[BC] Regarding Interruptions

[Robert Meuser]

This guy is out of touch. A crawl was totally adequate. A dead guy is 
going nowhere nor is he creating more news. As for the Tim Johnson 
thing, don't you think that the reporting could be considered to be 
biased in some fashion? As I read it, Katie is trying to appeal to the 
average viewer and their real issues; not the political junky.  I think 
this reporter should look at himself and examine his own bias and lack 
of information.

R


Reader wrote:

>
>> At 05:42 AM 12/29/2006, stanleybadams wrote
>> Man you guys just illustrate the rest of the hard nosed country.  An ex
>> president dies and you just want you CSI or L%O or Sex in the City to 
>> just
>> keep on spooling.
>
>
> CBS refuses to be interrupted by Ford's death
> By 
> <http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0612290134dec29,1,5045035.column?coll=chi-news-col>Phil 
> Rosenthal
> CHICAGO TRIBUNE
>
> When Lyndon Johnson died in January 1973, Tom Johnson, the former 
> president's spokesman, first informed The Associated Press and United 
> Press International and then the TV networks.
>
> The wire services still were processing the information when Walter 
> Cronkite took Johnson's call live on "The CBS Evening News," scoring a 
> beat.
>
> There was pride in relaying big stories first, putting one's stamp on 
> them, reminding viewers this was the channel to watch for the latest 
> news. But that was almost 34 years ago.
>
> When Gerald Ford died Tuesday, CBS didn't even interrupt a "Late Show 
> With David Letterman" rerun. It just ran the news as a headline across 
> the bottom of the screen. NBC held to tradition with a bulletin during 
> a rerun of "The Tonight Show," and ABC News immediately shifted gears 
> on "Nightline" with a special report.
>
> Forget about hiring Katie Couric, building a new set and the rest of 
> the cosmetic changes. Maybe this is the reinvention of TV news that 
> CBS Inc. boss Leslie Moonves promised, a recognition that news is 
> available in so many places now that content you provide 
> exclusively--even an old talk-show rerun--takes precedence.
>
> Or it might just have been a mistake.
>
> To ask CBS News for an explanation on its handling of the Ford story 
> is to be told by a spokeswoman that no one is available to address the 
> issue and be reminded the news was relayed in its own timely way.
>
> But when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was near death in 2004, 
> there were strict standing orders at CBS to run a "crawl" with news of 
> his long-anticipated passing rather than interrupt programming. The 
> producer who nonetheless cut into "CSI: New York" was fired.
>
> A check of the CBSNews.com blog, Public Eye, which is where the 
> network often does its soul-searching, finds it on hiatus until Jan. 
> 2. It may be instructive, however, to check a recent Public Eye 
> posting on the dubious decision of Couric's "Evening News" to lead 
> with a story on holiday shopping on the day Sen. Tim Johnson of South 
> Dakota suffered a brain hemorrhage. The news of how Johnson's 
> condition could jeopardize the Democrats' newly won majority in the 
> Senate led on ABC and NBC but ran third on CBS
>
> Public Eye's Brian Montopoli asked "CBS Evening News" executive 
> producer Rome Hartman to answer criticism of that call. He got a no 
> comment on that one too.
>
> Note to CBS News: If transparency is to be anything more than a 
> marketing gimmick, it's necessary for everyone to get close enough to 
> the glass for us to see, hear and interact with them.
>
> We all grew up in an era when the way to convey the importance of 
> particularly momentous breaking news was to cut in with a "We 
> interrupt this broadcast for a special bulletin" announcement. Once 
> whatever relevant available details were exhausted, it was: "Stay 
> tuned for more on this story. We now return you to our regular 
> programming, already in progress." 
> (<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0612290134dec29,1,5045035.column?coll=chi-news-col>more) 
>
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