Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994 TAG: 9405120150
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Tom Shales
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The ``20/20'' piece on Sondheim was favorable in the extreme. Introducing it, co-anchor Hugh Downs said Sondheim is ``considered by many to be America's greatest composer of popular music.'' During the report itself, correspondent Bob Brown called Sondheim ``one of the best-known composers this country has ever produced.''
A skeptical viewer might get the impression that the feature was a 10-minute commercial for the musical - a musical in which ABC has a financial interest. At least ``GMA'' provided viewers with the relevant detail of ABC's investment.
Victor Neufeld, executive producer of ``20/20,'' says he knew of ABC's involvement but thought it ``so unimportant, such a nonissue, so irrelevant'' to the story that it was not worth mentioning. ``Should we have done an acknowledgement of some kind? Maybe we should,'' Neufeld says now. ``It might have been an oversight.''
The deception may indeed be minor, but it points up a problem that will only grow as the corporations that own broadcast and cable networks get larger and their holdings more diverse. Viewers deserve to know if self-serving interests are involved when they see a story they assume to be objective.
Casual deceptions occur often. The syndicated infotainment program ``Entertainment This Week'' recently devoted an entire hour to the closing days of the series ``Star Trek: The Next Generation.'' Both shows are produced by Paramount in Hollywood, but viewers weren't told that.
``Show Biz Today,'' on CNN, recently aired a gushing report on the premiere of the film ``That's Entertainment, Part III.'' All the clips in the film had to be licensed from Turner Broadcasting System - which also owns CNN.
``This is the problem,'' says Reuven Frank, former president of NBC News. ``These companies are into everything. I think there should have been not a disclaimer exactly, but a declaration of interest.''
Things will only get worse if, as widely predicted in the industry, a Hollywood studio buys or merges with one of the networks. Paramount has long been rumored as the potential owner of NBC. The Walt Disney Co. may buy CBS Inc. next year, some analysts believe.
If Disney owned CBS, would ``The CBS Evening News'' run a report on the way the Euro Disney theme park flopped? It isn't easy for viewers to keep track of who owns what and that will only get harder when the information superhighway opens for business.
In preview performances, Sondheim's musical has generated widely divergent reactions. Some audiences have reportedly laughed at the wrong points in the show, necessitating frantic rewrites. You wouldn't know this from the ``20/20'' piece. The rewriting was mentioned - but not the laughter.
``There was a mention of the laughter'' in his original piece, Brown said from New York, ``but it did wind up not being in there'' after final editing.
``I don't disagree that some kind of disclaimer is valuable,'' Brown said. ``If it should have been there and wasn't, it was an oversight on my part. I have to take responsibility.''
Downs or co-anchor Barbara Walters could have mentioned ABC's stake in the show in their remarks after the piece ended. But instead, Walters joined in the chorus of unbridled praise for Sondheim. ``I am passionate about Stephen Sondheim and looking forward to seeing `Passion,''' she cooed.
Bob Reichblum, executive producer of ``GMA,'' says the disclaimer ran on his show on advice from the network's Standards and Practices department. He said the decision to do a piece on the musical was ``purely an editorial'' one. ``No one from Cap Cities said to us, `Hey, this would be a great story,''' Reichblum said.
``We work for people who have as deep an understanding of the separation of church and state as anybody,'' he added. Neufeld said there is ``complete separation'' of powers at ABC and that the company's investment in the play got ``no consideration at all'' in the decision to do a feature on it.
But Brown conceded that network news departments, like politicians, should try to avoid even the ``appearance'' of deceit. This time, the appearance is not pretty.
Washington Post Writers Group
by CNB