MARGINALIZING THE SLEAZE MERCHANTS
Wrapping up RISK's debut in Chicago...
...I was invited by Barnes & Noble's Katie Schwartz to her new store at 1441 West Webster for a book signing. Pitted against Michael Jordan's Bulls in championship action with the Jazz, we drew a small but tuned-in gathering of Chicagoans. Most of them came to ask me some challenging questions about the state of American broadcast journalism.I've got to admit that I was disappointed to discover that more than a few people who turned out to meet me are deeply skeptical about our industry's chances of returning to a more trustworthy, less exploitative-and-bottom-line oriented approach to bringing Americans their news.
Then again, in the aftermath of NBC's disastrous attempt to graft afternoon talk show host Jerry Springer onto Chicago's respected Channel 5 evening news program, it shouldn't come as a surprise that people are getting fed up with the big news companies' feverish grab for ratings and cash.
One cause for hope, though -- the current growth in audience for quality American broadcasting like National Public Radio. NPR executives and program makers met in Chicago last weekend and Judy Blank of WNYC's national broadcast "On the Media" asked me to speak to a gathering of the network's programmers. Endorsing the show is a pleasure for me: host Alex Jones' penetrating approach to profiling the news media and exploring the rapidly changing electronic and print landscape in America is long overdue on these shores. In Britain, where I live, nearly every channel, station and publication features some kind of critical examination of the news media's excesses and lapses of professional tact and judgement. "On the Media" has been widely praised and it's clear that more and more NPR stations will be carrying the show.
That's good news, in view of the continuing deterioration of balance and perspective in America's broadcast news agenda. We're seeing and hearing one example this week in the controversy over Air Force General Joseph Ralston's withdrawal from consideration for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Sure, this is an important story -- to a point. But let's just call ourselves a time out and ask ourselves this question: should the consequences of Ralston's adulterous affair a decade ago and the striking contrasts to the harsh treatment given Lt. Kelly Flinn, the B-52 pilot drummed out of the service following her affair with a married man, become the stuff of national obsession? Of course not.
But even while Americans and their home towns face greater potential impact from events overseas such as the approach of war in and around Israel and the collapse of order in North Korea (both of which pose immediate economic, military and political consequences to the United States) the air waves here were choked with squishy group discussions by journalists about the meaning of adultery -- some that I saw deteriorated into the kind of personal life confessionals more appropriate to Mr. Springer's brand of television.
The solution, of course, is for American journalists to re-assert their fair share of influence over their companies' judgement of what, exactly, constitutes the news. The truth is that balance and perspective, like accuracy, is essential to sound commerical and public broadcasting -- and profits. Especially at the bottom line, quality can beat sensationalism, as long as mature and thoughtful news and business judgement come together. How does that happen ?