Jim Gardner’s final broadcast: Watch his last message to ‘Action News’ viewers

So as some of you might know, this was my last shot anchoring the 6-o’clock news at Channel 6 and trying to get it right.

The first time was May 11, 1977. I was six days short of my 29th birthday. Foremost on my mind was trying to avoid humiliating myself or embarrassing this television station, but there were enough talented and truly supporting people holding me up so that we avoided a disastrous start.

I was searching for my voice, and probably didn’t really find it until the pope came to town in 1979. We did two full days of unscripted television. Everybody seems to think we did a good job. I thought I did, too.

It was only after that experience that I finally felt worthy to represent the efforts of the members of the Action News team. And in my mind, that’s when we — and I mean, you and I — really started this journey together. A journey that ends tonight.

In fact, we traveled through much of our lives together. I’ve been reading comments from so many of you about how you once watched us with your parents, even your grandparents, and now that you’re a parent or even a grandparent, we are still part of your day, a part of your world. That sense of being engaged in a generational relationship has been profoundly satisfying to me and to my colleagues.

I do appreciate all the kindnesses and even expressions of sadness that some viewers have relayed to me over the past year, and especially over the last number of weeks. But what I need you to know is how much I’m going to miss you.

We have long had an unstated agreement, you and I. I like to say that we formed a covenant years ago — we give you respect, and our commitment to reporting in a no-nonsense way those things that are important to you, and making sure that what we tell you is accurate and fair. We also promised to share in your joys and your sadnesses, your triumphs and your losses, because they are ours, too. We are all members of the same community. And we have the same very high stakes in its well-being.

And in return for all of this, you gave us just one thing — your trust. Well, maintaining that trust became the most important motivator for me coming to work every day and doing the absolute best job that we could, that I could.

And that’s why I feel so good about the future of the two newscasts where I hung out for all these years. Rick Williams has quickly made Action News at 11 into his own broadcast, with the help of astoundingly good producers, and so many other Action News folks. And if there was another anchor who feels more committed to furthering our unique relationship with you, I’d like to meet him or her.

Brian Taff is a consummate journalist who will easily be the smartest person ever named to be anchor of Action News at 6. And like Rick has done at 11, Brian will join the magnificent Cecily Tynan and, oh yeah, Deuces, to form the best 6 o’clock anchor team in America.

I can’t let this broadcast end without saying that I have adored working with Jamie Pschorr, who has produced Action News at 6 since 2011. Jamie, we have run a marathon together and, predictably, you carried me over the finish line.

My wife, Amy, and son, Jesse, are in the back of the studio right now. Amy, you have been and continue to be my beacon. And Jesse, you are a shining star. And I can feel the light of my other children, even from a distance.

Permit me a final word, if you would. The American free press has been under attack, not by forces from other countries, but from elements embedded in our own society, and even our own government. It worries me deeply. And it both feeds into and exploits people’s lack of understanding of what the founders intended by the kind of democracy that the U.S. and only a handful of other nations aspire to.

Thomas Jefferson said to John Jay in 1786, “Our Liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.” Jefferson, we concur. We are not the enemy of the people. Serving the people — you, the people of the tri-state area, with responsible and unbiased journalism — this is our mission now and in the future. And if we falter, you damn well better let us know, for your benefit and for ours.

Brian Taff will be sitting in this chair tomorrow night at 6. And I won’t be terribly surprised if he is still sitting here decades from now. Funny how that seems to happen here at Action News.

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is next on Channel 6. And then please join Rick Williams, Cecily Tynan and Deuces Rodgers for Action News at 11, here on Channel 6.

For the entire Action News team, I’m Jim Gardner. Goodnight