News Directors Call for Revamping Priorities : Broadcasting: In the wake of the L.A. riots, television and radio executives say changes are needed.

In the aftermath of the riots, news directors at some local television and radio stations are calling for a revamping of news priorities and a commitment to play down relatively meaningless but picturesque car chases and fires in favor of thoughtful, analytical pieces that explore the roots of the problems in Southern California.

At the annual Radio & Television News Association’s “state of the industry” dinner Wednesday night, news bosses from five of the market’s commercial TV stations and representatives from the two Spanish-language TV stations and radio stations KFI and KFWB participated in a panel that focused on lessons learned from the recent unrest and the pressing challenges facing the news broadcasting business.

The debate was paved with good intentions, but the reality of ratings and the mighty dollar seemed to rule the fray.

Mark Austin Thomas, news director at KFI-AM (640), took the lead in saying that the recent turmoil in Los Angeles and surrounding communities brought home the need not only to cover breaking news, but also to focus on the “core issues and symptoms” that led to the unrest.

“We must do a better job,” Thomas said. “Don’t we have a responsibility to report beyond what someone says, beyond the breaking story and pay consistent attention to the conditions that underlie that story?”

Jeff Wald, news director at KCOP-TV Channel 13, agreed, arguing that TV news has been guilty of glossing over those stories in its quest for ratings-grabbing action.

“The traffic accidents and fires, all those great visual stories, are not as significant, and we make them significant because that’s how traditionally we have always covered the news,” Wald said. “We need to get at the roots of the problems instead of simply reciting the day’s events.”

Greg Tantum, executive editor of KFWB-AM (980), added that the riots proved that the media had done a poor job relating to a significant part of Los Angeles’ population, and he called on all news agencies to persist in focusing new light on the areas’s problems in the months and years ahead.

The liveliest moment of the session came when a member of the audience questioned the TV news directors about the use--or overuse--of airborne cameras. All of the panelists concurred that on major, widespread stories such as the riots and the floods of February, helicopters provided the best coverage possible.

But when some grumbled that the use of helicopters to cover car chases and freeway wrecks had become indiscriminate and frivolous, John Lippman, news director at KCBS-TV Channel 2, protested: “Helicopters are fun. Fun for the viewer. They are a terrific viewer and listener service. They are the best way to cover a story, providing a perspective that you just cannot get any other way. Helicopters are nifty.”

“Yes, but is it significant?” Wald asked.

“What is significant about what we do?” replied Warren Cereghino, KTLA-TV Channel 5’s news boss.

“Well, maybe we should take stock,” Wald said. Wald then went on to chide KTLA--where he used to be news director--for leading its 10 p.m. newscast Tuesday with a “meaningless” police pursuit that the station had aired live more than 14 hours earlier on its morning newscast. “With all that is going on, I find it hard to see that as a lead story,” he said.

“We’re trivializing the news when we make something that doesn’t mean anything seem important.”

Cereghino conceded that the chase was probably more exciting live at 7:30 a.m., but he defended the station’s decision to air it at 10 p.m. He added that the fierce competition between stations compelled each of them to try to outdo each other. It’s come down to a “if they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it” mentality, he said.

Lippman contended that viewers love car chases and that as soon as one station puts on such a pursuit, ratings jump. When KTLA aired Tuesday morning’s chase, ratings for the “KTLA Morning News” more than doubled within minutes, from a 2.7 rating to a 5.9 (each point represents 48,751 homes).

“Viewers punch from station to station,” Lippman said, “and Hallelujah if we’re giving viewers something they want.”

“Hearing those ratings,” KFWB’s Tantum quipped, “I’m going to do my whole newscast from a helicopter.”

Roger Bell, news director at KABC-TV Channel 7, KCAL-TV Channel 9 news boss Bob Henry and KTLA’s Cereghino all agreed that the biggest challenge facing TV news departments is figuring out how to produce better newscasts with less money. With all that has occurred recently, Cereghino said, “I blew our budget into the Indian Ocean.” That financial strain, he added, makes it difficult to live up to the pledges to deal thoroughly with Southern California’s deeply rooted ailments.

But Lippman argued that a failure to truly serve the Los Angeles market is the real issue, not money.

Lippman called the $20-million KCBS news budget a “fabulous” amount of money, and rebuked KNBC Channel 4, which was not represented on the panel, for wanting to spend “$1.5 million a year on Paul Moyer.” (Moyer’s contract with KABC, which pays him in excess of $1 million a year, expires in June, and KNBC is reportedly trying to lure him away with a big raise.)

Despite the big budgets, most newscasts, he said, are delivering only “single-digit ratings, and that speaks to an inability to serve this diverse community.” Only one newscast, KABC’s 11 p.m. broadcast, received double-digit ratings during a May sweeps when ratings for all newscasts were undoubtedly inflated because of the riots. Many of KCBS’ newscasts would have to double their usual audience to reach double digits.

The biggest laugh of the evening was garnered by Rolando Santos, news director at KVEA-TV Channel 52, as he lamented the difficulty of covering an English-speaking world for a Spanish-speaking audience. Not only is he saddled with a tiny staff and budget, compared with the seven major English-language stations, but he and rival KMEX-TV Channel 34 also often face the nearly impossible task of finding spokesmen from government agencies who can dispense information in Spanish.

“You don’t know what life is,” he said, “until you try to translate the Anita Hill hearings in Spanish.”