Posted on 09/22/2004 1:33:12 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker
(VIDEO): News Anchors Gather At Harvard To Discuss Media And Politics
Some of TV's major news anchors gathered on Sunday (July 25) at the Kennedy
School of Government to discuss 'The Press and the Election.' Among the high-profile
panelists were Judy Woodruff (CNN) (from left), Dan Rather (CBS), Jim Lehrer (PBS),
Peter Jennings (ABC), and Tom Brokaw (NBC).
(Staff photo Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office)
A politically polarized nation and corporate concerns have applied increasing pressure on the nation's major news broadcasters, top anchors told an audience at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) Sunday (July 25), but they are resisting such pressures and perhaps doing their jobs better in the process.
"I've had a freer career at ABC News than I could have ever imagined. But I feel the presence of anger in the air all the time," said ABC News' "World News Tonight" anchor and senior editor Peter Jennings of rising hatred in a nation that is strongly politically divided. "This wave of resentment rushes at our advertisers, rushes at the corporate suites, and gets under the newsroom's skin, if not completely into the decision-making process."
Jennings' colleagues on the high-profile panel - Tom Brokaw, anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News"; Jim Lehrer, executive editor and anchor of PBS's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"; "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Dan Rather; and CNN's Judy Woodruff, anchor of "Inside Politics" - presented a range of views from across the dial.
"I think this may be a place-to-place situation," Rather responded. "At CBS, I have not felt this one iota."
Before things get serious at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, Peter Jennings makes a joke. Later in the day, the newscasters agree that they feel the pressure of responding to increasingly rapid news and messages churned out by well-organized interest groups. (Staff photo Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office)
The panel, sponsored by the KSG's Joan Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy and ably moderated by its director, Alex Jones, drew an audience of local and national journalists and other luminaries in Boston for the Democratic National Convention. Political coverage dominated the lively, often extremely candid discussion among the anchors.
As the campaign heats to a frenzy this week, the panelists agreed they feel the pressure of responding to increasingly rapid news and messages churned out by well-organized interest groups as well as instant media like Web sites and Web logs. They stood united in their philosophical tactics for countering political spin machines.
"Our job remains to be gatekeepers, to make sure that there is a kind of filter ... that we test for factual accuracy, what the motivation is, and put it in some kind of context," said Rather.
"I am never tempted to yell, 'Liar!' because that's not my function. My function is to press them," said Lehrer, adding that few political "lies" are black or white.
Brokaw noted that viewers must take in campaign coverage - like the campaigns themselves - with a long view. "Campaigns, especially, are about the continuity of coverage. It's not just about one broadcast, one night, and then we go on to other matters," he said.
Reporting on a nation divided
The broadcasters agreed that the political polarization of the nation is sharply felt in their newsrooms as they strive to present perspectives that span the country. Jennings described an encounter with a fellow passenger on the plane to Boston who said to him, "America hater, leave the country." Putting together an upcoming special on the nation's divided viewpoints, said Brokaw, is "the hardest thing I've ever done."
But others saw positive effects from increasing polarization and hatred. "This is our business, to reflect varying views," said Lehrer. "The fact that they're strongly held is terrific from our point of view, because that means people are going to watch us with a little more vigor, a little more interest."
Rather described it as exerting positive pressure on good journalism. "It has made us at least a little bit more cautious," he said. "You never can afford to be wrong with the facts, but you'd better have the story in good context and good perspective."
The anchors were self-critical - although not always in agreement - on their coverage of the conventions, the 2000 and 2004 elections, and the war in Iraq.
When asked about how the television news programs would cover the 2004 election night results better than the 2000 election, Brokaw quipped, "We got rid of that coal-driven computer we had."
"We all know that 2000 was a disaster for our business," said Woodruff, who, with the others, described a slower, more careful process in place to ensure this November's coverage avoids the confusion of the muddled coverage of 2000.
"One of the things we could have done was ask more questions, with more follow-up questions, in an effort to get more direct answers," said Rather. "There is an assumption, and up to a point a valid one, that he [the president] knows things that we don't know."
Journalists, like the rest of the nation, were inclined to believe and respect the Bush administration's claim of the danger in Iraq, said Woodruff. "In the aftermath of 9/11, there was still this hyper-patriotic mood, or demeanor if you will, that still had taken hold to some degree in the media," she said.
Coverage of the 2004 convention, which brought the anchors to Boston in the first place, divided the networks from their cable and public television colleagues. While Brokaw, Jennings, and Rather defended their networks' decisions to air three hours of convention coverage in prime time, Lehrer and Woodruff disagreed strongly (CNN and "The NewsHour" will air several hours of convention coverage each night).
"I think starting tomorrow, we're going to have four of the eight most important days we can possibly have as a nation. We're about to elect a president at a time when we have young people dying in our name overseas, we just had a report from the 9/11 Commission that says we are not safe as a nation, and one of these two groups of people is going to run our country," said Lehrer to the ABC, CBS, and NBC anchors. "You guys are a hell of a lot more important than your bosses are willing to admit."
At 22 minutes in, after Jim Lehrer talks about the "division and hatred" in the United States, the moderator steps in to say that Harvard invited Fox News to attend, but Fox declined.
Go to 24 minutes in and listen to Dan Rather talk about fact checking before going with a story. He goes on for nearly four minutes discussing this subject. It's hilarious!
At 31 minutes, Peter Jennings tells a story about being called an "American hater" recently at an airport.
At 34 minutes, reach for the barf bag and listen to them all apologize for not giving equal time to conservatives during the 1960s.
At 37 minutes, Jim Lehrer defends the major networks against claims of bias.
At 41 minutes, Brokaw refers to those running the Democratic National Convention as a "politburo".
At 43 minutes, Lehrer breaks ranks and criticizes the three major networks for giving limited coverage to the conventions.
The "Old Media" had a meeting. Why? To come up with another Blathergate memo? Boy, I can't wait. (Sarcasm.)
I saw part of this on C-SPAM.
A more pompous set of individuals would be hard to find.
They were all bemoaning about how they should have asked more questions before we went to war in Iraq.
/gag.
Next time, Rather will teach a section called "The Devil in the Details-Choosing the Right Font".
"When you see the eye, expect the lie."
One more instance.
The headline should have been "Old Media meets to discuss how to regain their monopoly".
Memo to Old Media: Forget it. You're too old. Tired. Irrelvant. Biased. Boring.
to circle the wagons and protect poor,senile Dan from the mean blogger Indians
So busy patting themselves on the back- they don't even see the punches coming
LOL! I haven't heard that one before.
Boat anchors I assume.
......Vomit.....
How many of these characters do you suppose will vote for Bush? What a perfect place for them to meet: the JKF school at Harvard.
This picture is a classic example of a circle jerk. No wonder they are all smiling.
Article originally titled: Pravda editors meet in Red Square.
A gathering of dinosaurs.
From condescending liberalism to elitist socialist.
Yep, they presented a vast range, all right.
Lehrer: "Whatsa matter, Dan? Everyone's a foot away from you! Eat beans last night? Or is that the smell of your credibility rotting away?"
I imagine each one (above) thinks so good of themselves, that those s**t-eating grins are on their faces all night as they sleep and they're the first thing they see in the morning in the bathroom mirror.
IF this group was to convene today, I don't think Blather would look so condescending. He'd have some crow feathers sticking out of his mouth, out of his ears and out of his nose.
How positively Shakespearian!
I love it. I am now changing from tag line from "Dan Rather's evening newscast finished dead last Tuesday night, finished behind a Simpson's rerun!"
Barbra Streisand the featured speaker?
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