Analysis: TV news for fun and profit

LOS ANGELES, June 16 (UPI) -- A main topic of conversation in U.S. media Monday was a New York Times story about the lengths CBS is prepared to go to in pursuit of an exclusive interview with Iraq war veteran Jessica Lynch -- with most analysts questioning the ethics of the network's all-out pitch.

Lynch has been the most coveted "get" in the intensely competitive arena of network TV news since her April rescue from an Iraqi hospital. The Times reported that CBS News -- in letters to Lynch's family and officials at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. -- not only pitched Lynch on a two-hour news documentary, but also suggested that it might be able to help Lynch benefit from contacts with other units of its parent company, Viacom.

The paper quoted from a letter to Lynch's military representatives in which Betsy West, a CBS News senior vice president, attached "outlines of a proposal that includes ideas from" CBS News, CBS Entertainment, MTV networks and the publishing company Simon & Schuster.

"From the distinguished reporting of CBS News to the youthful reach of MTV, we believe this is a unique combination of projects that will do justice to Jessica's inspiring story," West wrote.

The proposal assured the Lynch camp that CBS Entertainment executives considered her story "the highest priority for the CBS movie division," and that Simon & Schuster was "extremely interested in discussing the possibilities for a book." MTV was interested in a news special, and maybe even a special edition of "Total Request Live" including a live performance in Lynch's hometown of Palestine, W.Va., by "a current star act such as Ashanti, and perhaps Ja Rule."

It's enough to make a 19-year-old GI's head spin.

According to the Times article, the overture by CBS "renewed concerns among critics about the independence of news divisions owned by media giants."

Almost as if on cue, TV talking heads launched into a critique that largely questioned the propriety of a network news division involving itself in such overt commercialism -- as if news divisions had not already crossed that line more than a generation ago.

CBS News may have raised the bar -- or lowered it, depending on your point of view -- with the comprehensiveness of its pitch for first dibs on network face time with Lynch. But no one should be surprised that a network news division has finally locked arms with the entertainment division in the interest of corporate profit.

It is the system we have designed and built to replace the old order -- the "glory days" when high-minded network owners such as CBS' William S. Paley regarded the news division as a sacrosanct haven from the remorseless pressures of the profit imperative. Older Americans may lament the transformation of the network news division from loss leader to profit center, but only a relative handful of Americans under 40 are likely to have any memory of those particular good old days.

To get an idea of how impenetrable the firewall once was between the news and everything else, consider the story of the New York producer who called theater columnist George S. Kaufman, inquiring how he might get the name of his theater in the paper.

"You could burn it down," said Kaufman.

That was in the 1920s -- long before the current trend of greater conglomerate control of U.S. media, and the increasing pressure that the profit imperative exerts on editorial decision-making. You may regard this as welcome or regrettable, but -- as legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite might have said -- that's the way it is.

West told the Times that the pitch to Lynch made it clear that CBS News is independent from the rest of Viacom, and that the offer neither stated not implied a quid pro quo. That may be technically true, but realistically Viacom stockholders may be excused for expecting management to use every resource at its disposal to maximize profits.

The Times reported that the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes" sent a proposal to Aron Ralston -- the hiker who cut off his arm to save his life on a mountain trail in Utah -- offering to document his rehabilitation and to help him contact other Viacom divisions about exploiting his experience.

Ralston's father told the paper the family has struggled with ethical questions of its own, regarding the propriety of "bought and sold" news.

"But what's news and what's entertainment?" asked Larry Ralston.

Good question.

Maybe they have some thoughts on that over at Simon & Schuster, where Hillary Clinton's White House memoir "Living History" reportedly recouped the publisher's $8 million investment in its first week in the marketplace.