The pros and cons of sending big-name anchors to Egypt

 

That wasn't exactly a welcome wagon that rolled out in Egypt these last few days for U.S. journalists who rushed there to cover the civil strife. CNN's Anderson Cooper and his crew were shoved around, a Fox News team ended up in the hospital and CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric also ran into unruly crowds.

While the happenings in Egypt are an incredible story and worthy of lots of coverage by the broadcast and cable networks, a debate could be had about how much is gained by dispatching high-profile reporters who usually spend the bulk of their time behind a desk to hot zones. No one questions their courage, of course, but is this the best way for TV news divisions to utilize their resources?

By sending Couric and Brian Williams, the anchor of NBC's "Nightly News" who is also in the region, the networks are sending a signal to their viewers that what's happening in Egypt is important. It is their belief that unless a star anchor is there a story won't be noticed. There may be some truth to that, but perhaps the answer is to do more foreign reporting and less fluff rather than shipping a big name overseas every time a major story surfaces.

The costs that go into sending an anchor to a trouble spot are not to be taken lightly. While the networks will say that the security of all their staffers is paramount, rest assured a lot more precautions are taken when a $15-million-a-year anchor is there as opposed to a freelance producer or part-time correspondent. Those are resources that might be better spent on beefing up coverage in general with more people with roots in the region or at least a lot of time on the ground there. 

Indeed, Couric already hopped a plane back to New York while Williams anchored Thursday's news from Amman. Did sending Couric there for such a short stay really advance the story? They were not even there long enough to try to leverage their clout to get big interviews.

In fact, it was Christiane Amanpour of ABC News who snagged the first interview with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. While Amanpour is a big name in her own right, that came from years of reporting from trouble spots around the globe, not from sitting behind a desk. ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer stayed in New York.

The arrival of big names can also detract from the story itself. Not only do they become potential targets by protesters, their mere presence can shift the tone of coverage from what the events in Egypt mean to Egyptians and the rest of the world to how is the media responding to the violence or how is the unrest impacting the coverage.

Every reporter knows the feeling that when a story is breaking they should be there. Sometimes, though, that urge to rush in needs to be balanced with what is best for the story.

If one thing should be clear to the reporters there, it's that being a journalist is not some badge of immunity. As consultant Andrew Tyndall, who tracks and analyzes news coverage, notes, "Journalists are more often targets of violence, less often respected as neutrals."

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Christiane Amanpour interviews Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

For the record: This post was updated to note that Katie Couric had already returned to New York to anchor the Thursday newscast while Brian Williams anchored from Amman.

 

 

Comments

[Diana]

There are two reasons this story is important: one is that the Mubarak regime clearly doesn't want witnesses to its brutal crackdown on protesters, likely to occur tonight as we sleep. All the more reason we need to document what's happening.

The other is that Egypt has never had a free press in modern history, something we in the US take for granted. This isn't about Anderson Cooper or Nick Kristof. If you believe American and British journalists have been targeted and attacked the past few days, take a look at what's happened to the brave reporters from Al Jazeera, treated as traitors by authoritarian regimes for being willing to speak truth to power.

Not to mention the thousands of ordinary Egyptian citizens risking their lives, critiquing Mubarak with Tweets, videos, and audio. They deserve our support.

ABC news has compiled this list of attacks on journalists this week:
http://abcworldnews.tumblr.com/post/3089328425/weve-compiled-a-list-of-all-the-journalist-who#disqus_thread

[Nell Davidson]

Fox news is not welcome anywhere outside America. Ignorance does not make you a news channel. Katie, you should have impersonated a proper journalist. You are not with fox news , you should stay to report. Is that not your job? Or why did you go?

[Augustine]

I've heard about journalists receiving beatings. This is reported as if it's a bad thing. I'm experiencing difficulty on this point. Exactly what's BAD about journalists - that is, professional vultures - receiving beatings? I've also heard about threats of beheading journalists. Okay, this might perhaps possibly go too far. But who can explain the horror of journalists receiving beatings? Especially the likes of Couric, Williams, et al.? Thanks.

[JIm Hergenrather]

Anderson Cooper was there "starring" in the news not covering it. That isn't journalism. And as far as sending the anchors there, well, they aren't covering the story, their reporters are. The anchor is just introducing them, something that could be done from New York for a lot less money. The story brings in the viewers, not the "star" of the news show. Television news seems to have lost sight of the old Jack Webb admonishment: "just the facts ma'am."

[Dave]

I thought it was extremely useful to have the anchors there. It's more relatable. When non-Americans get beaten, we as a people yawn. When Americans-- but especially Americans that the public sees every night-- get beaten, we notice. It's terrible but true.

Now like the author I'd prefer an equilibrium where the networks already had lots of people in the region and well-staffed bureaus, and where those experienced reporters could cover the story with intensity, and Americans would naturally turn away from their dinners. Sadly, Americans just don't have that attention span for international news.

[SEO services]

Yes the more the important people sent out for the missions the more the importance the news garners .It's not like that even if the happening is quite critical geographically and politically then also it garners a great amount of importance .

[Collateral Damage]

The US media tried to conceal the fact that the violence in Egypt was deliberately perpetrated by Mubarak's henchmen and their mercenaries. News reports in US media spoke of "violence erupting between pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators" as if the pro-Mubarak mobs were normal people motivated solely by their love for Mubarak and his regime.

Unfortunately for Mubarak, these mobs were told to attack any and all reporters. The mobsters are too ignorant to know what CNN is, who Anderson Cooper is, or who Christiane Amanpour is. The attacks on the reporters showed the true colors of Mubarak's regime to the world. And the fact that these reporters were of high profile made the exposure of the ugly side of Mubarak that more grand.

It may have had minor unwanted effects, but the presence of high profile reporters in Egypt turned out to be very beneficial for the Egyptian revolution.

[Jacqueline Holland]

As a professor of political science, and having several Egyptian students in my classes, who have since returned, I believe we need the likes of Cooper. Is he the Edward R. Morrow of the 20th Century broadcasting as the Germans bombed London? Cooper and crew are risking their lives in Cairo to ensure a free press. Distinguishing between hype and facts is an old debate. He and his crew got into it and for that they deserve credit. Hearing today from a student who watches news incessantly I find I am telling him news that he is not aware of. We can't have it both ways.

[Anonymous]

I am a journalist with extensive foreign and combat experience. Reporting is the job, not hunkering down in a hotel or some other "secret'' or "undisclosed location'' like CNN's stars are doing. Getting harassed, shoved, beaten, injured, arrested, threatened and scared is part of the job. It's what we do. It's not a studio in New York. You are NOT the story. Don't whine and whimper. It's dangerous, all the viewers know this. Now get out there and do the job. BBC was in the square --- reporting, shooting, interviewing ---- while you guys were in some hotel room talking into a lapel mic. Please.

This melodrama and these theatrics are unseemly and make us look silly and weak. Like FOX was doing in the Iraq war, faking live reports while hiding in sand-bag "bunkers'' constructed in hotel rooms. Man up....

[Vincent]

I understand a Swedish journalist was stabbed and hospitalized. I fear were an American anchor to be similarly injured, or worse, the celebrity-obsessed U.S. public would probably demand Obama invade Egypt.

[Art Kane]

Not that the networks will actually pay any attention to Joe Flint, but he's dead right. I often espoused the same view when I was a network news exec back in the glory days, but I had no clout, and since we were rolling in money anyway, why stint? Of course, sending in any one of today's anchors delivers nowhere near the message of sending in Walter Cronkite.

[Superluli]

Re: "The arrival of big names can also detract from the story itself. Not only do they become potential targets by protesters, their mere presence can shift the tone of coverage from what the events in Egypt mean to Egyptians and the rest of the world"

As an Egyptian I can tell you that no one in Egypt has any idea who these reporters are, they may be famous in the US but they're certainly unknown here. The trick would be not to show their face on TV, because that's how people recognize them. The name Andersson Cooper or Christiane Amanpour or Katie Couric means nothing to Egyptians. A very small percentage of people watch CNN - only 6% of the population would actually understand CNN - and we don't get even ABC News.
Your other points may be valid, but your assumption that a less known reporter would less likely get attacked doesn't hold much weight.

[Joe Fint]

Thanks for the comment, Super Luli

It's true that those personalities may not be household names there. But the manpower that goes into sending them there, the big crews that accompany them make clear to everyone that these are not grunt reporters. My point, however, was not so much the safety issue as much as having them over there adds little to the story and takes away resources from the news division that could be better spent on people who can provide more in-depth coverage.

Joe Flint

[Sophie]

So did your newspaper post an article "debating" the pros and cons of sending big name anchors to cover the Haitian earthquake and its aftermath? What about other major events around the world, like the Asian tsunami? What is it about the events in Egypt in particular that makes you question this?

[Joe Fint]

Sophie,

Thanks for your note. I would argue that it going to site a natural disaster is not the same as going to a place of civil unrest. Again, the issue I am trying to raise is that resources could be better utilized by beefing up foreign reporting and finding ways to tell the stories that get more people here interested. I'm not sure parachuting anchors in for photo op coverage is the best way to go.

[NewsHound]

Now that's the dumbest opinion piece I've heard in a while. I thought Diane Sawyer was a weenie for not going over there. This clearly is one of the biggest news stories of the century. Any anchor worth his/her salt is going to want to be there, in the thick of things, to know what's really going on instead of learning about it the way the rest of us do. And the anchors going over there made the American public pay attention for once to something outside our borders. I learned a lot watching Brian and Katie (and of course the inimitable Richard Engel). News needs to take a bigger priority in the universe of conglomerate-held news stations.

[Dina]

If Anderson Cooper wasn't in Egypt covering the events around the clock twice as many people would have been killed while the Egyptian government waged war against unarmed civilians for 16 hours. It is vital that someone who gets such attention from the Western viewers to see firsthand the brutality of this regime, to care and speak passionately about these people. You don't get this by sending someone else to deliver the news to your desk.