Survival of Credibility Is at Stake in Duel

The trade paper Variety once ran an ad campaign highlighting its reporters under the slogan, “Credibility matters.” Among those featured was yours truly, a fact fellow staffers commemorated by conspicuously posting the photo over a well-trafficked part of the men’s room.

Beyond providing fodder for such indignities, the point of the campaign was clear: Variety employed experienced reporters who, by virtue of their time on the beat, commanded some respect within the industry; by contrast, the rival Hollywood Reporter harbored a reputation for turning over staff faster than the sheets at a Ramada Inn.

Credibility does matter, especially for news organizations. As it is, plenty of people are highly skeptical about the media, believing reporters use their bully pulpit to push an agenda. Such criticism is frequently heard from parties as diverse as conservative talk-radio hosts, who bash the “liberal mainstream press,” to those on the political left who feel Fox News Channel’s slogan should rightfully be “We report [conservative propaganda and hope] you decide [to watch us].”

Against that backdrop, it was troubling recently to see a major network, CBS, accuse NBC of unleashing its news division on the CBS program “Survivor” to serve NBC’s corporate ends.

The charge came in response to a “Dateline NBC” report on the lawsuit filed by a former “Survivor” contestant, Stacey Stillman, and revelations raising questions about the show’s authenticity in a deposition given by another contestant, Dirk Been.

“This is the second time in a month that NBC News has decided to focus on criticism of a competing show, one that has changed the network landscape in a way that could affect NBC’s economic performance on a night it previously dominated until this show came along,” CBS pointed out in a statement to “Dateline.”

The underlying message is that NBC has an incentive to discredit “Survivor,” which has taken a bite out of the network’s ratings (and thus potentially its advertising revenue) on Thursday nights. Asked about “Dateline’s” coverage, CBS News issued a statement last week saying, “Whatever the reality, the perception is that ‘Dateline’ is basing its editorial decisions on the financial interests of NBC Entertainment. We’d like to think that CBS News would never be used to attack a competitor.”

Unfortunately, even raising that as a motive brings CBS dangerously close to that “slippery slope” people love to cite in media circles, laying CBS News open to the same sort of allegations and helping make what spills out of the TV less trustworthy.

Local TV news sacrificed much of its credibility long ago, not because of political leanings but rather the desperate tactics used to entice viewers. Excesses range from shameless tie-ins with that night’s network fare disguised as news (“Meet the real exotic dancer behind tonight’s movie . . . at 11!”) to deceptive promos that consistently offer more than they deliver, without recognizing the damage such unfulfilled promises inflict over the long haul.

Network promos can be equally illusory and reflect the same pressure to attract an audience. And while broadcasters draw distinctions over what content is news or entertainment, local or national, because all this material spills out of the same channel viewers may not always make a point of noting precisely who is misleading or trifling with them.

Yet, for all of that, network news--at least--has traditionally been held to, and been perceived as adhering to, a higher standard. So by implying NBC News has let larger network aims influence its coverage, CBS seems to be tacitly admitting it’s possible a network organization could take its marching orders on how to handle news based on what will benefit its parent company--a contention news executives, when questioned about such corporate entanglements, have steadfastly denied.

Moreover, assuming the Stillman lawsuit is newsworthy (and it has garnered plenty of coverage in newspapers with no stake in the matter), it’s worth asking in kind if CBS has shrunk from the story because the network profits so heavily from the show--including morning program “The Early Show,” which has both shilled for “Survivor” shamelessly and alluded disparagingly to Stillman’s lawsuit.

The very idea that news divisions are subject to such accusations--which once might have been dismissed as the ravings of a conspiracy theorist--underscores the promotional sleight-of-hand synergy has already brought to broadcast circles.

In the case of “Survivor,” the latter has included a tidal wave of coverage on Viacom assets, including “The Early Show,” local CBS stations that went all-”Survivor” to cash in on the show’s finale and Paramount’s “Entertainment Tonight,” which has appeared far less aggressive in chronicling Stillman’s lawsuit than “Access Hollywood,” an NBC production.

Nor does it help on the credibility front to see other news divisions engage in questionable cross-promotion, such as ABC News going hog wild in relation to “Pearl Harbor,” including a prime-time special linked to the film’s release by Disney.

Granted, other news organizations--including NBC--engaged in similar hysteria (the attack actually happened in December, in case anybody forgot), but unlike ABC, their parent companies weren’t in the process of releasing a $140-million movie that will have a major say in whether there will be any money left for Christmas bonuses when the real anniversary rolls around.

In addition, rivals have muttered for years about News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch capitalizing on company assets like the New York Post to nettle business opposition--most prominently Time Warner’s Ted Turner, whom the Post has at various times labeled a “loudmouth” and “nuts.”

Based on such examples, it doesn’t seem quite so prodigious a leap to believe news could be compelled to pursue a corporate vendetta--to not only promote a network’s own fare but also undermine a rival.

What such finger-pointing overlooks, however, is the human factor. Most people in broadcast news take their jobs seriously and have no desire to compromise their professionalism on behalf of a corporate master, any more than reporters at the Los Angeles Times want to be perceived as pulling punches regarding this newspaper’s owner, Tribune Co.

Given that the modern media business regularly creates the risk of impropriety, then, allegations such as those made by CBS shouldn’t be leveled in a cavalier fashion. Beyond that, for CBS News to suggest that NBC News is essentially playing hatchet man for its bosses could boomerang, doing its own journalists a disservice by casting doubt on the integrity and independence of broadcast news in general.

Then again, perhaps CBS just got carried away by the constant drumbeat of that “Survivor” theme. Amid such a din it’s easy to lose your footing, and from there it’s just a short step over the edge of that slippery slope.

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Brian Lowry’s column appears on Wednesdays. He can be reached at brian.lowry@latimes.com.