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Margaret Warner, Ray Suarez, Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill
Excellence In Need Of Updating
Washington — Next week, PBS’ NewsHour and Washington Week programs will be broadcast in High Definition. That’s good, but the bigger question is when will PBS’ producers stop thinking in black and white?
By nearly any journalistic measure, PBS’ news programs remain the most traditional, well researched, and relevant of all national news broadcasts. What PBS delivers is serious, probative and deep. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer covers issues that matter, both foreign and domestic while Washington Week with Gwen Ifill focuses on the big stories, politics and government — both internationally and at home. Unfortunately, PBS news programs are relics of the Edward R. Murrow era, or what CBS’ Les Moonves calls The Voice Of God presentation of television news.
I don’t think many, if any, serious journalists find Les Moonves’ views on broadcast news, or journalism, of much value. Perhaps the most salient reason is that authoritative credibility (the voice of God) is essential to good journalism. In serious reporting, it’s the accuracy and completeness of information as well as the editorial competence of the editing and fact checking that matter. Means of presentation, whether formal or informal would seem to be largely inconsequential.
When compared to commercial network news programs, PBS public affairs programs are dry, rigid to the point of absurdity, and officiously formal. Formality was the standard for television news programs sixty years ago — at a time when social custom in this country demanded that men and women wear hats, dress up to go shopping, or that gentlemen wear jackets in restaurants. People on television dressed according to the norms of the day — and even to this day, people absent journalistic credentials or reportorial experience wear a suit and tie costume to appear competent.
Is Formality Required?
It’s possible that formality is required — just to keep from being consumed by the constant change that has ill-served commercial television news. Perhaps PBS still believes that journalistic bearing and competency devolve from formality, rigidity of format, and staid presentation. They don’t. One only need compare the front page of the New York Times in 1950 to what was published today to see that other media competently made the transition to 21st century society. While commercial broadcast media swung to the opposite extreme — PBS’ presentation model remains largely unchanged.
Yet such formality, rigidity and inflexibility ( in program format ) are not at all necessary to support good journalism. The point isn’t that PBS has failed to grow in its abilities to do what Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil set out to do — and that is to provide a definitive daily summary of important news.
You can’t do that job today with people and producers inhibited by tradition or worse, still living in the Edward R. Murrow era.