Today is Rome Hartman‘s first as executive producer of the CBS Evening News. In an interview with Public Eye, he talked about changes he hopes we’ll notice in the short term:
“I hope that what viewers will notice is that we’re more original in breaking news and emphasizing beat coverage,” he said. “There are a lot of great stories out there and I want to be out in front on all of them. Realistically, we’re not going to get every single get and we’re not going to break every story but I really want to be out front on the beats — on stories in Washington (whether its about terrorism or the eavesdropping investigations or the Abramoff investigation) or medical coverage or business coverage. I really want correspondents and producers on the beats to feel challenged and encouraged to break news. And I hope that will be a tangible thing people notice. Not to say that they haven’t been doing it before, but I just hope we can charge people up to do more of what they’ve been doing.”
In an e-mail to CBS staffers on Friday, Hartman struck a similar tone. Read an excerpt from it after the jump…
“I want to break news and be relentlessly original. From the opening headlines to the closing credits, I want the CBS ‘Evening News’ to demand to be noticed; in the next day’s New York Times, sure, but even more around supper tables and water coolers all over the country. At the top of the broadcast, I want to hear Bob Scheiffer say ‘exclusive,’ and our correspondents say ‘CBS News has learned…’ as often as possible, without an ounce of hype or over-statement. I want to reinvigorate our beat coverage; we shouldn’t just cover the beats…we should own them.” (Via Public Eye)