Geraldo Gives Personal Touch

Chalk up another G spot for CNBC’s biggest star.

He’s Geraldo Rivera, one of those rare public personalities (along with Oprah Winfrey, for example) so embedded in popular culture that they have single-name recognition. In addition to hosting CNBC’s most popular series, “Rivera Live,” where President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky inevitably dominate the talking-heads menu, he’s now guiding and co-anchoring (with Diane Dimond) a different type of program under the aegis of NBC News.

“Upfront Tonight” is no tabloid, even though Geraldo remains . . . Geraldo, a genius at self-promotion.

CNBC’s latest Geraldo show completes its first week today, coming across in initial outings as a fairly traditional half-hour newscast. With two exceptions, one good, one bad:

* On the positive side, instead of the usual Rolodex of quickies, “Upfront Tonight” wisely doesn’t try to be a newscast of record. Instead it’s formatted to deliver just three major segments an evening that are keyed largely to what’s breaking at the moment, thus generally giving more time to its stories than do most other newscasts.

Nothing spectacular so far, but certainly a few things to admire.

That included a smart, aggressive two-parter by the show’s Los Angeles correspondent, Jane Wells, on seemingly horrific treatment of a mentally ill inmate who died inside Utah State Prison in 1997 after being strapped to a chair nude for hours. And it included good packages Tuesday and Wednesday on Hurricane Bonnie.

Meanwhile, Dimond meshes fine with Rivera, even though their demeanor often has a local-news ambience. “Jane,” Dimond added after the prison story, “a powerful report, absolutely.” Viewers can’t draw their own conclusions?

Going for in-depth helps make “Upfront Tonight” distinctive. Unfortunately, something else makes it even more distinctive.

* On the negative side, Rivera can’t resist insinuating himself into stories, stomping into oblivion the already fading line traditionally separating reporter and commentator.

Although it’s presently compartmentalized, this Geraldoizing of news is hardly a good omen. In allowing it, NBC News President Andrew Lack is giving Rivera much more slack, in terms of putting a highly personal spin on stories, than is granted to others in the division. Not that many even would desire it.

Following Monday’s story about a compromise U.S.-British proposal to try in the Netherlands two Libyan suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Dimond wondered aloud: “Will Libya actually turn those men over for trial?”

Rivera: “I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

When Rivera’s ‘Mad as Hell,’ Viewers Know It

Nor would many people, an opinion buttressed by Libya’s somewhat vague response to the proposal Wednesday, the point being, however, that stories should be allowed to speak for themselves minus commentaries grafted on by anchors.

Fat chance here, though.

Next came a nice piece on the aftermath of a $247-million court judgment against Iran, suspected of sponsoring global terrorism, won by the family of Alisa Michelle Flatow, a U.S. tourist who was fatally injured in a 1995 bombing in the Gaza Strip. Congress passed legislation in 1996 allowing U.S. citizens to sue foreign nations in connection with terrorist acts. But the story said the Flatows’ attempt to satisfy the judgment by taking possession of two Iran-owned buildings in Washington, D.C., was blocked by the U.S. government.

Rivera to Dimond afterward: “You know the damn shame is, we pass these laws in the heat of passion when the victims are still bleeding in the streets, then in the cold light of politics we seek reasons not to let them get enforced.”

Dimond: “We find a reason not to use it.”

End of subject, Rivera and his echo adding their own exclamation points.

There were others. Later, Rivera declared, “I’m mad as hell about this scandal,” when introducing his phone interview with NBC’s Bob Costas about the flap over St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire openly using a legal muscle-enhancing supplement.

Better to reserve his wrath for “Rivera Live.”

And on Tuesday, preceding Part 1 of the Utah prison story, Rivera tooted his own horn by first showing a clip from his own 1972 expose of appalling treatment of mentally retarded patients at New York’s Willowbrook School. Rivera’s work on that influential story was widely lauded after it aired in New York on WABC-TV. Interjecting it here, though, was an act of self-praise, 26 years later.

He’s the One Who’s Got the Real Scoop

Wednesday brought dueling White House quotes.

After announcing earlier that he would have “inside information” about whether President Clinton would again address the nation about Lewinsky, after being “on the phone all day” with sources “in and out of the White House,” Rivera went to NBC News correspondent John Palmer, covering the vacationing president in Martha’s Vineyard.

After an update on White House response to heavy criticism of Clinton by House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), Palmer quoted a “senior administration official” as saying the president “might” make another public statement about Lewinsky before leaving Martha’s Vineyard.

“A couple of quotes on that, John,” added Rivera, visible with Palmer on split screen. As Palmer, one of NBC’s most senior correspondents, listened almost like disciple to guru, Rivera proceeded to read from his notes: “One source very close to the president told me just an hour or so ago . . . ‘He may take a question or two [on Lewinsky].’ But then the administration official that I spoke to earlier told me, ‘I’m not confident at all that the president has made a decision. . . . ‘ “ Palmer kept heeding, Rivera kept reading: “And the killer quote is that ‘the president is reserving the right to talk to his wife about which way to go.’ ”

Thus was Palmer neatly upstaged, with Rivera creating the impression, intentionally or not, that he possessed the most inside scoop, his “me” focus again prevailing.

Which is a shame, because Rivera is someone with enormous talent and charisma. After honing his skills in the early years of his mostly boorish, exploitative daytime syndicated show, he added CNBC’s “Rivera Live” to his repertoire, his audience ratings proving his commercial worth to NBC executives, and his performance showing everyone else that he is one of the very best talk-show impresarios on the planet.

He is smart, witty, well-informed and incisive, and although highly opinionated on “Rivera Live,” always honest about where he stands and receptive to opposing views. In contrast to many of his counterparts, he treats with respect even those with whom he disagrees.

He is absolutely correct, moreover, in often pointing out that much of the mainstream media (including “Dateline NBC”) are as tabloid at the core as he is accused of being. What’s more, he is hardly the only member of the media to wear multiple hats and join opinion with reporting, something that’s happened on traditional newscasts increasingly through the ‘90s.

Rivera’s own act on “Upfront Tonight” raises that bar dramatically, though, as he pursues his dream to become anchor for the ages.

His way.