Word: mudd
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...news he was merely reflecting "grumblings around the country." In particular, Fowler criticized news programs for showing President Reagan relaxing at his California ranch last September while a voice-over described the Soviet destruction of Korean Air Lines Flight 007. He also singled out NBC Correspondent Roger Mudd for a needling interview of Senator Gary Hart in March. "Is it political reporting worthy of Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite," Fowler wondered, "to ask a presidential contender, during the first serious public scrutiny of his candidacy, to do a comedy impression of Ted Kennedy during a live, election-night interview...
...Peter Jennings used two of them in an opening paragraph on Super Tuesday. So did CBS's Dan Rather. NBC's Tom Brokaw employed a couple of them too, and his colleague Roger Mudd followed with a whole string. The popular words and phrases were variations on that old stand-by of political reporting, the expectations game-this candidate did better or worse "than expected," that candidate "had to" win here or capture some specified percentage of the vote there-and they set the tone for the evaluation of the evening's results. In a nomination battle...
Perhaps the most controversial episode of the week was an interview with Hart in which Mudd belittled his victories, saying that Florida "is not a true Southern state" and that Hart was "not a national candidate yet." Mudd asked, "Why do you imitate John Kennedy so much?" And in his closing question, Mudd urged Hart to "do your Teddy Kennedy imitation." The interview prompted 240 telephone calls to NBC in New York, many protesting Mudd's "bullying." Said Mudd: "People have gotten so used to soft and pappy questions in interviews that when they hear firm and brisk questions...
This was, of course, a re-enactment of what happened 200 years ago. It was painstakingly faithful, except that Roger Mudd was on hand to narrate the proceedings for public television. Washington was played by New York Actor Jan Leighton, a remarkable lookalike. Maryland's Governor William Paca was represented by Maryland's current Governor Harry Hughes, no personal resemblance intended...
John C. Culver '54, a former Senator from lowa, countered that Mudd's idea was unrealistic, because Congressmen would prepare speeches far in advance, making it "tough to get spontaneity and integrity...