Word: schorrs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Since William Paley invented CBS, you'd think he would know most of the tricks of the trade. But in 1962 he had to learn from Daniel Schorr about one of television news' more dubious subterfuges...
...book Clearing the Air, Schorr tells of a luncheon in Paris during which Paley congratulated him on a CBS documentary about East Germany. "Its dramatic climax," writes Schorr, "showed Walther Ulbricht, the East German Communist leader, upbraiding me for my questions and finally storming out of the room in full view of the camera. 'What I admired most,' said Paley, 'was the coolness with which you sat there and looked at him while he was yelling...
Such careful rulings about television behavior can be found in the fascinating CBS code of standards, an area that Schorr does not go into. Laying out what practices CBS does and does not permit, the code, which originated in memo form over the years and was gathered in a 1976 manual, provides a handy check list to the kind of sensationalized TV news coverage that still persists on too many local TV news shows. Some of the situations covered by the code...
Ever wonder what happened between CBS and Daniel Schorr? When Schorr leaked to the Village Voice a secret House Intelligence report, he became the center of a celebrated fuss; the rhetoric of lofty principle filled the air. These principles, on both sides, now seem a little tattier in Schorr's telling. When CBS decided that Schorr must go, its lawyers in February 1976 agreed to pay Schorr more than two years' salary, and severance besides. Only after Schorr had assented to a well-paid firing did CBS agree with him that perhaps such a deal might prejudice Schorr...
...Leaking is a form of whistle-blowing," Schorr explained. People leak information that will embarrass public figures, or implicate them in crimes or scandals; they do not expose "atomic secrets." "The real secrets are pretty goddamn well kept," Schorr insisted...