The Bitter Tears of Jessica Savitch

Published on May 30th, 2009 in: Feminism, Issues, TV |

The proverbial nail in the coffin of her network career occurred on the evening of October 3, 1983. Jessica appeared on an NBC News Digest obviously high, and fumbled heroically over her copy; she especially butchered the word “constitutional” in a manner which suggested she was not at all sober. She has a glazed, unfocused facial expression which is uncharacteristic of her other TV work. Her delivery was so slow and tranquilized that the network’s automatic timer cut off the end of her 43-second broadcast.

A clip of this video still exists, and is beyond painful to watch. Jessica denied being under the influence of drugs after this incident took place; she blamed several factors, including but not limited to, having a glass of wine before the broadcast and being on painkillers due to recent cosmetic surgery. NBC higher-ups were not impressed, and it was apparent to them that Jessica was falling apart. An intervention was scheduled at the end of the month to convince the anchorwoman that she needed professional and psychiatric help.

savitch nbc everett collection
Photo © NBC/Everett Collection

Unfortunately, this intervention would never take place. Less than a month after the ill-fated broadcast, Jessica accepted a dinner invitation with a suitor in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Weather conditions on this particular day were poor, and after dinner the car she was traveling in accidentally backed up into a water-filled canal. All inhabitants inside the vehicle drowned.

Jessica Savitch died at the obscenely young age of 36, and the loss to television was inestimable. One can speculate that if she had survived she may have made some sort of “comeback”; if the intervention had been successful, she may have turned her life around, and revitalized her blighted career. However, Jessica Savitch has been regarded as a cautionary tale in the world of broadcast journalism. She came to NBC wholly unprepared to attack a Senate beat, and instead would have most likely succeeded in “people oriented” stories, which were the kinds of items she excelled at in Houston and in Philadelphia. Jessica Savitch has been regarded as merely a footnote in broadcast news history, which is tragic in itself; after all, Jessica did break new ground for women in journalism, having been one of the first female TV anchorwomen in the canon.

Sources:

Nash, Alanna. Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch. New York: HarperCollins, 1988.

The title of this article is inspired by the film The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1972).

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7 Responses to “The Bitter Tears of Jessica Savitch”


  1. JL:
    May 31st, 2009 at 8:38 am

    Excellent essay. More proof of how the tv/entertainment machine chews up and spits out its ‘product’. Very sad and sobering. And STILL relevant.

  2. Rev. Syung Myung Me:
    May 31st, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    Gorgeous piece — very sad…

  3. Popshifter:
    June 1st, 2009 at 11:24 am

    I must give my kudos to you, too, Emily. My sister’s father had a bit of a crush on Savitch back in the day but I wasn’t old enough to discuss these kinds of issues with him in a meaningful way. Unfortunately, he passed away about a year before she did.

    LLM

  4. emilyc:
    June 1st, 2009 at 2:17 pm

    Thank you all 🙂 Her story is very sad and haunts me.

  5. Caique:
    May 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 am

    I wonder if anyone at NBC ever approached Jessica and said something like, “You need help. And I’m going to see to it that you get that help.” Did they just leave her to twist in the wind?

  6. emilyc:
    May 22nd, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    I think some NBC people seriously were going to approach her about an intervention but unfortunately she died before this was going to take place. 🙁

  7. Robbie:
    January 15th, 2011 at 8:17 pm

    Not a day goes by without thinking about Jessica Beth Savitch. I remember her well on NBC doing the mini digest reports. She is sadly missed. She was in my view, a great journalist and was ahead of her time. Many books that were written about her tell a biased view and not the truth. I am sure she had problems mostly dealing with the fact her father died when she was a child and that profoundly affected her. She did have relationships with men she considered like her father.
    Her technique and style of broadcast journalism is not as copied or borrowed anylonger. After her death in 1983 many journalists for a short duration of time attempted her style but really could not duplicate her. She was one of a kind journalist.
    She had those piercing eyes that made you pay attention to her on the news. She looked as though she were talking to you only.

    Most journalists do fluff beats and junk news today. They also read the teleprompter so obvious. The makeup and hair today isn’t as great as times past. Pretty random.

    I would like to see real journalists return. Jane Pauley was good as was Connie Chung,Ann Bishop,Linda Ellerbee, and few others.







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