TV REVIEW : ‘Ask the Media’ Falls Far Short of Lofty Goal

Judging by some of the questions and the general grumbling afterward, many members of the Old Globe theater audience felt cheated by Sunday’s heavily hyped “Ask the Media” program, moderated by ABC anchorman Peter Jennings.

“The way this forum is organized suggests why many of us are unhappy with the media,” one questioner told the panel near the end of the program, summing up the feelings of many in the crowd.

Billed as an opportunity for the public to grill the media, the program, produced by ABC-affiliate KGTV (Channel 10), instead wallowed in self-promotion for the station. From the panel stacked with Channel 10 employees to shots of Channel 10 personnel watching in the audience, there was a general self-congratulatory tone to the event that didn’t go unnoticed by the audience.

At one point, a questioner flatly asked Channel 10 general manager Ed Quinn why no other television stations were represented on the panel.

“It’s our show,” Quinn replied.

Fortunately, Jennings was there to put the response in perspective.

“Hands up who thought that was a mealy-mouthed answer,” Jennings said. Hands went up throughout the crowd.

People wouldn’t have been so upset if the concept of the program hadn’t held such promise. People have real questions about the operations of the media, evidenced by the tremendous response for tickets to the show.

However, despite the station’s best efforts to promote the forum as the most important event since the first walk on the moon, the program fell far short of being a “unique drama,” as the event’s slick program promised.

The panel, which included Channel 10 employees Quinn, anchorman Stephen Clark and commentator Herb Cawthorne, found it difficult to discuss the real issues of how and why the media cover stories. San Diego Tribune Editor Neil Morgan was the only representative of a daily newspaper, and Clark was the closest thing to a television reporter on the panel.

Panelists Cawthorne and ex-mayor-turned-radio-talk-show-host Roger Hedgecock seemed better suited to be asking questions, rather than answering for the media, considering the well-covered scandals both have lived through. Both were feisty and articulate, but they were far from representing the viewpoint of the working press.

At one point, Cawthorne suggested that major newspapers don’t go after big corporations because companies “pay the freight,” a suggestion most in the media find ludicrous.

Near the end of the show, Hedgecock astounded more than one member of the audience by saying the relationship between the press and politicians “must be adversarial.” This from a man who has claimed for years that the press hounded him from office.

The best debate was invariably between panelists, not between the audience and the panel as it should have been.

El Sol de San Diego editor and publisher Julie Rocha--who was on the panel to “keep up the women’s end as well as many others,” Jennings told the audience before the live broadcast started--challenged the minority hiring practices of local media.

“When I turn on Channel 10 I’m not seeing anything but white faces at the anchor desk,” she said.

Later she challenged the Tribune’s hiring practices, questioning if Latinos are being promoted.

“They are on the way up,” said Morgan, who earlier was challenged by Jennings over his suggestion that Dan Rather’s interview with Saddam Hussein was more entertainment than news.

“When will they arrive?” Rocha shot back.

“They’re arriving,” Morgan said rather weakly.

Rocha’s comments were a sharp contrast to Clark’s, who said earlier he was just glad he wasn’t discriminated against because he is white. Fortunately, later in the program, a member of the audience made it clear that there were several qualified blacks and Hispanics who were equally qualified for anchor jobs.

Quinn, termed “that smilin’ Irishman” by one questioner, drew the most vehement responses from the audience and was the panelist most prone to spurts of rhetoric. At one point, Jennings asked Quinn if Channel 10 had an environmental reporter.

“We have people specializing in different areas and some overlap,” Quinn said. To put it more succinctly, the answer was no.

Even honesty got Quinn in trouble. He drew a chorus of boos when he bluntly stated that promotions for the news during prime time, which purposely don’t tell viewers the whole story, are designed to attract ratings.

The panel was not helped by several vague and poorly worded questions from the audience, but when serious issues did crystallize, the panel seemed unable or unwilling to tackle the question.

For example, the very real question of why the media don’t better cover lesser-known political candidates was indirectly raised, but was never really addressed by the panel.