TV Execs Debate On-Air Flag Displays

Even as TV networks have joined the nation in draping themselves in the flag and other symbols of patriotism, news executives are grappling with what, if anything, should be the policy toward their employees’ personal displays.

Erik Sorenson, the president of cable news network MSNBC, which has adopted a red, white and blue ribbon-and-stars logo for its coverage, simply doesn’t want to discuss the propriety of his employees displaying flags on news desks. The flags have proliferated in the newsroom but so far haven’t been noticeable on MSNBC’s air during its coverage of the aftermath of last week’s terrorist attacks.

Open displays of patriotism go against traditional U.S. journalistic standards of maintaining a visible neutrality or objectivity when covering a story, and they have been largely banned by Long Island’s all-news channel News 12, for one. But Sorenson called the fierce debate that has erupted in media circles “silly. I hugged a woman this morning whose husband is dead in the rubble at the World Trade Center. I don’t feel like talking about this.”

But at the Long Island station, news director Patrick Dolan told employees to stop being so openly patriotic, saying “the flag is a powerful symbol that must be used wisely. That’s why, in my opinion, we need to be careful in using it when we’re in public reporting the news.” He asked on-air reporters to refrain from wearing flags and, after a proliferation in the newsroom, said any flags on desks that were visible on air must be tasteful.

His action this week unleashed a barrage of criticism from viewers and a sharp statement Wednesday from corporate owner Cablevision Systems Corp., whose president and chief executive is James Dolan, Patrick Dolan’s brother. The statement said in part that “News 12 has determined that its independence of judgment could be thought to be compromised by the appearance of flags displayed on the set or in public during the news-gathering process. Though we may disagree with this judgment, we stand firmly by the importance of our news division making its own decisions.”

Other media outlets are divided. Fox News Channel Chairman Roger Ailes said he has no problem with the many employees at his network who are wearing flag pins.

ABC News President David Westin demurred. “I think all of us at ABC News are patriotic and proud of our patriotism. But at the same time, our patriotic obligation is to be in a position to report truthfully and honestly and independently the facts surrounding this story.”

CBS News President Andrew Heyward said he has issued “no formal directive” about personal flags. “If it starts to become an issue, I’ll have to deal with it.”

NBC’s “Meet the Press” anchor Tim Russert raised eyebrows when he wore a red, white and blue ribbon Sunday as he interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney, but NBC said it has no quarrel. “He said he wore it as a sign of respect for the dead, including people he knew,” said Bill Wheatley, NBC News vice president. “I have no problem with that.”

Personal flags aren’t the only patriotic displays provoking debate. According to the Baltimore Sun, local TV station WBFF-TV upset some employees when it insisted they read on air a statement from management in support of President Bush. A CNN executive bragged to the Washington Post his network was the first to put the flag in its logo, and CBS News anchor Dan Rather cried twice during David Letterman’s show Monday. Rather’s emotional display had some rivals concerned if they didn’t cry viewers might perceive them as cold. Meanwhile, CNN’s comments were found distasteful by some media executives. But CNN’s Sid Bedingfield said flags of many countries are used in logos for stories, and that the U.S. flag was used this time because, “We were looking for some movement and color” on screen.