TELEVISION - Feb. 20, 1993

Model Behavior: NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw is smarting over criticism of his appearance in a mail-order sportswear catalogue that pictures him during a vacation in the Russian Far East last summer. Patagonia sportswear shows the anchorman in a double-page spread that, as Brokaw described it, includes an “uncaptioned group photo of us on the kayaking trip--I’m barely recognizable--and on the other page in a box is my account of flying into the area.” He said he wrote the article as a favor to a traveling companion, mountain-climber Yvon Chouinard, who owns the sportswear company. Newsday columnist Ben Kubasik said, “Some have questioned whether the photo makes it look as if Brokaw is pitching sales of the company’s shelled Synchilla jackets.” Brokaw said he had called Kubasik to complain--”there’s no mention of Patagonia. . . . To suggest in any remote form that I would do such a thing is outrageous.”