CBS News' Don Hewitt Takes a Critical Look at TV News

Posted on October 7, 1997

"News is News and entertainment is entertainment and crossing the line between them is often dishonest and always bad broadcasting" is just one critical observation that CBS News veteran Don Hewitt will focus on at the annual dinner/lecture of THE INSTITUTE for Public Relations Research and Education, next Thursday, October 9 in New York City.

"Is Broadcast Journalism a Lost Art?" is the title Hewitt has given to his speech which will reflect back on the early days of television news. Creator and executive producer of "60 Minutes," he holds up Edward R. Murrow, Douglas Edwards, Howard K. Smith and Eric Sevareid as true "television journalists," and harshly observes that "Today the network news divisions are less concerned with covering news than filling time inexpensively."

Commenting on the importance of the remarks to the faculty, students and professionals supported by THE INSTITUTE, Jack Bergen, Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations at Westinghouse and INSTITUTE Chairman said, "Most public relations professionals have spent their careers trying to avoid Don Hewitt and "60 Minutes." Now we've invited him to be the keynote speaker of the major forum of our industry, asking him to share insights and issues impacting the future of both journalism and public relations. This will be a provocative and historic event."

Hewitt calls for television executives to re-examine the industry's obsession with the much-hyped "Sweeps Week," which he decries as "Holy Week" to network executives. He even criticizes the very genre that he helped create - the newsmagazine -- as having become more entertainment than news, just competition for sitcoms. TV's top brass are held up for sharp rebuke for the overriding "bottom line mentality" which he believes has so altered broadcast journalism.