DOCUMENTARY BLISTERS FILM AND TELEVISION NEWS : NEWS AS ENTERTAINMENT.Byline: Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently in its 131st year of publication. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. A devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. epic, ``Newsreels to Nightly News'' traces the history of news on film and video, from its birth a century ago among clowns to its dominance today ... by clowns. The six-hour documentary, starting tonight on the History Channel, recaps the evolution of the news camera in compelling, literate style. The program celebrates news pioneers and the camera's power to effect positive change. More often, though, ``Newsreels to Nightly News'' serves as a frightening reminder of how the camera has fallen victim to sham, propaganda and commerce. When the focus turns to today's local news Today's Local News is a free, five-day-a-week broadsheet newspaper that covers northern San Diego County in California. A rare modern-day start-up of a metropolitan broadsheet newspaper, Today's Local News , the commentary bristles. ``They really refuse to cover the news,'' NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. anchor Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (born February 6, 1940 in Webster, South Dakota) is a popular American television journalist, Previously working on regularly scheduled news documentaries for the NBC television network, and is the former NBC News anchorman and managing editor of the program says. ``They cover what I call distractions.'' This indispensable guide to American TV news comes from outsiders, the BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. No wonder it's so scathing. If you find fault with today's TV news, you're not alone. So do Walter Cronkite, Katie Couric, Connie Chung, Lesley Stahl and so many others in Thursday's hour. ``So much crap passes as information that not only does the audience sometimes miss the distinction between news and crap, the editors sometimes miss the distinction,'' says Morley Safer of ``60 Minutes.'' The news hasn't come such a long way, no matter the technological advances. The news film sprang up in big-city music halls, sharing the bill with acrobatic dogs, clowns and dancing girls. TV news today wallows in the scandals of Amy Fisher, Tonya Harding and Lorena Bobbitt. From vaudeville to our modern video-ville, with its newsmagazines and tabloid shows, entertainment has played a major role in news. Early newsreels faked everything from earthquakes to executions. Later newsreels ignored the Depression in favor of disasters and fashion. The March of Time trafficked in dramatizations. Directors John Ford, Frank Capra and John Huston staged re-creations for World War II documentaries. The war, however, pushed documentaries toward realism, and Edward R. Murrow Noun 1. Edward R. Murrow - United States broadcast journalist remembered for his reports from London during World War II (1908-1965) Edward Roscoe Murrow, Murrow elevated radio's coverage. Murrow's high standards guided early TV news, and he's the towering figure in ``Newsreels to Nightly News.'' He brought prestige to TV through ``See It Now,'' tackling everything from racial intolerance to U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy. He was ``a little bit of the evangelist,'' fellow CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. newsman Charles Kuralt says. Murrow wasn't the only one. There are powerful clips of Howard K. Smith Howard Kingsbury Smith (May 12, 1914 – February 15, 2002) was an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman and commentator, and one of the original Murrow boys. examining race in Birmingham, Ala., and John Chancellor covering desegregation desegregation: see integration. in Arkansas. ``Newsreels to Nightly News'' moves through the decades, analyzing Richard Nixon's Checkers speech, the Kennedy administration's manipulation of images, Nixon's fury at commentators and TV's impact on the civil rights movement. The documentary excels at explaining how Ronald Reagan's White House stage-managed the news and how other countries copied that approach. ``We played into their hands,'' ABC's Sam Donaldson says. ``News isn't news - it's entertainment,'' Reagan aide Michael Deaver says. Soul-searching The last hour, ``Embattled Witness,'' will prove most disturbing, scanning everything from the Persian Gulf War Persian Gulf War or Gulf War (1990–91) International conflict triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Though justified by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on grounds that Kuwait was historically part of Iraq, the invasion was presumed to be to O.J. Simpson. ``No one is certain what the news is anymore,'' narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. Kenneth Welsh says. Big-name journalists do a surprising amount of soul-searching. ``We don't really understand the power of the pictures,'' the late Chancellor says. ``We're playing with a kind of fire that we don't really understand.'' ABC's Ted Koppel worries about live television and ``the illusion'' that it's best. ``It's technological wizardry wiz·ard·ry n. pl. wiz·ard·ries 1. The art, skill, or practice of a wizard; sorcery. 2. a. A power or effect that appears magical by its capacity to transform: - that's not journalism,'' he says. The 24-hour news cycle frightens CBS' Stahl, who says desperate reporters resort to speculation to fill time. NBC's Couric compares journalists to lemmings and says her mother wishes she would do more high-brow stories. Former CBS anchor Chung says her coverage of skater Harding was ``repulsive.'' On the local front, ``Newsreels to Nightly News'' explains the boom in repetitive, crime-ridden reports. Al Primo, creator of the ``Eyewitness News'' format, says almost half the money a local station makes comes from news. ``If you're going to succeed as a business, you'll have the No. 1 news,'' he says. To that end, local telecasts package ``action news,'' cater to focus groups and concentrate on the sensational. Unfortunately, the strategy works. Twice as many Americans get their news from local news as they do from network newscasts. So network news started mimicking local news. THE FACTS The show: ``Newsreels to Nightly News.'' The stars: Hosted by Howard K. Smith with comments from Walter Cronkite, Katie Couric, Connie Chung, Lesley Stahl and Morley Safer. Where: The History Channel. When: The first two hours at 6 and 10 p.m. today and the other four episodes at 5 and 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday. |
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