. Frank was a resident of

Tenafly, New Jersey Tenafly () is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 census the borough had a population of 15,409,

. He died of pneumonia on February 5, 2006 at the age of 85. He was a member of Temple Sinai of Bergen County.

Personal life

In 1946, he married Bernice Kaplow; they had two sons: notable art critic Peter Solomon Frank and James Aaron Frank.

Quotes

*"Sunshine is a weather report, a flood is news." Frank to Floyd Abrams. *"The highest power of television journalism is not in the transmission of information but in the transmission of experience."

References

Other references

* *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Reuven 1920 births 2006 deaths Jewish American journalists American television journalists Canadian emigrants to the United States City College of New York alumni Deaths from pneumonia in New Jersey NBC executives Journalists from Montreal People from Tenafly, New Jersey Presidents of NBC News American male journalists 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews