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February 24, 1998
THE MATTER WITH MONICA The issue comes up right off the top... ...whether it's a cub reporter's debut on general assignment, or a student's first day in Journalism 101. It goes like this: In the real world, there will be censors -- official or unofficial forces that will try to block your quest for the facts and your reporting of a story. There will be temptation, too -- groups and individuals that will place favors, even payoffs, in your path to divert investigation. And there will be occasional, perhaps even frequent, resistance to your reportorial efforts from the powers a journalist is least equipped to combat -- the management and ownership of your own news organization. All this comes with the territory. Pick up a pen and reporters' notebook, and you sign on for the obstacles, too. But this is, as well, a key part of the journalist's most basic objective: establishing a bond of trust with your readers, listeners or viewers, proving to them that you have allowed nothing and no-one to block your efforts to get at the truth of a situation and relay it faithfully home. This imperative of dealing decisively with ethical dilemmas is one of the defining characteristics of professional journalism. If we're working honestly, far from avoiding these dilemmas, our legwork should propel us in their direction. Solving them should come down to these basic questions: what course of action is in the best interests of the families and communities we report to ? What can we do to be more relevant, accurate and responsible ? Most important, how do we balance our companies' quest for profit with the primary requirements of accuracy, balance and reason ? All of this, to put it bluntly, is what's the matter with Monica. While it's true that coverage of the confrontation in Iraq has caused us to see and hear much less about the White House sex scandal, the inside-the-Beltway intrigue surrounding Monica Lewinsky remains an obsession for much of the American commercial news media -- and for all the wrong reasons, judging from the explanations and excuses of too many leading commentators and broadcast executives. For example, get past all the stock phrases about the importance of finding out if the President lied, and the justification brandished by the big networks comes down to one salient factor: Monica's been good for the ratings; the scandal has been a money-maker. This commercially-induced dysfunction of journalistic responsibility is nothing new. But the Monica saga constitutes the most graphic -- and useful -- illustration we've seen of the mismanagement that has done so much to erode the nation's confidence in its broadcast news establishment. Covering only hot easy topics that spike the ratings curve might be good for short-term earnings. But over the long term, it's a different story. The public's increasing mistrust of television news (a recent TIME/CNN poll found that 77% of Americans believe the networks want to get the story first, while only 19% believe they care to get it right) is a damning indictment of the industry's abandonment of rational and professional editorial inquiry across the full spectrum of the nation's business at home and around the world. The White House sex scandal fits fabulously in to the category of "familiar human dramas" -- the term NBC Entertainment Division president Warren Littlefield coined in sworn testimony in Kent vs. NBC (RISK AND REDEMPTION, pages 227-230.) The President's celebrity is an added bonus; this is melodrama on overdrive. Mr. Littlefield's testimony provides revealing background to the symptoms of hyper-commercialism at NBC and elsewhere in the news business. He testified that he instituted the theme of compelling drama as the News Division's new objective in scoring higher ratings -- and he stated for the record of the court that the network's bosses, GE Chairman Jack Welch and Bob Wright, the GE-appointed NBC network president, had given the Entertainment Division specific instructions to break down the News Division's editorial autonomy, and to assume direct control over first promotion, then content, of the newsmagazine Dateline NBC. Further to this, a former News Division vice-president, Jeff Gaspin, testified that Entertainment executives made aggressive demands on programming Dateline (RISK AND REDEMPTION, pages 218-220). "They (the demands) were usually quite tabloid in nature." Mr. Gaspin was asked to define the term 'tabloid.' "It grabs you more. It's sexier, sleazier, sometimes hotter, inappropriate." Another former News Division vice-president, Tim Miller, testified that there was some resistance from News staffers to the tabloidization of their division's programming, but that Entertainment Division executives ultimately prevailed -- mainly because news president Michael Gartner opted out of the battle (see RISK AND REDEMPTION, pages 231-235.) He, too, was GE's executive to command, and he bowed to the decree that journalistic practice become secondary to profit. What does the meltdown of core values at companies like NBC do to product reliability ? After all, aren't trustworthy, quality products crucial to long-term corporate stability ? You bet, which is why the exploitation of the Monica saga spells trouble over the long term. By allowing themselves to become pawns in the evidentiary struggle among Kenneth Starr, the White House and the sad gossiping supporting cast of this sordid drama, the Beltway Bores blow their credibility for the future. They cannot escape the broad public perception that from day one, reporting of the sex scandal has been thick with factual inaccuracy, poor sourcing and presumptuous, opinionated commentary. Thankfully, Americans are demanding genuine information on Iraq and other issues of real consequence to their families and communities. The broadcast networks' response should be swift. They should revive their overseas news gathering forces, slashed by up to half strength in the months after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The news companies should get out of cheap drama, and back into the business of gathering fresh facts and footage. And all of us should remember the lessons of Journalism 101. Success is not measured by the willingness with which we cave in to greed. Instead, it's all about how well we resist the censors, interlopers and clowns trying to cheat the public. |
| Next time... | the many important American stories we've missed while Monica and Saddam have filled our screens.
See you then... |