Public Eye
September 23, 2005 4:53 PM

CNN President On The Fonts Rita Needs

By
Dick Meyer
Topics
Media Issues
Earlier this week, Public Eye looked at the fine line broadcast journalists walk when covering stories that could be dangerous to the public -- like hurricanes. When does news coverage go over the line and become hype, alarmist or crass ratings plays? When does lack of coverage become a disservice? Over the years, for example, CBS News, along with the other networks, has occasionally been accused of overkill in covering storms that eventually petered out.

In that light, an e-mail that Jonathan Klein, the president of CNN/US sent to several staffers about the graphics to be used during coverage of Hurricane Rita may be of interest.
(CNN)

Klein wrote:
The term CATEGORY 4=viewership. (Everbody knows the cateogires [sic] after Katrina)

We need to put it on the screen all the time (in addition to radar).

Before it becomes cat 4. PREDICTION: RITA CATEGORY 4.

Could replace the generic "Hurricane Rita" lower-third banner. Or better still we could flash the status top left where we put "New Video" in the same large font.

Mike, can your guys design something arresting? Wil and David, pls figure out something for tonight in the meantime.

The sentence, "The term CATEGORY 4 =viewership" may strike some as on hypish side of programming instructions. But Klein doesn't think so at all and says he was trying to make sure CNN used language that would properly inform his audience that Hurricane Rita was a big, dangerous storm.

"In the wake of Katrina," Klein told me, "the public became highly aware of the distinctions between categories. They know that a Category 4 is an especially strong hurricane." He wanted the CNN audience to have that information clearly and forcefully, and so he told his staff, "let's make sure to use that term and use it constantly." He says using that precise term -- Category 4 -- was the best way, post-Katrina, "to indicate to the viewer that is important."

Klein also said he "sent it from my Blackberry as I was driving" (come on, Jon, safety first) and that he wasn't as precise or complete with his language as he would have been otherwise.

And he noted, "When everyone is covering the same story, it makes a huge difference how you cover it."

What do you think?

Add a Comment
by a_12 September 26, 2005 6:47 PM EDT
woohoo, love it.
Reply to this comment
by sacralvoice September 26, 2005 12:46 PM EDT
itsalltrue: You are right. Ever since Katrina I\'ve gotten way too wound up and have lost my usual objectivity. But Katrina just blew that all away. It was then that I started blogging. I\'ve decided that rather than taking valium, I\'m just going to stop blogging.
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by newstouse September 25, 2005 1:29 PM EDT
Of COURSE it\'s hype. And anyone who thinks we\'re NOT in the business of attracting viewers needs their head examined. Go with the \"Cat 4\" gfx by all means. People get it. Plus it\'s good info. If it were WRONG info then I\'d scream even LOUDER to take it down. But it\'s just a way of showcasing accurate info. And as for CBS \"chastising\" a competitor.... if the original post is \"chastising\" then we need new definitions in the dictionaries of the world. Did you not notice the inclusion of CBS in the lead graph? It\'s just asking a question about whether or not we overhype and uses this email as the peg to hang the story on. If it were a FEMA internal memo, you\'d be all over it - claiming it was \"responsible journalism.\" Methinks our own skin is quite too thin at times as a business. Shine the light on everyone else, just not us? Wrong. Bottom line, the CNN guy is right, even though you may find his method of stating it a little crass.
Reply to this comment
by itsalltrue September 25, 2005 7:49 AM EDT
To SacralVoice. There\'s room in this life for more than one issue. Pop a Valium.
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by ronmwanga September 24, 2005 5:36 PM EDT
I\'ve noticed Joe Scarborough is using the term, \"Cat-4\" in his broadcasts. That, I believe, is overkill. Whether or not that is actually a term used by FEMA officials or the like, it shouldn\'t be used by a broadcaster. Overkill when covering a natural disaster is anything more, IMHO, than appropriate reporting on the warnings, damage and aftermath left, ex post facto. The tricky part, I believe, is the mathematics of Time: How much Time should be devoted to the coverage? Too much time is ghoulish, feeding off the tragedy; and too little time deligitimizes the news division.
Reply to this comment
by sacralvoice September 24, 2005 5:31 PM EDT
itsalltrue: Do you really think that any corporate structure in America is above this? Do you really think only CBS is doing this kind of thing? I wasn\'t surprised that CBS had this information or that it posted it. I don\'t expect anything else from the corporate world or from the government for that matter. Do you think that corporations get rich by having integrity and being honest? Do you think that our elected government officials are honest? Do you think that either group really cares for the American citizen? Why the outrage? Why not some outrage about what is happening in America? Rather than caring about CNN (which I am quite sure can take care of themselves) why not some care about the average American citizen? Do you really think the whole @%%?* foundation built from corporate America and government is not corrupt? How is America going to survive the next 50 years? There are very real concerns here. What kind of a country are we leaving for our children and our grandchildren? These things are what we should be focusing on.
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by itsalltrue September 24, 2005 2:38 PM EDT
PLease note that in the posting below, I dod not insert symbols before the last name Meyer. Apparently this web site finds the usual abbreviation for the name Richard to be obscene. So be sure to tune in to $@@# Clark\'s Rockin\' New Year\'s Eve!
Reply to this comment
by itsalltrue September 24, 2005 2:36 PM EDT
I would like to add to my posting just below that I see a link on the left to \"Media Bistro\", a web site that derives significant income by overcharging for a variety of services to freelance writers, not a wealthy lot of folks. One of the features of this web site is a blog called \"TV Newser\", which is widely read in the TV news community. If you can even believe it, the blog is written by a young man who is a JUNIOR in COLLEGE. He passes judgment daily on professional journalism organizations and employees, and actively solicits leaks from newsrooms and reprints them. This sort of shoddy gossip-mongering, without editorial oversight, appears to have influenced @?@# Meyer, the author of the \"Public Eye\" posting I refer to below. God help us all.
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by itsalltrue September 24, 2005 2:28 PM EDT
The propriety of CBS News stealing and making public an email that is unquestionably the property of Time Warner is beyond my comprehension as a journalist. To use the email to mock Time Warner\'s CNN is so far beneath the dignity of a presumably professional news organization as to be significantly punishable. Is this what CBS News has come to? Mocking its competitors? And from reading this \"Public Eye\" posting, one would assume that the writer actually spoke with Jon Klein, who runs CNN in the United States. After all, Klein is quoted. Indicating that Klein is so extraordinarily foolish and cavalier about his private communications that he actually defends them! A responsible head of an organization like CNN should chastise CBS News for theft of private communications, and if that head contained an ounce of strategic sensibility, use the theft to publicly discredit CBS. In any event, CBS News has cause for embarrassment, as though it needs more, and it appears that the \"Public Eye\" is black.
Reply to this comment
by sacralvoice September 23, 2005 8:32 PM EDT
It\'s all the numbers game. When networks are all owned by huge corporations it all becomes bottom line. So, basically, it boils down to how to sell to the customer. We are the customer. We are not the viewer. Even in politics, we Clay Johnson, supposedly the most influential member of President\'s Bush\'s inner circle, stated that American\'s should be viewed as \"customers\" and has stated \"we are in the results business\". It is the downfall of America and similar to the excess of the Roman Empire that led to its decline. I read an interesting article in the International Herald Tribune by Roger Cohen - it ended with a third grader being asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. Without any hesitation, she responded \"rich\".
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