Friday, October 23, 1C33
i Y' .
--7
Dally Ncbrccksn
A n
News ' from
01 Q
nacla: 'It don't -come easy5
By Christopher
citd Lllkefcrcct
Eurbetch
The media la the message, as Marshall McLuhan
asserted so often. Since much of what we know
about the world is told to us by television, It b inter
esting to note the coverage the recent invasion of
Grenada received.
From the moment the pre-dawn attack vva3
announced, TV was there in its traditional role as
world commentator.
First mention of the event came around 8 am.,
when President Ronald Reagan and Dominican
Prime Minister Eugenia Charles addressed the
-I
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Television
eview
y"
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nation. Ironically, Lincoln's channel 10 had to inter
rupt it's tape-delayed showing of "The CBS Morning
News," in order to air the new news.
The network's first big chance to tell the nation of
the day's events came during the evening newscast
at 5:30 p.m.
The day's events were still sketchy, although the
White House had already begun its campaign to
rationalize the incident. One of the more amusing
attempts at this was aired on ABCs "World News
Tonight." The White House relesed pictures of a ded
icated President Reagan, hard at work on the Gren
ada situation Sunday morning. The idea here was to
prove the decision to invade wasnt a hasty one. To
prove that it was indeed 4 a.m., the president was,
shown in his jammies and slippers conferring with a
fully dressed George Schultz.
In direct contrast to the network's commercial
filled synopses was the ever-professional and
insightful "MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour" They had
simultaneous interviews with a number of people
from both the critics' and supporters' camps, they
delivered an objective and informative report on
Grenada's history and the invasion and they gave
equal air time to leaders of nations that approved
and others who condemned the U.S. action. They
Fho& county KSTV
Robert MacNeil (left) end Jin Lehren
"Neither seraticraalietk nor even ellgktSy
yellow." v "
also spoke with editors of small-town newspapers to
get "grass roots America's" (my cliche, not their's),
reaction.
And, there were no cominercials. MacNeil and
Lehrer were neither sensationalistic nor even
slightly yellow. Their thought-provoking interviews
provided the flash needed to gain and regain lis
tener attention. Perhaps commercial television
should take some lessons from class acts like
"NewsHour." . ' ;. -
The only prime-time coverage of the events was
on the Cable News Network. "Primenews," as they
called it, was a Voice of America broadcast with
pictures. OK, that's a bit of an execration, but the
show did fail to even attempt approaching both
sides of the issue on several key points.
Although they told the story of the invasion itself
as well as possible without actually having someone
on the island, CNN's anchorpersons and reporters
leaned quite noticeably toward a favorable por
trayal of the event in their background and follow
up work. ' ' . ' ---M
A reporter cava a short history of Grenada from
colonial times to the present Innocuous enough so
far. However, the reporter discussed efforts to leng
then the airstrip at a Grcnadan airport only in
terms of its potential use as a Soviet or Cuban mil
itary base. Fears about such' use are not at all"
unfounded. However, Grenadan government con
tentions that the longer airstrip would be used as a
runwry for large passenger plana bearing tourists
should not be totally disregarded. The reporter neg
lected to mention that argument.
Interviews at the United Nations hit both sides of
the debate, as did coverage of Capitol Hill orations.
"Primenews" did relay Soviet reaction, properly pre
facing that statement with a camera shot of the
Soviet news agency building lurking behind its omi
nous and doubt-inspiring stone TACC. (Them durn
Russkies, cant even write an S).
The most flagrant foul by "Primenews" was a spot
they did that looked like a Marine recruiting com
mercial. Their reporter interviewed a Marine
recruiter in Los Angeles about an increase in en
listments since the Beirut explosion. A new enlistee
was quoted as saying he-was "inspired about going
t to protect American people." The reporter ended
the spot with the Marine Corps ditty, "the few, the
proud, the Marines." Gee.
The three 'commercial networks all presented
late-night summaries of the day's event CBS melo
dramatic "Attack at Dawn" was a disappointment
Throughout the day, CDS' coverage had been quite
pood. But now, late at night, everything fell apart
The reporting was unimaginative (many of the reports
seemed to be holdovers from the evening broad
casts), the props were ineffective (the map of Gren
ada showed little detail besides the airports) and
the commentary was absurd. Anchor Dan Rather
wound up this sentimental fluff with a glum mono
logue about how our fighting bop were .'miles and
miles away from "the green, green grass cf hems," ;
Another surprising element of the CZ3 broadcast
was the insertion of commercials. One must wonder
if a sharp CDS advertising executive actually went
around to companies trying to sell the special news
bulletin. Perhaps because of the frequent commer
cial breaks, Rather was constantly cutting chert hh
guests to go to a commercial. A dturbing practice
for a "news spcei.il," to say the least , :
' CceitiaaeJ en P2 17.
" " v ir , r .
I LL1 ; I
Albee pair double treat
I naist eourwsy tfct Zoo trt EtsktrsAsyivxi risords
JacksenErowne (ririt) will appear in the Bevaney C e et3 Center CeeeJey
Television
A classic weekend for classic
movies. At 10:30 p.m. Friday on KUON, -Channel
12, Claudette Colbert and
Ben Lyon star in "I Cover the Water
front" This is a classic 1933 melo- ,
drama dealing with a hard-nosed re
ported (Lyon) struggling to break
smuggling ring. In the meantime, he
falls in love with the smuggler's daugh
ter and you know the rest. Great stuff
to eat popcorn by.
Bette David and Leslie Howard
star in the classic "Of Human Bondage"
8 p.m. Saturday on Channel 12. Thi3
adaptation of the W. Somerset
Maughum novel won Davis an aca
demy award nomination in 1C34.
And for bad movie fans, The
llzzX" will be shown in glorious 3-D
tonight on KMTV channel 3 in Omaha.
This 1C31 dud stars Ann Collins and
the great Paul Stevens in pursuit of a
possessed ancient Aztec mask. Doth
realistic and frightening Ur'artans-
tcly, 3-D glasses far the 'ek are cr.!y
available at Convenient stores in
2-D.
ing," starring Julie Harri3, Claire Bloom
and Russ Tarablyn will be shown Sat- -urday
at 3 and 9 p.m. and Sunday at 7
pjn. Nicholas EocsDont LookNow,'star
ring Julie Christie and Donald Suther
land will be screened Saturday at 0
p.m. and Sunday at 3 and 9 p.m. The
evening shows can be seen two for the
price of one.:" '
ArszndTciTa ' r'v- )
Anson Funderburgh and the
Rockets will be at the Zoo Bar, 1S3 II.
14th Ct tonight and Saturday. This u
one of the hottest rockabilly band3 in
Texas, and - with the release cf an
album earlier this year, the band h
quickly gaining a national reputation.
Cover charge u 3.
the Dob Davar.cy C-crts Center Cun
dzy nfght at 0 p.o. I "izr.ty cf tia!xts stU -':
It's like Ilcmecsrning all cv;r
c-rJn. UIX p-aiuite Ca Gztj. -r
zJ vrith 3 i::".rr:::i CIy-:.:-,,
Crcl:cctra C.r.:.- r.t 0 at H:?:.
First Plyr.icuth Congreratlonrl
Ecriirsr by Eric Petersen
Two short Edward Albee plays are
being featured at the Nebraska Direc
tors' Theatre, 421 a Ninth Ct, tonight
and Saturday night at 8 p.m. Albee's
first play, "The Zoo Story," forms the
first of "A Pair of Aihees," directed by
graduate student Timothy Mooney, the
second is "Counting the Ways " an ele
gant and fairly recent piece on love
directed by Theater department Chair
man Rex McGraw.
. "The Zoo Story" production is espe
cially effective. Charlie Eachmann plays
: a fussy and restricted small executive
in publishing who is confronted with
the threat and fascination cf a younger
and alienated man, played by Jeff Tel--bctt,
in a chance encounter. :
- Even before anyone: ebe is on the
stags 7a can tell what Bachmann'p
character, Peter, is like by haw his
v;hcle body is kept in II; 2 arras cbee
to his sides, the book stra5 t in front,
the legs folded with pai;::jl neatness.
A bold and preemptory Talbott steps
mands ccnvcrsatcn. Peter retreats fur
ther every time Jerry (the Talbctt
character) thrusts hii nncr. Jerry
A V" r lnr,,,v v f g9 it
skaws Jerry's held ever Peter, ar.d is a
v.i.:n Peter ccrr.e3 to Lek when ar.d
v. i ere Jerry dees to catch s!ji.i cf the
vie :ens m
stances in life.- Peter's is conventional
and comfortable, with wife, two daugh
ters, a cat and parakeets. Jerry's self-
d'tMft, 5t- tr-rfSl fT"F,vt' "
loud sarcasm v.rith low directness, is
very well dons.
' Jerry 'describes his family's fairly
grim finish, hi3 hellish apartment com
plete with Cerberus and his inability to
sleep with anybody more than once
except for a Greek boy for a couple
of weeks when he was fifteen. "That
was jaz2 at a very special hotel, wasnt
it?" :.v.
.: Jerry tells of his encounter with the
Cerberus dog in a fashion which Peter
obviously finds gripping. "If a person
cant deal with other people, he has to
' find a way cf dealing with something
with animele!" In the same sense cf
'experimentation. with which he acted
toward the . dog, .and with . the s
desperate desire to confront another
being, Jerry 'escalates the encounter
with Peter to violence and jumps on
a knife he hcldj out in defense.
It will be difficult for Peter to avoid a
sense cf rcsor.sibility and dread m the
way he has in the past, which h r :rt cf
Jerry get any ether rerpone fx;.i h:.a
story. Although Tc" ctt dropped his
tone at cr.e peir.t near the end, the
fcsal situation in "TLa Zzo Ctziy wa3
arrived at in a ccnvL-.cir.g wry, and
carried throe h.
Jer
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a I lore nalloveen feethiti:; The
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