Harry Reasoner
Harry Reasoner's hallmark was his low-key, unflappable delivery, So I jumped in on that note, and he allowed as how there was a tendency to copycat Morrow, then Brinkley and now Cronkite. He emphasized the importance of being understood and unprejudiced, and shunned my characterization: detachment.
He asserted that nobody, as of a certain level, was a mere reader, but a seasoned journalist. While he has always prized a literate script, he values simple, symbolic graphics in support. He rejects the implication that profits trump ratings and insists that ratings make the process more professional.
In brief glimpses: space coverage will end if it becomes routine; there are no more "cosmopolitan” areas—as much news viewership in Pine Bluff, AR as in New York. American journalism is doing a good job, and neither the FCC nor Agnew have overstepped reason or the law; legislatures which went too far with subpoenas were halted; radio and the press do a different job than network TV, which is the nation's national news; citizens cherry pick based upon their peculiar interests, and thereby do not get much depth, be it TV, radio or the hometown paper. He emphasized that the typical newspaper doesn't provide much depth, and that no one searches it for an hour, but instead reads a headline, then skips to cartoons, sports and assorted favorites.
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The Douglas P. Cooper Distinguished Contemporaries Collection (1967-1974) contains rare interviews with influential writers, statesmen, artists, songwriters, journalists and others who have left their mark on our culture.
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