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SEE IT THEN: Notes on Television Journalism \

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SEE IT THEN: Notes on Television Journalism \ J NimMAN RmPORTS SEE IT THEN: Notes on Television Journalism by Robert Drew Television this year will break the one billion dollar own? Will the total effect of TV be to divert our minds mark in advertising sales. In .1956, the National Broad­ with soporific fantasies, or to make us more aware of our casting Company predicts, television will do almost.­ own real problems? - two billion dollars worth of business. Jolin Crosby, There were these questions and others, and there were TV columnist for the New York Herald Tribune, was a the discussions from which the following notes are ex­ little sceptical of the NBC estimate. "Golly!" he said. cerpted, but there were no answers. Glir;npsers of answers "Th:J.t sounds big to me. NBC's predictiom in the past will proceed at their own peril. have all turned out to be wrong, but they've been wrong on the low side." The definition of TV journalism properly ought to in· Vincent S. Jones, director of the news ~ and editorial office dude everything from a news bulletin to a national con­ of the Gannett Newspapers, who is studying the impact vention. I have made certain assumptions in order to of TV on journalism, thinks that the impact is considerable narrow the definition down to those areas where significant and growing. "We have been hopelessly outdistanced in character changes might be brewing. I have . ·assumed speed by radio and in depth and quality by the maga- . rv. that panel discussions and live reporting of conventions, zines, and we have lost both prestige and glamour," he said. parades, and hearings will continue to develop character­ "The race for reader time means just one thing: One of istics they have already displayed. I have assumed that the media will emerge as the domi~ant and indispensable the nature of TV is not limited to this static and public item. So far it has been the newspaper. But it cannot kind of reporting, that it has a capacity for mobile reporting in that position without some drastic changes:" remai~ on real life in the un-public situations that make up most Just what changes newspapers might be forced to make of what is important about the news. The definition turns will depend on the character TV develops for itself. out to be-"Constructed stories on r·eal people, situations, Perhaps the basic question about TV is this question of · and events." This means approximately the kind of story character. Will TV become knowing and arti!=ulate about the newspaper reporter goes after, using as a tool in this the real · world, or will it merely become beguiling and case a movie camera instead df a typewriter. fanciful? It includes. three categories of shows: The question of the character of TV is largely a journal­ -The 15 minute daily news summary: NBC's John istic question, and it will be answered to a great extent by Cameron Swayze; . ABC's John Daley; CBS' Douglas what TV does with its journalistic ann. I recently spent Edwatds. some. time with network journalists discussing questions -The 30 minute weekly news documentary that pene­ about TV and ·its journalism. trates, develops, and makes sense out of specific stories: Is the character of TV pretty well fixtd in its present &e It Now, Ed Murrow, CBS; The American Week, form, or might it change significantly in the next decade? Eric Sevareid, CBS; Background, Joseph Harsch, NBC. Is it possible for TV, which is basically an entertainment -The non-news documentary on contemp0rary life that· medium. to develop a bold and critical journalism. of its (continued on Page 34) gomery, .New York City; Charlotte F. Robling, Darien, Conn.; Dwight E. Sargent, Portland, Me.; Kenneth Stewart, Ann Arbor, Mich.; John Strohmeyer, Providence, R. I.; Walter H. Waggoner, Washington, D.C.; Melvin S. Wax, Claremont, N. H.; Lawre?ce G. Weiss, Boulder, Colo.; Louis M. Lyons, Cambridge,. Mass., Chauman. __ Published quarterly irom 44 Holyoke House, Cambridge 38, .- Mass.- ·Subscription $2 a year. Entered as second-class matter De·\ _ Nieman Reports is published by the Nieman AlUmni Council: 1 cember 31, 1947~ at the post office at Boston, Massachusetts, un• > Barry Brown, Providence, R. I.; Thomas H. Griffith, New '!ork der the Act of March 3, 1879. ) ' City; A. B. Guthrie, Jr., Great Falls, Mont.; John M. Hamson, ..{- . ' Toledo, 0.; Weldon James, Louisville, Ky.; Francis P. Locke, Day• . VOL. IX.o NO. 2 APRIL, 1955 ton, 0.; Frederick W. Maguire, Colwnbus, 0.; Harry T. Mont• ·.I· \ • 3f NIEMAN REPORTS SEE IT THEN next was one of the most eloquent expressions of fascism (continued from Page 2). I've c;ver seen. The minister said nothing. He clamped his jaws shut. He raised both hands in rage, and held develops methods of TV reporting: ·Tiie Search, CBS; them out flat against the camera." NBC's Tdementaries. I Of these, the daily news summary is the constant, pre­ I Murrow has touched a nerve. He has revealed truth dictable factor in the future ·character of TV. It does not not only in his subjects, but in the nature of TV . itself. pretend to interpret or make particular sense out of what He has liberated TV journalism from its public and static ·it reports. Speed is an important criterion, and it must be role. He enters the private worlds of private people and brief, factual, and descriptive. It is popular, well sponsored, reports reality in a way that it has never been reported. and solidly built into the scheme of TV. What he does is unique to TV, but it draws on a wide The weekly news-related documentary is the real heart range of traditions: the documentary film, the radio docu­ of the question about TV journalism. It is here that TV mentary, the noncfiction magazine report, and even realistic will, or will not, m:~ke felt its full power as a journalistic and naturalistic literature. Its method is to show the medium. reader instead of telling. Its result is to make sense out Unlike the daily summary, which is a combination of the of the news by giving the viewer the information and the old radiocast :mJ newsreel, the news documentary is stimulation to make sense out of it for himself. In essence, a new form in itself. It is only a few years old, but it Murrow's new "form gives the viewer a sense of l1aving ex- already has a modern grandfather. He is Ed Murrow, perienced the news. · whose See It Now has for the .past three years put TV's Murrow has established a bridgehead for a neW form most powerful reporting on film. Murrow's work has of journali5m, but he has failed to win what is considered changed the tune· of even · the most pessimistic and per• in TV to .be a mass audience. The quality of his show, sistent critics of TV. for all its magnificent peaks, is inconsistent. It has at­ Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review of . tracted respectable numbers of people who either like the Literature, said, "I was one of the e:~dy hatchet boys on Murrow personality or who are basically interested in the TV. The thing th:lt surprises me now is that there is so news. But it does not seem to have evangelized among much that is so good. One hour of Murrow is worth a those millions of general viewers who might qe won to day and a night of anything else." an interest in the news by journalistic development of Charles Siepmann, one of the inost astute critics of TV, TV's. unique powers. See It Now costs more than the predicted pessimistically in 1950 that ·... ''TV will prob­ sponsor will pay for it, and it must be subsidized by CBS . .ably conform rapidly to a few ... stereotyped conven­ People who know Murrow's problem feel that he has tions .... It will be technic;:lly ingenious and inventive, the idea-power to develop his forrri, increase his audience, but artistically poor .•.. Except for rare occasions, and and break out of his bridgehead. Such an advance by for some time to come, its true scop·e as a medium of Murrow would create a broader financial base for TV expression will not be realized." But a few wee.ks ago journalism, train more people to an interest in his kind Siepmann was full of enthusiasm for one part of TV. of reponing, and stimulate more journalistic projects. But "Ed Murrow's work has been extraordinary," he said. Murrow's idea~power is being blocked by mechanical limita­ "His great insight is a conception of the news, not as tions and by the limitations of the photo-reporting talent externals, not as, say, bringing some far off place into he is able to put into the field. your . living room, but in terms . of seeing . into pt:ople's The journalist in the field is limited by time, equipment, minds." a.1d budget, but he is also embarrassed · by riches. .Here, Siepm:mn · describC:d two shows Murrow did on the at last, all the methods of communication are synthesized. race problem in South Africa. "You see before your eyes They are so many, and their relationships. are so complex, what could never be explained to. you in Words," he said. that a mere human journalist has great difficulty using them "These reports made you feel what it is like to be a savage all properly. Perhaps the deepest frustration of the TV out of the bush up against the city.
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