Dallas - Fort Worth news and WFAA 8 anchor John McCaa are synonymous. McCaa, the first African-American male anchor in DFW, has been with the now TEGNA owned station for 35 years.
Friday night, the longtime 5, 6, and 10pm news anchor signed off from the news for the last time as he heads into retirement. Embedded above is his last commentary segment:
The wisest kids know: It is almost always better to observe, than to be observed. But that’s not easy in a world where they see adults, trading threats and insults in tweets and posts.
We in the media haven’t helped much, focusing on getting it first, rather than getting it right.
Social media showed promise: the one place – the one campfire – around which our diverse society could gather and identify some common ground. But that didn’t last.
We seem to be fraying at the edges.
And it will get worse until we muster the courage to ignore those who hope to keep us confused, divided, disinterested in identifying the ties that bind.
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McCaa came to WFAA in 1984 where he started as a reporter in the Fort Worth bureau. He was promoted to Chief of the Fort Worth Newsroom. Later, moved to the Dallas newsroom as a news manager and weekend anchor. From there he joined the 5pm before he became one of the main anchors.
He started his television career in Omaha at WOWT where he worked for seven hears.
The Creighton University graduated earned a BA in Journalism.
Replacing McCaa along side anchor Cynthia Izaguirre will be Chris Lawrence who is joining channel 8 from NBC O&O WRC Washington, D.C.
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