Posted on 10/31/2002 6:57:15 AM PST by MindBender26
BRIAN LAMBERT: Service's changing tone left TV stations 'hoodwinked' BRIAN LAMBERT Media Columnist
If the dramatic shift in tone of Tuesday's memorial "celebration" of U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone — from quasi-funeral to political rally — caused you some discomfort at home in your living room, it doesn't compare to what Twin Cities TV newsrooms and anchors went through.
"We were hoodwinked and embarrassed in the process," says WCCO anchor Don Shelby, emphasizing that his remarks are strictly personal opinion.
KSTP's Randy Meier used the same word. "I feel hoodwinked by what happened. I was extremely uncomfortable with the shift in tone and said at one point that we ought to seriously consider pulling the plug. But at that point, the keynote speaker, (Iowa Senator) Tom Harkin, was still yet to come."
"There was a lot of talk among us of trying to get out of it about midway through (Wellstone family friend Rick) Kahn's remarks," said Shelby on Wednesday morning. "But we felt bound by good taste to stick with it. After all, it was a memorial service for a U.S. senator we were told we were covering."
KARE anchor Paul Magers echoed those feelings. "Up until Kahn, I thought it was fine. But there's no question he took it over the top and ran another couple miles with it. It made me very uncomfortable. I was feeling very small in my chair."
(The memorial drew a Super Bowl-like audience — about 55 percent of households watching TV — across the five Twin Cities stations that broadcast it live, plus additional viewers during KMSP's 10:30 p.m. replay and on C-SPAN.)
Asked whether local reporters should have expected something more than hymns and sentimental reminiscences amid a crowd of 20,000 political partisans, Shelby replied, "But that's like expecting us to be completely cynical and assume from the start that the Wellstone family and the Democrats are lying to us about what's going to happen."
He said, "I expected some mild 'Let's carry on in Paul's path' sort of stuff, and as far as I'm concerned, the Wellstone kids can say whatever they want.
"But I did not expect an insulting, embarrassing, impudent and juvenile attack on men" — referring to various Republican senators and U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad — "who had come to a memorial service to honor a colleague. When (Kahn) got into that stuff, I nearly jumped out of my chair. By airing that, he made me complicit without motive or interest."
Shelby added, "As angry as I am about what happened to us, I'm even more angry that they did damage to the process of mourning and what should have been this great moment of celebration.
"And I'm not buying this argument that it was all in the spirit of Paul Wellstone. I knew Wellstone pretty well, and part of his grace and charm was that he knew when to set politics aside, and in moments of grief was often when he was at his best."
"(KSTP News Director) Scott Libin is a bright, conscientious guy who probably knows better than me," said Meier of his boss, "and the situation posed obvious complications. But if I were making the call, I would have pulled the plug right then and there (during Kahn's remarks) and tossed it back to the network."
Libin says the thought of pulling the plug indeed did cross his mind, if only to pull away from Kahn and out to Meier and co-anchor Harris Faulkner. The problem, he said, was having no way to react quickly when the rhetoric ignited and then return when it resembled a memorial service again.
The incident set off a torrent of angry phone calls to TV stations, most of them presumably from Republican partisans, but enough, says Meier, from average viewers discomfited by what was mutating before their eyes.
By late Wednesday, local TV stations had received a letter from state Republican Party Chairman Ron Eibensteiner "requesting" equal time for Senate candidate Norm Coleman.
Legally, there isn't much chance he will get it because, technically speaking, there was no actual candidate speaking. And it was, without question, a newsworthy event, albeit not exactly the event that Shelby, Meier, Libin and the rest thought they were covering.
Still, in the interest of fairness, Shelby suggested, "We find some objective party to put a clock to the night, judge what was purely political and make a judgment of what we owe the other candidates. But, if you're really trying to be fair, that ought to include the Independent and Green guys as well."
Oh, that's ok. Republicans weren't surprised at all. If Clinton can laugh and joke at Ron Brown's funeral, a little matter like the death of a Senator shouldn't keep other RATS from having a good time either.
WATCH THE WELLSTONE RALLY BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW:
Gee! Wouldn't we all like to have a "keynote speaker" at our funeral services.
"Mourners" milled about concession stands, chattering and cheering as they bought hot dogs and soft drinks.
Do you think that perhaps someone could have gotten a clue? How many memorial services include CONCESSION STANDS? And perhaps the jolly joking of both Clintons, Terry McAuliffe, Mondale, and Jesse Jackson mught have given them a hint of what was to come. Heck, WE all knew what was going to happen (although even I was stunned at the magnitude of the vulgarity) but these anchors couldn't figure it out? Please!
KARE anchor Paul Magers echoed those feelings. "Up until Kahn, I thought it was fine. But there's no question he took it over the top and ran another couple miles with it. It made me very uncomfortable. I was feeling very small in my chair."
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