The New Face of TV News

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In addition, television has no equivalent of the editorial page, except for the uneven efforts at editorializing by local stations. There are also no direct comparisons to the pundits and social critics of the Op-Ed page. The virtual absence of regular commentary on network TV is a relatively new development, dating from Sevareid's retirement from CBS and Howard K. Smith's resignation from ABC last year. Network producers are so hard-pressed to tell all the news they have in 22 minutes or so that they understandably view a three-minute sermonette, no matter how intelligent and concise, as expendable. A pity. The network radio commentaries of such TV news stars as Chancellor and Cronkite are ample proof that print journalists do not have a monopoly on brains or wit. Argues Bill Moyers: "It isn't enough to have a procession of facts driven across your attention span. You need a human mind that asks, 'What does this mean?' "

The differences between TV and print are also reflected in the way their respective journalists gather the news. A print reporter works the nooks and crannies of a story, searching for detail and nuance that lead to comprehensiveness. Since he is unobtrusive, carrying little more than a pencil and a notebook, he can pick up the natural flow and feel of an event. When his report appears on paper, it becomes a tangible memory to be examined at will. By contrast, a television crew arrives on the scene like a detachment of troops. The correspondent works on his stage before a gawking public, the cameras whirring and the lights blazing. He sketches the skeleton of a story but the viewers must often find its flesh elsewhere.

Discovering and training topflight TV correspondents is difficult. Says Sevareid: "The practical problem is getting people who have some compelling quality of personality on-camera, but who can also think, report and write. Television news is still partly show business." Unfortunately, the sudden glamour of local TV news has undermined the traditional apprentice system. More and more would-be anchormen go directly from college into broadcasting. Dan Rather would like to see the old route up restored: "We should never hire anyone without at least two years of print experience."

For his part, Rather promises to lobby for at least 15 minutes more of news every night, as well as a weekly half-an-hour or hour special report. He also wants sharper writing, snappier graphics and a more varied rhythm for the CBS Evening News. "As an anchor, I will not be chained to a desk," says Rather, who tends to lofty declamation. "My vision is to be on the cutting edge of stories a great deal of time." In a spirit somewhat at odds with the conservative traditions of the Cronkite broadcast, Rather promises that he will demand innovation. Says he: "I want to slam things to the edge."