Hard News Becoming Hard to Find on TV

[CShine]

CBS News, where Edward R. Murrow once pioneered courageous broadcast journalism, has more recently made hay covering made-for-TV news like its own network's "Survivor," unconcerned that every "breaking development" was taped months before its release to the public. No matter. News isn't news until somebody sees it.

Meanwhile, NBC News is building on its journalistic heritage with hours of coverage of such NBC shows as "The Apprentice" and the finales of "Friends" and "Frasier." Clearly, NBC News queen bee Katie Couric and her colleagues are also taking a kind of holiday from informing their viewers, to sell them other NBC fare.

But even for a serious correspondent on a serious newsmagazine, salesmanship is part of the journalism game. CBS News' Dan Rather was busy last week granting interviews to print and broadcast (including CBS News' "Early Show" as well as "Extra") to promote Bill Clinton's appearance with him on "60 Minutes" Sunday. Rather's mission was not to inform viewers on the substance of that taped interview with the former president, as much as to tease them into watching the show (itself the TV kickoff for Clinton's own publicity blitz to hawk his memoirs, published this week). As one of the chosen to get an early look at "My Life," Rather, the intrepid reporter, had agreed not to report what he had read. And he wasn't likely to scoop himself by giving away the best stuff from his interview before it aired.

Viewers, therefore, would just have to wait. But is that really news?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=494&ncid=763&e=3&u=/ap/20040624/ap_en_tv/ap_on_tv_what_s_news