The objective of the ‘scandalous revelations’ filling the airwaves and news columns ought to be reform, but ‘thus far have brought little but cynicism and disillusion.’ "
Talking about O’Reilly, perhaps, or maybe CNN or MSNBC? Think again. It’s
Pat Buchanan, quoting U.S. Senator
J. William Fulbright, in November 1975. In this week's issue, we have two stories that tell us much about the evolution of the media’s role in news coverage – and that nothing really is new.
The first is Pat Buchanan’s News Watch column, the source of the initial quote. Buchanan is talking about the change in media coverage since Watergate, a change that has brought on an “excessively mistrustful and even hostile” atmosphere.
In pointing this out, we certainly don’t neglect the blame that belongs to Richard Nixon and his crew for creating the problem in the first place. But Buchanan looks at something more, at the natural evolution of such an atmosphere, asking “what will be the ultimate impact upon the democratic system, which itself guarantees freedom of the press?”
The problem, according to Buchanan, is that the media now has a vested interest in scandal – for ratings, for dollars, for prestige. (Little-remembered fact: NBC’s
Huntley-Brinkley Report used to be presented without commercial interruption, in order to eliminate potential conflicts of interest and signify that the news division was not driven by profit margin.) What happens when that self-interest conflicts with a larger interest – the national interest, for example? Granting that the exact nature of the national interest is often a subject up for debate, Buchanan nevertheless points to the “declining confidence in leaders and institutions” and speculates on the ultimate consequence this will have for the nation.
Buchanan again quotes Fulbright (a Democrat, by the way, never a natural ally of Pat’s), who had recently authored the article "
Fulbright on the Press" in the Columbia Journalism Review: “That Puritian self-righteousness which is never far below the surface of American life has broken through the frail barriers of civility and restraint, and the press has been in the vanguard of the new aggressiveness.”
What has changed is not the nature nor the inclination of those in the media to go after their subjects with every weapon at their disposal. What is new now is the very definition of media, which in this sense has come to include every blog, every web page, every podcast – in short, everyone with an opinion, which is just about everyone. As new types of media and new modes of communication have come about, this instinct of which Fulbright speaks has become more invasive, more insidious. Indeed, isn’t this what some here have spoken about, the increasing incivility of the blogosphere? Well, looking at this issue is like seeing the seeds of that harvest being planted.
A lot of people fall back on the “freedom of speech” argument, defending their right to say what they want whenever they want. And this is not an argument that should be taken lightly, because it’s a slippery slope at best. But Fulbright contends that the social contract requires “a measure of voluntary restraint, an implicit agreement among the major groups and interests in our society that none will apply their powers to the fullest.” A measure of responsibility, in other words, which is a commodity that can really be in short supply nowadays.
***
Now, I mention this not merely because of Pat Buchanan’s words, but because of the echo which the subject matter receives in another article from this issue,
Edwin Newman’s “People are Generally Skeptical of Us…and Indeed They Should Be.” Newman shares the concern with the increasing intrusiveness of the media. Asked what was wrong with endless investigation and revelation of public figures by the media, Newman replied, “It degrades public life. If purity tests are to become an accepted part of American life before anybody can go into politics, politics is going to be intolerable. It’s very nearly intolerable now.”
Remember, he said this almost 40 years ago.
As for “advocacy journalism,” which was very much in vogue following Watergate (and remains so today – how many young people go to journalism school to “make a difference”?), Newman remains wary: “Advocacy journalism, so-called, cheats the public, which is entitled to make up its own mind.” In other words, as Fox News says, “We report, you decide.” Whether you think they’ve been accurate or not with that promise, one has to appreciate the perceptiveness of the marketing gurus who developed that slogan.
Newman adds, “Anybody in our business should avoid taking on false importance. We should certainly not pretend to be infallible.” Now that’s a novel idea today.
Newman also sounds a cautionary note on something which Buchanan alludes to, the amount of faith (or lack thereof) that people put in their leaders. Buchanan quotes Fulbright: “Bitter disillusionment with our leaders is the other side of the coin of worshiping them.” Such idolatry, says Newman, “leads to all kinds of lunatic expectations about what can be accomplished by politicians and so leads to irrational and disproportionate disappointment…it misleads Presidents about Presidents, so that they are tempted to do foolish things. And I think the press contributes to this for reasons of its own.”
This is a warning we should carefully consider. There’s a pronounced tendency nowadays to put an inordinate amount of faith in human institutions, which always seems to wind up badly. We create institutions, we tear them down, we rebuild them again. It keeps everyone busy, I suppose.
In many ways, the sins of the 60s culture were starting to be felt in the 70s, and would continue to be felt in subsequent decades. So one can see, as far back as 1975, a growing concern with cynicism in society, a disregard for institutions, a press displaying an “anything for a story” attitude. Again, there’s nothing new here, as it was not new then. But as communication expanded beyond the newspaper to radio, beyond radio to television, and beyond broadcast television to cable and satellite; as letters gave way to email and the internet, and as information once taking hours or days to transmit is now given instant analysis and parsing through the blogosphere, so also the consequences of such concerns are magnified, enlarged, and become even more troublesome.
There really isn’t anything new out there, only new ways of expressing it. And, it seems, new ways of ignoring old truths and concerns.
***
And now for something more lighthearted, an article about our longtime favorite, game show standard Kitty Carlisle, written by Peter Funt, son of the legendary TV host Allen Funt. (If you're old enough to remember
Candid Camera, you'll know who we mean.) "The only way to see Kitty Carlisle in the same dress twice," the article proclaims, "is to watch reruns of
To Tell the Truth. " Funt's story is a charming portrait of an entertainer who takes her job seriously, as well as her responsibility to her fans, and radiates class all the way. "She is one actress who still refuses to appear in public without beautiful clothes, ornate jewelry and a carefully styled coiffure." Particularly humorous is her description of her "pit crew," the wardrobe people responsible for helping her change in the ten minutes between shows (the five-a-week show was taped in a single afternoon). "Every once in a while, I feel like I'm a car in the pits at Indianapolis. Somebody changes the oil, kicks the tires - you know, pats the hair and shoves me back out on the stage."
She was a fun, classy lady, and an intelligent game player.
***
Last month it was announced that after 63 years, the
Hallmark Hall of Fame would be going off commercial television, headed instead for cable - the Hallmark Channel, to be precise. Of course, as I've complained many times in the past, the
Hall of Fame ceased to be many years ago - it hasn't even been the
Hall of Very Good for a long time, so in the long run this isn't much of a loss.
It's sad, nonetheless. You remember Hallmark's motto: "When you care enough to send the very best." And for a long time, that's what it was. It premiered in 1951 with the historic broadcast of
Amahl and the Night Visitors, and for decades it broadcast literate, distinguished adaptations of both historic and contemporary plays, adaptations of movies and novels, and the occasional original story. Its ratings were never huge, but it was prestige television, winning a ton of Emmys over the years, as well as selling millions of greeting cards. Today, it's become little more than a lacrymose, diabetes-inducing disease-of-the-week picture, oozing sentimentality for it's Oprahfied audience.
I mention all this because this week, NBC's
Hall of Fame broadcast is
an adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's play
Valley Forge, starring Richard Basehart as George Washington, leading his troops through the incredibly harsh winter of 1777, trying to hold his struggling new country together
.
Can't say the same nowadays, either in their cards or their TV programs.
***
And now, some sports. Or not, as the case may be.
 |
| I didn't even get to see it in B&W! |
On Saturday, November 29, NBC preempts
Saturday Night Live for a basketball game - but not just any game. It's one of the biggest regular-season college basketball games in many years, defending national champion UCLA playing undefeated, top-ranked Indiana at St. Louis (supposedly a neutral site, but in reality swarming with Hoosier fans cheering their team on). Note the starting time -
way out of prime time. Television hadn't quite figured out prime time sports yet, and although everyone realized how big this game was, they still thought it might be a drag on ratings, which is why they stuck it on in such a strange time spot. (The game was telecast live, which means tip-off was at 10:30 p.m. local time in St. Louis.)
I have bitter personal memories of this game; not because of the result - I was an Indiana fan, and they crushed UCLA 84-64* - but because KCMT Channel 7, the NBC affiliate (and only commercial station) available in the
World's Worst Town™,
didn't show the game. They had a movie on instead,
Bridge on the River Kwai or something like that, but this had nothing to do with substituting a quality movie for televised sports. It had everything to do with a parochial attitude toward their programming, and a desire to retain as much advertising revenue as possible. When we moved out of that area in 1978, they still had yet to show an episode of
Saturday Night Live, never showed the second half of Sunday NFL doubleheaders, and preempted NBC programming with pernicious disdain. For a time, before we moved there, they didn't even show
The Tonight Show. The FCC should have yanked their license. KCMT ceased to exist a few years ago, swallowed up by its owner, WCCO, and while in principle I regret the loss of local ownership, I can't say it's a big loss.
*
That Indiana team was the last college basketball team to go through the regular and post-season undefeated, and last year was voted the greatest college basketball team ever.
***
And, by the way, the cover story of this issue features Tony Curtis, star of a new TV series. Does anyone out there still recall that series,
McCoy? It was part of NBC's Sunday Mystery Movie series, alternating with
McCloud, McMillian and
Columbo, and people had a lot of fun with three Macs in the series. I thought it was kind of fun, myself, as Curtis plays a con man/Robin Hood-type, not dissimilar to the early '60s series
The Rogues*, but it only lasted for a few episodes before falling away. NBC never was able to fill that fourth spot; I suppose Richard Boone's
Hec Ramsey was the most successful in that spot, as it actually ran two seasons - well, actually
Quincy would have been the most successful, because it was spun off into its own weekly series. But you knew what I meant.
*
But with less charm and star power.
***
Of course this issue marks the start of the Christmas programming season (as it was still called back then), with CBS kicking things off Wednesday night with a double feature of
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Bing Crosby's annual show, with special guest Fred Astaire*. That's followed on Friday by an ABC animated doubleheader:
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus, narrated by Jim Backus, and
A Very Merry Cricket, written and directed by Chuck Jones.
*
Reuniting the stars of Holiday Inn.
Frankly, I'm surprised that there aren't more -
Rudolph usually premieres in November. And with Friday being December 5 and all, time's slipping away!
You can bet they've running the commercials, though - those likely started
way before Thanksgiving...
TV
For many people, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without watching It's a Wonderful Life on TV. I'm not one of those people - there's something about the dimwittedness of George Bailey that irritates the hell out of me. I mean, sometimes you just want to grab him by the shoulders and slap him: “Don’t you get it? Clarence is an Angel! When he tells you this is a world in which you never existed, believe him!” Until NBC mercifully stepped in a few years ago and obtained exclusive TV rights to the movie, one lived under the constant threat that someday they would find It's a Wonderful Life airing on every station, a kind of Orwellian nightmare that could turn even the biggest Christmas fan away from the Yuletide season forever.
