Standards? Whose? KCBS’ or KNXT’s?

How amusing that Steven Gigliotti (vice president and general manager of KCBS-TV) cloaks himself, and KCBS, with the mantle of quality journalism established by KNXT News 30 years ago in “Just the Facts, Not Disgruntled Gripes, About ‘Action News’ ” (Calendar, March 9). Was he around here then? If so, is he old enough to remember anything about KNXT News and the standards it set?

To suggest that KCBS has “maintained those high standards” is an affront to those of us who had a role in the preeminent local news operation of its time--perhaps of all time. We have watched in dismay as a once-proud news organization, under a succession of ratings-driven station managers and news directors, lost its way and eventually its loyal audience. The irony, of course, is that the ratings have suffered right along with the product.

It’s not enough to say, as Gigliotti is quick to point out, that Channel 2 was the first “Los Angeles station to broadcast an hourlong local news program.” He betrays his sketchy knowledge of that era. The Big News was the first hourlong television news program anywhere, and its dominance of the competition lasted more than a decade.

Gigliotti also needs to be reminded that “The Big News” of the ‘60s and early ‘70s regularly boasted ratings of 15 or better, once peaking at a 22 (unheard of before or since). Those ratings were achieved with solid news gathering and reporting, day in and day out, not with meaningless “live shots,” frothy celebrity interviews and promotion of network entertainment programs masquerading as “news.”

As a news anchor, Jerry Dunphy has no equal. His presence unquestionably helped bring “The Big News” high ratings, but he was backed by a staff of professional journalists the likes of which haven’t been seen in these parts for many years. With people such as Saul Halpert, Warren Olney, Bill Stout, Bob Simmons, Rick Davis, Maury Green, John Hart, Paul Udell, Jere Witter, Joseph Benti, Jim Brown, Ruth Ashton-Taylor and Ralph Story’s “Human Predicament” segment--to say nothing of a peerless collection of producers and writers--it was hard not to do a news broadcast that set standards of excellence.

In those days, too, KNXT was noted for its devotion to local documentary production. KNXT documentaries not only won awards, they also helped establish the station’s reputation as an organization dedicated to covering important issues in depth. Alas, the documentary is a dinosaur in commercial television and I wouldn’t expect Gigliotti to revive it single-handedly. Documentaries are expensive, after all, and you can pay an anchor’s entire annual salary for what it would cost to produce only five or six one-hour specials.

The performance at KCBS by the new news director John Lippman is hardly the first time a hired gun has cut a swath through the newsroom, leaving a trail of bitterness and shattered expectations.

It’s all too reminiscent of that first great blood bath in the mid-1970s. A new management team, desperate for ways to bolster ratings and without regard for ability or achievement, proceeded to decimate the reporting staff. It was the beginning of the end of a remarkable period at Channel 2. Apparently, the only heritage still honored from time to time at KCBS seems to be turmoil and confusion about its role in television news.

I’m not suggesting that what worked in the ‘60s and early ‘70s is a prescription for television news today. Times have changed. Technology today is far superior, a station’s capability for covering breaking news far greater. The techniques used then might seem antiquated to viewers grown accustomed to jump cuts and six-second sound bites. But some things in journalism, even broadcast journalism, are immutable.

News is news, not entertainment or promotion, not a reporter’s theatrics or an anchor’s titillating double-entendre, all of which demean the viewer’s intelligence. I suspect that most of the professionals working now in Channel 2’s newsroom would concur but, just as their predecessors were 20 years ago, they are powerless to resist the tide of consultants and bean counters who dictate a station’s approach to news.

I can understand Gigliotti’s need to do anything within reason to get news ratings. I’m sure his survival at KCBS, and probably his corporate future at CBS, depends on it. But don’t suggest that what KCBS is doing today somehow carries on the journalistic tradition established by KNXT more than a quarter century ago. It just doesn’t wash.