Tabloid trash TV preferred over hearings

Insight on the News, Sept 1, 1997 by L. Brent Bozell

The TV networks' decision to ignore the Senate campaign fund-raising hearings - not just by refusing to give live coverage to the events but also by failing to even summarize them most nights on the evening news - is becoming painfully apparent to everyone. On CNN's Reliable Sources, Washington Post writer Howard Kurtz was blunt: "The real significant failure here has been by NBC and ABC, which have simply blown off these hearings, just blotted them out of their evening newscasts, which is their `front page' on many, many days of the hearings so far. And I just think that is just giving the back of your hand to an important story."

What's less recognized is the equally awful job the newsmagazines are doing, especially since they maintain that the manic 24-hour-a-day news cycle requires them to provide a longer, more in-depth view to offer perspective on the news. On Charlie Rose's PBS dronefest in 1996, Time boss Walter Isaacson asked the American people to let Time set the agenda for them: "Time magazine ... can be your intelligent agent. It can help set the agenda so that we, in a time when everything is fractured, 500 channels, hundreds of thousands of places to go on the World Wide Web, what we do need in this country, and maybe in this world, is common ground." If that's the case, then Time's agenda calls for Americans to come together and ignore the fund-raising hearings in favor of more important issues such as gay serial killers and Bill Cosby's paternity squabbles.

In the July 14 issues of Time and Newsweek, both magazines gave the Senate hearings a significant preview -- six pages in Time, four pages in Newsweek. But as the hearings progressed and the evidence of wrongdoing increased, the coverage became less serious. One week later, Time was down to a couple of pages, Newsweek one. The July 28 issues were stunning examples of tabloid news judgment: Time had 16 pages on Gianni Versace's murder, to only one on John Huang. Newsweek obliterated its entire space on national affairs for 17 pages on Versace and Andrew Cunanan. Then, the Aug. 4 editions arrived: nothing in Time except Jamie Malanowsk's fictitious interview with Fred Thompson using lines out of Thompson's movies. Newsweek devoted another six pages to Cunanan, eight to "the new rich" and just a half-page scoop on Democratic attempts to blacken the reputation of Republican Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma.

So how can the American public get any update on the hearings? They can't get live coverage on network television - on most nights the network "news" gives them nothing. And now, Time and Newsweek simply are absent without leave. Tabloid trash rules!

Just look at the magazines' covers to see the most important stories of the day. Both focused on Mars on July 14. The next week, it was all blondes: Time had the folk-pop strummer Jewel, Newsweek had Playboy centerfold/sitcom-star Jenny McCarthy giving an "ooh, icky" look For July 28, Time picked Versace and Newsweek went with Cunanan. The Aug. 4 Time had the Mormons and Newsweek had "The New Rich." (Webster Hubbell was not mentioned.) In short, nothing on the hearings.

This isn't exactly new: While the magazines have produced some original reporting on the fund-raising scandal beat, it's usually in small, one-page reports buried deep in the magazine with little promotion.

Let's go back to the very beginning. Both Time and Newsweek have put the fund-raising scandal on the cover only once: Newsweek on Oct. 28, Time in the Nov. 11 issue (on newsstrands just a day before Election Day). Neither has bothered to put any elected official on their cover since their Nov. 18 election wrap-ups.

Both had one significant burst of coverage after the election: In the five weeks from Feb. 24 to March 31, Time had 21 and one-half pages, Newsweek 30. Now compare what they've done in the succeeding four months, dated April to July: Time's logged 19 and two-thirds pages, Newsweek only 10 and one-third.

Now compare that with the really important stories: Time had 17 pages in one week on the Heaven's Gate mass suicide. Newsweek gave it 30 pages that week and another nine a week later. Or look at actual coverage of substance: China (with the death o Deng Xiaoping and the handover of Hong Kong) outpulls China subverting U.S. elections: Time's done at least 35 pages, Newsweek 63.

We might quibble from time to time about a newspaper report here and there. But we must concede - no, proclaim - that the newspaper industry, across the board, has been highly responsible in its coverage. The television networks and the weekly magazines, on the other hand, have become a joke, an embarrassment to the journalistic profession.