The last session at RTNDA. A SUPER session combined with NAB and BEA (I don’t know who that is and I’m too lazy to Google it right now). The subject? With all this new technology and changing newsroom structures, just “What Would Edward R. Murrow Do?” Anyway???
They had a couple of panalists who had written books on Murrow; Marci Burdick, Senior VP of Broadcast and Cable for Schurz Communications; Stacey Woelfel, News Director of KOMU-TV in Columbia, MO; Harvey Nagler, CP of CBS Radio News; Mark Effron, Senior VP Titanictv.com; and the whole thing was moderated by ABC News Correspondant John Cochran.
I guess it was a fine session for what it was worth. Really though, how much credence can you put in a session that seems to know what a guy who has been dead for a long time would think now?
What really upset me though was the whole discussion on, “Gee. We as the media really messed up by giving Bush and Colin Powell a pass leading up to the war in Iraq.” I will give Mark Effron credit when he pointed out that all the military and intelligence experts thay talked to said that WMDs was a slam dunk. You think? Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and the British Inelligence Service were saying WMDs were a slam dunk! The whole premise that we didn’t find WMDs so the press must have dropped the ball is so ridiculous. They weren’t going to go in and inspect Iraq! President Clinton allowed the inspectors to get kicked out. What do they think they should have done given EVERYBODY was saying there were WMDs in Iraq?
The discussion also deteriorated even more when the comment was made that Murrow wouldn’t have worn a US Flag pin after 911. Who knows. I have a problem with those who have a problem showing some patriotism on the air in a time of war.
This is pure speculation, but I am waiting for the day when it’s revealed that Saadam sent his WMDs into Syria.
I DID get a lot out of RTNDA, but it did confirm for me that the MSM is mostly very liberal. Maybe RTNDA and/or NAB will surprise me and get Brit Hume on one of their panels.
