allmedia.com watch: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Two Giants of TV, Move On

Jeff Gralnick and Rick Kaplan, two legendary newsmen, were known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when they worked together at ABC News in the 1980s. I am not entirely sure whose nickname was which, but I am pretty sure Gralnick was Butch and Kaplan was the Sundance Kid. In any event, Gralnick was the executive producer of ABC World News Tonight and Kaplan was senior producer.

Gralnick died yesterday at the age of 72. Kaplan announced yesterday he’s leaving as executive producer of the CBS Evening News. When I worked overseas for ABC, I never really got to know either one of them well. They were in New York. I usually was in the Middle East. Those who knew Gralnick better have posted some memorable comments and thoughts at http://on.fb.me/lvoBUL Both went on to work and lead programs at nearly all of the networks.

Gralnick eschewed a coat and tie in the newsroom. He almost always wore a Brooks Brothers bush jacket and blue jeans–the producers’ uniform back then. Kaplan liked sweater vests. Both were well over six-feet tall and literally towered over the ABC newsroom.

I remember how we would wait for telexes from Gralnick out in the field to see if he liked or disliked a story we did. The most memorable one for me was, “It ran.”

Wherever Gralnick and Kaplan have gone, they have been remembered. RIP, Jeff. Good luck, Rick.

allmedia.com watch: Journalists Use Anonymous Sources Far Too Often

Bill Carter of the New York Times has worked the television beat for a long time. What I don’t understand is the need to use so many anonymous sources in a story about Katie Couric. More than half of the sources are anonymous or confidential.

I think that journalists have to take a serious look at how anonymous sources are used. I am not certain that anonymous sources should ever be used. Anonymous sources have gotten a number of news organizations into a lot of trouble of the years: Janet Cooke at the Washington Post, Jayson Blair at the New York Times and Jack Kelley at USA Today. Those are the most famous cases where anonymous sources created problems, but there are many more.

I believe that journalists agree too quickly to keep someone’s name out of a story. It’s easier to get people to talk, but it’s also easier for people to spin a story without any responsibility. All journalists have is their credibility. That’s easily gone when people start to question why journalists use unnamed sources so frequently. You can read the New York Times’ story at http://nyti.ms/gnxetl

The Philadelphia Daily News did an investigation of the relationship between police detectives and their informants. The week-long series on a sensitive topic included only one unnamed source. I don’t think Katie Couric rises to that level of importance.

allmedia.com watch: CBS Veep Outed as FBI Informant

It’s been a bad week at CBS. Katie Couric says she’s had enough as anchor of the evening news–or she got pushed out. Now the Washington bureau chief and vice president, Christopher Isham, has been outed as an FBI informant when he worked for ABC News.

I have known Isham since the mid-1980s when we worked together on a documentary about Syria. I am not sure Chris would list me as a BFF, but we spent a fair amount of time together through 1995 when I left ABC.

If Isham was an informant, he wasn’t skilled in trade craft. I remember he wanted to meet with the leadership of Hezbollah in Beirut. At the time, Hezbollah had only recently come forward as a serious group, having just been involved in the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in October 1983, which left 241 Marines and Navy personnel lead.

I arranged a meeting–after telling Isham what a stupid idea I thought it was–and after being blindfolded we were taken to a secret location where we met the leadership,, which included a man I knew only as Abu Ali. He was a bellhop at the Commodore Hotel where most journalists stayed.

“Mr. Chris [me],” Abu Ali said, “the only reason we agreed to this meeting was because you have always been respectful toward me.” I guess I was glad I was a good tipper. We then were allowed to travel to the Bekaa Valley, known as a haven for terrorists, to meet with the military leadership. The only prohibition was that we could take no photographs or video.

Isham popped off a few photos. Within minutes, we were surrounded by eight gunsels ready to kill us. Fortunately, a longtime aide got us out of the mess. But it was one of the scariest incidents I had in nearly a decade of covering the Middle East. Isham almost got all of us killed.

If he were such a skilled informant, he never would have taken such a chance, particularly since he knew the rules as the son of a U.S. diplomat.

As an investigative journalist, it is difficult to know when to bend the rules to get the information you need from government agencies and agents. But the blogosphere swarm has decided to go after Isham and his relationship with the FBI. Gawker named Isham in a dispatch at http://gawker.com/#!5789105

Isham was a regular at Elaine’s Restaurant, an East side bistro, where cops, journalists and the famous hung out together. He was good friends with John O’Neill, the former FBI counterterrorism chief who became head of security at the World Trade Center and died during the 9/11 bombing.

Isham released a statement to the press:

The suggestion that I was an informant for the FBI is outrageous and untrue. Like every investigative reporter, my job for 25 years has been to check out information and tips from sources. In the heat of the Oklahoma City bombing, it would not be unusual for me or any journalist to run information by a source within the FBI for confirmation or to notify authorities about a pending terrorist attack. This is consistent with the policies at every news organization. But at no time did I compromise a confidential source with the FBI or anyone else.

I tend to believe Isham. But such accusations have ruined careers before. I just hope that CBS doesn’t hang out Isham like it has with many of its former employees without a thorough investigation into the charges and his responses.

A quick Google search lists a variety of stories about Isham and the FBI:

It’s going to be another tough day at Black Rock. It will be interesting to see how two former ABC execs now at CBS handle the issue. Paul Friedman, executive vice president of CBS, hired Isham to run the investigative unit at ABC World News. Rick Kaplan, the executive producer at the CBS Evening News and formerly with ABC World News before Isham, has been a hatchet man at all of the networks. Also, we need to hear from investigative reporter Brian Ross, who worked side by side with Isham, and Peter Bergen, who with John Miller, did the Osama bin-Laden interview.

I hope that Chris Isham can survive it with his integrity intact. I’m not so sure he can in this day of instant news and accusations. Also, CBS has a long history of throwing people under the bus in times of trouble.

allmedia.com watch: CBS Really Doesn’t Have a Clue

TMZ, which usually gets a lot of things right, reports that Scott Pelley is the leading candidate to replace Katie Couric.

At 59, I am a white-haired guy. At 53, Pelley is a white-haired guy. How does CBS hope to attract young viewers? My students don’t watch the evening news. Only my graduate assistant admits he does. I don’t.

Put me on. I am a white-haired 50-something. I will do it for $1 million, or about 7 per cent of Katie’s salary. Then you can spend the rest on reporters in the field. Call my agent!

Read the story at http://bit.ly/i7CDab

allmedia.com watch: Couric Reported to Leave CBS News

The AP reports that Katie Couric is leaving her job as anchor of the CBS Evening News.

The full story is at http://apne.ws/fBiEwf

For the record, I predicted her tenure wouldn’t work five years ago. Following is what I said:

http://apne.ws/fBiEwf

The Washington Times:

“Katie Couric will not save the ‘CBS Evening News.’ In fact, her selection may be a recognition that the era of a ‘news’ program in the evening is over,” said Temple University journalism professor Christopher Harper, a former ABC News foreign correspondent.

Mrs. Couric, 49, won’t resonate with a young, demanding audience and will alienate older viewers attuned to traditional news delivery rather than the “softer, friendlier approach,” he said.

The Christian Science Monitor

“Katie Couric will not save the ‘CBS Evening News,’ ” says former ABC producer Christopher Harper. All three major networks – ABC, CBS, and NBC – have watched their viewerships decline in recent years and now face the same issues of a dwindling, aging audience. While 25 million or so people still watch the evening news – a significant demographic – that figure is only declining, in much the same way as readers of an evening edition of a daily newspaper did 40 years ago.

“It’s highly likely that one of the networks will end its formal newscast in the next five years,” says Mr. Harper, and find other uses for the time slot.

Katie Can’t Save It, Says Former ABC Bureau Chief

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 29 (AScribe Newswire) — Christopher Harper, associate professor of journalism at Temple University, worked for ABC News from 1980 to 1995. He served as a bureau chief in Cairo and Rome, a correspondent in Cairo and Rome, and an investigative producer for 20/20.

He worked with the late Peter Jennings in Europe and the Middle East. Here are his thoughts on Katie Couric taking over as evening news anchor at CBS:

“Katie Couric will not save the CBS Evening News. In fact, her selection may be a recognition that the era of a ‘news’ program in the evening is over. Her ascension to the anchor chair carries the unstated implication that the evening news is trying to move toward a softer, friendlier approach. Many serious news reporters were astonished when she said she would not travel to the Middle East to cover recent events. That message trivializes the work of those reporters who do cover wars and disasters and implies that their time may be spent in a more productive manner.”

“It is likely that the CBS Evening News will gain some viewers initially, but may well alienate the older viewers, who remain the dominant audience of the three programs. If the idea is to attract younger viewers, that battle has already been lost. Eighteen-to-34-year-olds will not run to the Web to watch the evening news. Younger viewers, as well as most viewers, want news delivered when they want it rather than when the networks are willing to provide it. Moreover, a 47-year-old anchor is older than the parents of many college students.”

“ABC, CBS and NBC have seen their audiences decline with each passing year. Even though 25 million total viewers may seem significant – and to a certain extent they still are – the networks are facing the same problems that the once-dominant afternoon newspapers faced in the 1950s and 1960s. The audience is declining and growing older. That’s why most newspapers have turned to morning editions, and why morning television has become the main source of income for the three old networks. Like the afternoon papers, the evening newscasts have simply failed to adapt.”

“Simply put, it is likely that the number of viewers will continue to decline – as will the importance of the evening news. In fact, I think it is highly likely that one of the networks will end its formal newscast in the next five years, incorporating reports with local news and using the time slot to counter-program with another type of show.”

If anyone would like to ask me who the next anchor should be, it shouldn’t be anyone being bandied about now: Russ Mitchell, Scott Pelley and Harry Smith. But no one asked me the last time.