Spain Gets a Full Courting From the Press

Repeat after me: The media in Spain fall heavily on the plain.

Spain--which the United States news media have rarely rushed to cover in the past--is now getting the full TV news treatment: the travelogues, cultural histories and human-interest sidebars that inevitably accompany coverage of big foreign stories. Remember Saudi Arabia?

It’s a nice little bonus from this week’s summit meeting and Middle East peace talks in Madrid and, if no serious violence erupts, a priceless video travel brochure for Spain itself.

Ordinarily, the departure of the present global media force from Madrid would automatically return Spain to its previous radar-blip status. But not this decade, for the swarm will return to Spain in 1992 for the Summer Olympics that will be telecast on NBC.

Perhaps that was one reason behind NBC’s decision to keep its highest-profile travelers in New York this time.

ABC sent “World News Tonight” anchor Peter Jennings and “Good Morning America” co-anchor Charles Gibson to Madrid, and CBS sent “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather and “CBS This Morning” co-anchor Harry Smith.

But NBC didn’t send Tom Brokaw to Madrid. It didn’t send Bryant Gumbel. It didn’t even send Willard.

Was it the money? NBC says no. Whatever the motivations for NBC’s decision, good for NBC in making it. Assigning news anchors to major stories may provide better exposure for the anchors, but it rarely provides better coverage of the story. On the contrary, their presence inevitably draws attention away from the story--to them.

For example, there was Jennings on “Good Morning America” Tuesday, in a “two shot” with Gibson, giving him a lesson on Middle East history and politics. Like a student listening intently to his mentor, Gibson took it all in silently, then requested, “Tell me about the Israeli situation.”

Uh oh, he didn’t raise his hand.

Just in case Jennings, who once covered the Middle East for ABC News, and his colleagues at the network get it wrong, however, KABC-TV Channel 7 sent its own designated foreign news specialist, Alex Paen, to Spain.

On Monday night, anchor Ann Martin spoke to Paen in Madrid via satellite, asking him if “the European press” was optimistic about the summit and peace talks.

That Martin would ask him such a blanket question was only slightly less astonishing than the fact that Paen attempted to answer it, leaving the impression that he speaks Spanish, French, Italian, German, Swedish and every other European language. Those Berlitz lessons must have paid off.

Finally, at one point Tuesday morning, there was this impressive sign-off from a familiar journalist, testifying to the disorienting impact of jet lag. “I’m Bernard Shaw in Washington,” CNN’s anchor said in Madrid.

News Follies: Let them begin--again!

With the November ratings sweeps beginning Thursday, it’s time again for news mischief. That means center stage for KABC Channel 7, which held a dress rehearsal Sunday by artificially linking its 11 p.m. newscast with “Stranger in the Family,” that night’s ABC docudrama about a boy whose mother and sister helped him recover from amnesia.

The cross-promotion vehicle on this occasion was an old staple--a heavily advertised, manufactured story about the real-life family depicted by the movie, in effect making them warriors in Channel 7’s battle for ratings.

TV is nothing if not predictable, so expect other stations to join Channel 7 in tying news stories to entertainment programs throughout the month.

Another example: The laughably banal syndicated series “Dangerous Women” is about as bad as TV gets. Bad, that is, unless you’re the Los Angeles station carrying it. In that event, it becomes terrific and its characters somehow “believable.”

That’s how “Dangerous Women” was described in a self-serving puff piece on Monday night’s news on KCOP Channel 13. Part 2 of this penetrating report is being held for next week, presumably Monday, the very night “Dangerous Women” airs on Channel 13.

Coochy Coo and Channel 2: On KCBS Channel 2, as the picture of an infant filled the screen during Monday’s 11 p.m. newscast, anchorman Jim Lampley teased an upcoming story: “Does he favor Mom or Dad? A peek at the latest member of the ‘Action News’ family.”

A few minutes later, with Channel 2 viewers undoubtedly breathlessly perched on the edge of their seats, Lampley ended the suspense by revealing that the “newest member” was, in fact, his own son, the child that his wife and 11 p.m. co-anchor, Bree Walker, gave birth to two months ago.

The infant’s face filled the screen again. “Bree,” Lampley said to his wife, who had just returned from maternity leave, “did you solicit our son’s permission to come back?”

You could argue, of course, that the newborn offspring of anchor spouses is not really news. But that would be evading reality, for TV news surely predicates its very existence on the celebrityhood of anchors who loom at least as large as the stories they report. Hence, in their own goofy milieu, everything they do is news.

You could also argue, this time correctly, that the Lampley baby story was the best reported story on that night’s newscast, and the one about which the Lampleys seemed most enthusiastic.

Meanwhile, if you want Channel 2 to display your newborn’s picture in a newscast, let Jim and Bree know. You can count on them not playing favorites.

World Series Postscript: CBS did itself reasonably proud, both ratings-wise and performance-wise, with the World Series. In the broadcast booth, Tim McCarver was typically outstanding and Jack Buck, despite an occasional gaffe, was cool and professional. Nearer the field, Jim Kaat was informative. But let’s face it: Even if these guys were butchers, they couldn’t have ruined a series this exciting.

Not that CBS didn’t come close on occasion. You couldn’t fault its replay and special camera work, but you could its basic bread-and-butter sequence, which began with a view of the pitcher from third base and then, just as the ball was being delivered, a fast cut to a centerfield view of the batter.

Even if your eye made the switch with CBS, your mind didn’t. Consequently, you were on edge all the time, fearing CBS wouldn’t pick up the batter in time.

What this series put to rest, meanwhile, is the myth that only bicoastal World Series draw well on TV. If you went by market size, a series pitting Atlanta and Minnesota looked like a ratings disaster on paper. What the Braves had that no other contender did, though, was constant national exposure on cable’s TBS superstation, making the team as familiar to America as, say, the Dodgers.