COMPLEXITY OF COVERING TODAY’S NEWS DEBATED

The news anchormen of the three major television networks agreed publicly on one thing Wednesday: It is increasingly difficult to know exactly how to cover the news in today’s fast-changing world.

“(Reporting) the news in this day and age is a crude art, not an exact science,” summarized CBS’ Dan Rather, referring to the complexities of shifting global events.

Rather was joined by NBC’s Tom Brokaw and ABC’s Peter Jennings in a question-and-answer session before about 1,000 members of the International Radio and Television Society at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Initial questions from the audience reflected the current problematic nature of making news judgments. Many concerned the decision by “NBC Nightly News” to broadcast an interview last week with terrorist leader Abul Abbas, who heads the radical Palestine Liberation Front and has acknowledged organizing the October hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, which resulted in the death of an American passenger. NBC has been criticized for making a deal with Abbas not to reveal his location.

“After a painstaking review of our decision, we have concluded that we would do the same again,” Brokaw said. “It was our initial judgment that Abbas was newsworthy in himself. His location was too, and we wish we had not had to make a deal (not to disclose it), but we did.”

Jennings agreed with Brokaw that “no harm has been done” by letting the American television audience hear Abbas’ point of view. “This is especially important given the reality of what’s going on in the Middle East today and of America’s place in it,” he said.

“Journalists as well as governments make mistakes when dealing with terrorists,” added Rather, who also said that such decisions by the networks’ news departments must be made according to “the situations as they arise,” and not according to “hard and fast rules.”

All three anchors expressed mixed feelings about recent trends in news gathering, such as sending anchors out on the road.

“I wish we wouldn’t do it too much, and only when it definitely adds to the story,” Rather said. He suggested that the motivation for such excursions often has been “to show off that we can present the news from some distant dateline.”

They also were uncertain as to the effect of local TV newscasts giving increasing attention to international stories, once the exclusive province of the national news programs. “I think it’s true that local news (coverage) helps validate the headlines of the day, but I don’t think we’ve quite figured out where we are in all of this,” Jennings said of the overlap.

In response to questions about the pressure on the news departments to achieve high ratings, Rather stated that “the principal competition that drives us is the drive to excel, not the drive for ratings.”

Jennings added humorously, “I don’t pay any attention to ratings. They’re reminiscent of high school report cards.”

All three anchors also expressed the view that, given the state of the world today, the 30-minute format of the nightly network newscasts is not sufficient to give viewers the information they need. “I feel we are still gathering 100 pounds of complicated news each day and having to fit it into a 10-pound sack,” Brokaw said.

He described himself as “an outspoken advocate” of a one-hour nightly news format. “I only hope I’m around long enough to see this change,” Brokaw added.