Ponovno predvajanje nedelja, 10. april 1983

LESTER CRYSTAL, THE MAN WHO'S CHANGING 'THE MacNEIL-LEHRER REPORT'

Date: 11 April 1983

By Frank J. Prial

Frank Prial

''Bringing in a new producer'' can be televisionese for ''We're going to try to rescue this dog.'' Lester M. Crystal, a former president of NBC News, has been brought in to take over ''The MacNeil-Lehrer Report.'' But ''MacNeil-Lehrer'' is doing very well. It is the most-watched regular evening show on public television. It needs no rescue. What then? Expansion. The 30-minute show is going to an hour in early autumn. What was once a relatively low-budget ''talking heads,'' or interview, enterprise is about to blossom, Cinderellalike, into a full-scale news operation. Les Crystal's job, according to other public-television executives, will be to make the program bigger and better - or at least, to keep it as respected as it is now.

Full Article

Reporter Guilty of Fraud

Date: 10 April 1983

AP

A newspaper reporter was convicted Friday of charges of impersonating a law-enforcement officer to gain entry to a maximum security prison in southern Virginia to interview an inmate on death row. Judge Robert T. Vaughan of Mecklenburg County General District Court imposed a $500 fine on David Roman of Manassas, bureau chief for The Potomac News. The judge also imposed a six-month suspended jail sentence on Mr. Roman.

Full Article

TV: PRIVATE LIVES vs. A PUBLIC PRESS

Date: 11 April 1983

By John Corry

John Corry

CBS NEWS makes a brave attempt to define the indefinable tonight. In its second ''Eye on the Media'' seminar, it gathers together some bright, feisty people, seats them at conference tables and sets loose a Harvard law professor to stir them up. The seminar is called ''Private Lives, Public Press,'' and the participants discuss the individual's right to privacy, which is sometimes opposed to journalism's right - or at least, wish - to know. In theory, a line must be drawn someplace; in practice, hardly anyone knows where. The program may be seen on Channel 2 at 10. The participants in the seminar are people from the arts, law, business and, of course, journalism, mostly of the electronic kind. The Harvard professor, Arthur R. Miller, presents them with hypothetical cases: Should the press, for example, report on a Congressman, a whited sepulcher, who cheats on his wife, sniffs cocaine and is not what he pretends to be? Does his morality really matter?

Full Article

USA TODAY'S FAST GAINS RAISE BOTH HOPES AND DOUBTS

Date: 11 April 1983

By Jonathan Friendly

Jonathan Friendly

USA Today, started by the Gannett Company last September as ''the nation's newspaper,'' has jumped off to a fast start. Last month it counted more than 800,000 daily copies sold in 14 metropolitan areas, making it the country's sixth largest selling newspaper. That figure excites some publishing executives, who say it represents a welcome counter to the recent history of closings of major newspapers. They say the five-day-a-week newspaper, crammed with short articles and profusely illustrated with full-color pictures and charts, is proving to advertisers that newspapers can effectively compete with television for graphic impact.

Full Article

News Analysis

Date: 11 April 1983

By Thomas L. Friedman, Special To the New York Times

Thomas Friedman

The assassination of Dr. Issam Sartawi, the Palestine Liberation Organization's leading advocate of recognition of Israel, appears to have been a direct and precisely timed blow at Yasir Arafat as well, according to diplomats here. For the last 10 days Mr. Arafat, the chairman of the P.L.O., was engaged in negotiations, both directly and through emissaries, with King Hussein of Jordan in an attempt to work out a formula that might enable Jordan - or Jordan and the P.L.O. - to engage in peace negotiations with Israel. The assassination of Dr. Sartawi, the man who informally handled liaison between Mr. Arafat and the Israeli peace movement, is seen by Arab diplomats in Beirut as a clear warning to the P.L.O. chairman from pro-Syrian Palestinian extremists: This is what happens to those who seek a negotiated settlement with the Israelis. These diplomats suggested that it may have come as somewhat of a relief to Mr. Arafat that Jordan this evening suddenly called off its talks with the P.L.O., accusing the P.L.O. chairman of not being able to deliver on promises he had made to forge a joint platform for opening peace talks with Israel. The diplomats said, however, that Dr. Sartawi's killers may not have known that Jordan was going to halt its talks with Mr. Arafat and were apparently trying to make sure that the P.L.O. chairman knew the price of peace.

Full Article

News Summary; MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1983

Date: 11 April 1983

International Jordan said it would not participate in the American-sponsored Middle East peace talks on the basis of the Reagan plan. Jordan accused Yasir Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, of backing out of a draft agreement that he and King Hussein reached last week. The draft accord, a Cabinet statement said, might have enabled Jordan to take part in American-sponsored peace talks. (Page A1, Column 6.) Peace in the Middle East will still be pursued through President Reagan's inititative, Mr. Reagan said, despite the apparent refusal of Jordan to join any negotiations. Jordan's unwillingness to participate was ''an impediment,'' Mr. Reagan said, but he was ''very hopeful'' that progress could still be made. He said that his telephone conversations with King Hussein and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia indicated that they had not abandoned peace efforts. Mr. Reagan said that the latest problem in the negotiations was the fault of ''radical elements'' in the P.L.O. (A1:4.)

Full Article

Atomic Storage

Date: 10 April 1983

By Richard Haitch

Richard Haitch

Underground salt beds in New Mexico, 25 miles southeast of Carlsbad, were tentatively chosen by the Federal Department of Energy in January 1981 as the nation's first permanent site for wastes from the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Studies on the suitability of the site were planned.

Full Article

Fleeing China

Date: 10 April 1983

By Richard Haitch

Richard Haitch

Two Chinese on cultural missions to the United States defected last year and asked this country to let them live here. One was Hu Na, the 19-year-old star tennis player who sought political asylum in July and received it last week amid widely publicized protests by China.

Full Article

Taming of Tina

Date: 10 April 1983

By Richard Haitch

Richard Haitch

As the Central Park Zoo emptied its cages last January in preparation for rebuilding, it had little trouble disposing of most residents. They were either lent or given to other zoos.

Full Article

Weight of the Law

Date: 10 April 1983

By Richard Haitch

Richard Haitch

Police Chief George Aylward laid down the law last Jan. 1 to 20 overweight officers in Middletown, Conn.: ''Make weight'' by April 1 or face suspension without pay. He ordered the corpulent officers to start dieting and began sending them to a doctor for help.

Full Article

Date:

Full Article