Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

IRADE ASSNS. MEDIA NEWS STOCK RISING— RTNDA • Progress in respectability seen by news directors • Delegates face obstacles, work to improve methods Broadcast news, a highly salable commodity, is under-rated by management and kicked around by public officials, but the Radio Television News Directors Assn. feels it is breaking down these barriers. Progress in the long-range fight for recognition was reported at a three-day meeting in Miami last week. The nation's broadcast newsmen faced these obstacles and held a series of workshops designed to improve news techniques and raise professional standards. Here are developments at the meeting: • Frank Stanton, CBS president, received the second annual Paul White memorial award (see page 42). • Strong protest was made against the recent action of the American Bar Assn. Committee on Canon Revision, with its refusal to relax Canon 35 and the ban on courtroom broadcasts. • Robert D. Swezey, WDSU-AM-TV New Orleans, chairman of NARTB's freedom of information committee, lauded RTNDA's fight for access to public events and promised continued NARTB help. • Sam Zelman, KNXT (TV) Los Angeles, chairman of RTNDA's professional standards committee, in calling for equal access to news for all media, said the doctrine of separate but equal rights is not acceptable. • Citations were recommended to recognize public figures who contribute to the cause of freedom of information. • The Zelman committee called on management not to abuse the right of access by sending unqualified personnel to carry out news assignments. • "Rip and read" newscasts tactics were roundly condemned, RTNDA noting a revival of careless station news operations. • President Ted Koop, CBS Washington, called on RTNDA to keep the industry and public informed about the higher professional standards in broadcast news. In regretting a revival of the "rip and read" style of newscasting, James A. Byron, WBAP-AM-TV Fort Worth, devoted part of his Thursday keynote address to a searching self-analysis of the news broadcast structure. He is a past president of RTNDA. Mr. Byron said he has heard more wire copy broadcast on more Texas stations than ever before. Worst of all, he said, is the fact that "some of these jokers who do the reading can't .resist the impulse to scatter around some of the same corn that is their stock in trade as disc jockeys." He finds it "a bit nauseating," Mr. Byron said, adding, "but these characters are newsmen. I know they are because the introductory copy says so." In a similar vein he said that in television, "We continue to find actors doing news on some stations. I still trust the average viewer to accept the man who knows what he is talking about in preference to the man whose principal attribute is that he looks well Page 40 • November 11, 1957 while doing whatever he is doing." Management's growing interest in news can be traced in a large degree to RTNDA's fight for freedom of access to public events, Mr. Byron said. He cited cooperation with NARTB and the fact that President Harold E. Fellows asked RTNDA to supply a speaker for each of the organization's eight regional meetings. The RTNDA freedom of information committee report recommended that the association issue citations to public figures who contribute to the cause of freedom of information. An RTNDA survey of wire services showed, on the basis of 143 questionnaires, that in general news directors are fairly well satisfied with news reports. The survey disclosed that 78 stations have only one radio wire, 31 have two, nine have three and four have four or more wires. Of these stations, 38 have one or more newspaper wires. Asked if they favor elimination of 15minute summaries in favor of more fiveminute reports, the news directors were twoto-one in favor of keeping 15-minute reports. Other findings: a minority of editors asked for more feature-type stories and commentary material; a majority feel regional splits of wire services are adequate; a number of tv editors want more regional pictures. One and two-man news staffs predominate, it was shown, with 35 reporting stations carrying three to five men; 18 with six to ten men, and 14 with ten or more. As to the number of newscasts per day, 31 stations have 16 to 20; 20 have 21 to 25 newscasts; 20 have 5 to 10; 15 have 11 to 15, 7 have 26 to 30, and 7 stations have 31 or more newscasts per day. The role of radio news coverage in a world seeking fast, accurate information was reviewed at a Thursday radio panel headed by Lee White, KROS Clinton, Iowa. Bert Cannings, CFCF Montreal, Canada, told news editors they should sell radio news on its newness, with careful preparation of copy and a fresh, authoritative approach. He said radio "is enjoying its first hour of acceptance." He suggested smaller stations use a tip system, which he called "a dollar a holler," with competent newsmen following up these dollar tips. Other panel members were Dick Sanders, WJDX Jackson, Miss.; Jim Corbett, WGTO Haines City, Fla., and David Loring, WGIL Galesburg, 111. At a television panel Thursday, Bill Baggs, editor of the Miami Daily News (part owner of WCKT [TV] Miami), urged tv stations to do more reporting in depth. Others in the panel were Charles Shaw, WCAU-TV Philadelphia; Jim Bennett, KLZ-TV Denver; Harold Baker, WFGA (TV) Jacksonville, Fla., and Dick John, WTVT (TV) Tampa, Fla. Progress in gaining access to public events is steady but not at all easy, according to the report of the freedom of information committee, headed by Julian Goodman, NBC Washington. He said RTNDA has strongly protested the American Bar Assn. report which continues the courtroom ban against radio-tv equipment [At Deadline, Nov. 4]. These other developments were cited : Refusal of the New York City Council to allow radio-tv coverage of its sessions; State Dept. relaxation of its ban against newsmen in Red China; RTNDA invitation to American Society of Newspaper Editors to prevent bad feeling between newspaper and broadcast newsmen, recalling the "Los Angeles rebellion" where newspapermen protested appearance of tv cameras at a news conference; adamant refusal of House Speaker Sam Rayburn to allow broadcast coverage of House committee proceedings. Mr. Goodman found encouragement in a 1957 trend — "a healthy round of selfexamination by our own members." Referring to a frank criticism of station newsroom operations made by Charles Shaw, WCAU Philadelphia [Trade Assns., Sept. 23], he added this thought, "The committee feels that the central thought here — that we must continue to fight to raise our own RTNDA board members met Wednesday before the convention at Miami Beach opened. Front row (I to r): Bob Downey, WKAR E. Lansing, Mich.; Dick Cheverton, WOODAM-TV Grand Rapids, Mich.; Bill Monroe, WDSU-TV New Orleans; Ron Laidlaw, CFPL-TV London, Ont.; Jack E. Krueger, WTMJ-AM-TV Milwaukee. Back row (I to r): Harold Baker, WFGA-TV Jacksonville, Fla.; Ted Koop, CBS Washington, RTNDA retiring president; Ralph Renick, WTVJ (TV) Miami; Bruce B. Palmer, KWTV (TV) Oklahoma City; John Maters, WILS Lansing, Mich.; Bill Small, WHAS-AM-TV Louisville, and Nick Basso, WSAZ-AM-TV Huntington, W. Va. Broadcasting