Too Much Barnum In Broadcast News

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Bill Wheatley, executive VP of NBC news before retiring nine months ago, accepted a First Amendment Service award at a Washington banquet Thursday night, but with a caveat. Wheatley, who Meet the Press host Tim Russert described as the heart, soul and compass of NBC News, said that celebrating the First Amendment is not only about protecting journalist's rights, but also about "encouraging the kind of journalism that shows that we understand that with those rights come responsibilities." Wheatley criticized the increasing government crackdown on the free flow of information, a theme sounded throughout a night of salutes to journalists at the Radio-Television News Director's Foundation First Amendment Awards. But Wheatley says he as met the biggest enemy, and it is us, arguing that most of the credibility wound is self-inflicted. "With the exception of public broadcasters," he said, "we have always been a business as well as a public service. But lately in news organizations, there seems to be more emphasis on the business than on the service." "Important subjects aren't covered because they aren't considered to be audience-friendly. Poverty and race are good examples," he said. And in the choosing the subjects that are covered, he said, "there is an undue concentration on heat rather than light. Stories are promoted in breathless tones more appropriate to Barnum than to broadcasting."
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