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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Joseph Angotti

Aired June 15, 2003 - 07:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: David Brinkley, he died last week, helped shape the way TV news is presented today. Here to tell us more about that is broadcast pioneer is Joe Angotti, who was executive producer of the NBC Nightly News with Brinkley and John Chancellor. He is now professor of journalism at Northwestern University.
Mr. Angotti, thanks for being with us. We appreciate your time this morning.

JOSEPH ANGOTTI, FMR. NBC EXEC. PRODUCER: My pleasure.

SAN MIGUEL: So what was it like to be an executive producer for David Brinkley? How involved was he in those newscasts?

ANGOTTI: Very involved. And every day was interesting. David, unlike most anchors today, or even back then, wrote every piece of copy that was read on the NBC Nightly News.

There were lots of writers around. He insisted that he write everything himself. And it was because of his compassion for writing and his -- and he really believed that writing was the most important part of television news, that the pictures were nice and the audio was nice and everything, but he believed that writing was the essence of television news.

And it was David who developed this pioneering style that sounds so elementary right now, but the style of writing for the ear and not for the eye.

SAN MIGUEL: Was it more than just writing for his own voice, though? I mean, that's all I've heard this past week is that he kind of revolutionized the art of writing of broadcasts. What was it like before David Brinkley came along?

ANGOTTI: Well, television newscasts used to hire newspaper reporters to come over and write for television news. And they would write the same way that they did for newspapers. And because David had this interesting and very different staccato style of speaking, he just thought it was very natural to write that way and to write the way that he spoke.

And so, a lot of the old rules, the old guidelines that were used for writing for newspapers, such as putting attribution at the end of a sentence rather than at the beginning, he's the one who pioneered all that because that was more conversational. SAN MIGUEL: You've talked about how he wrote, you know, he wrote all of his own copy, but you know, what about his news judgment? Did you and David Brinkley ever go around and around about what stories ought to be the lead in a particular -- on a -- your -- I hear you laughing, so you must have some memories there.

I'm wondering if you thought that there was some stories that the public should know about, rather than maybe what they want to know about?

ANGOTTI: Well, that's an interesting question because he was co- anchoring with John Chancellor. And editorially, they had -- they went in different directions. Chancellor always thought about the serious story and the important story. David always was thinking about the interesting story and what would be of interest to Americans.

And David was always thinking about the common man, the little person. And he wanted to make news understandable to the little people in America. And he did, through his writing. I mean, he made things very, very clear, even complicated stories. But he'd shy away from complicated stories whenever he could.

SAN MIGUEL: What -- I've also heard this past week, those who worked with him say that David Brinkley did not take himself very seriously. He took the work seriously, but not himself, had a very wry sense of humor, was very self effacing about his own place, I guess, in pop culture. Do you have any anecdotes that kind of illustrate that?

ANGOTTI: Well, he was never comfortable with the idea of being famous. And he was always looking for little gems, those little stories that the rest of us could never find on the wire copy. There was a story about Buster Blevin. Buster Blevin was an inmate trustee at a penitentiary in Pennsylvania. And he was so trusted, that he was allowed to walk the warden's dogs every day. And he did this for about a year.

And one day, Buster Blevin's just walked away. He just kept walking. And David reported that story, closed the newscast with it. We got so many letters and phone calls, that David decided to update that story every couple of months. So he would have the -- he would have our researcher call the prison and say any word on Buster? And then he would end the newscast saying, for those of you who want to know, Buster's still missing.

SAN MIGUEL: And that's also a pretty good Brinkley that you just did there.

ANGOTTI: Thank you.

SAN MIGUEL: One other quick question, we only have about 45 seconds left. What did he tell you after he had retired, if you had any kind of conversations with him about the state of broadcast news today? I mean, where we have come now with the shouting heads and the 24/7 multi channel media universe that we're in now. ANGOTTI: Well, he was not pleased with the direction in television news. He believed that television news should be a quiet medium, that informs people on the very personal basis. And the confrontational kind of media that we have now really did displease him. And I wish he hadn't -- he wishes that it hadn't come about to this.

SAN MIGUEL: We wish we had more time to talk with you. And we wish we had had more time to savor David Brinkley and his writing. Joe Angotti was the executive producer of NBC Nightly News. He is now teaching journalism at Northwestern University.

Mr. Angotti, thanks for being with us today.

ANGOTTI: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 15, 2003 - 07:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: David Brinkley, he died last week, helped shape the way TV news is presented today. Here to tell us more about that is broadcast pioneer is Joe Angotti, who was executive producer of the NBC Nightly News with Brinkley and John Chancellor. He is now professor of journalism at Northwestern University.
Mr. Angotti, thanks for being with us. We appreciate your time this morning.

JOSEPH ANGOTTI, FMR. NBC EXEC. PRODUCER: My pleasure.

SAN MIGUEL: So what was it like to be an executive producer for David Brinkley? How involved was he in those newscasts?

ANGOTTI: Very involved. And every day was interesting. David, unlike most anchors today, or even back then, wrote every piece of copy that was read on the NBC Nightly News.

There were lots of writers around. He insisted that he write everything himself. And it was because of his compassion for writing and his -- and he really believed that writing was the most important part of television news, that the pictures were nice and the audio was nice and everything, but he believed that writing was the essence of television news.

And it was David who developed this pioneering style that sounds so elementary right now, but the style of writing for the ear and not for the eye.

SAN MIGUEL: Was it more than just writing for his own voice, though? I mean, that's all I've heard this past week is that he kind of revolutionized the art of writing of broadcasts. What was it like before David Brinkley came along?

ANGOTTI: Well, television newscasts used to hire newspaper reporters to come over and write for television news. And they would write the same way that they did for newspapers. And because David had this interesting and very different staccato style of speaking, he just thought it was very natural to write that way and to write the way that he spoke.

And so, a lot of the old rules, the old guidelines that were used for writing for newspapers, such as putting attribution at the end of a sentence rather than at the beginning, he's the one who pioneered all that because that was more conversational. SAN MIGUEL: You've talked about how he wrote, you know, he wrote all of his own copy, but you know, what about his news judgment? Did you and David Brinkley ever go around and around about what stories ought to be the lead in a particular -- on a -- your -- I hear you laughing, so you must have some memories there.

I'm wondering if you thought that there was some stories that the public should know about, rather than maybe what they want to know about?

ANGOTTI: Well, that's an interesting question because he was co- anchoring with John Chancellor. And editorially, they had -- they went in different directions. Chancellor always thought about the serious story and the important story. David always was thinking about the interesting story and what would be of interest to Americans.

And David was always thinking about the common man, the little person. And he wanted to make news understandable to the little people in America. And he did, through his writing. I mean, he made things very, very clear, even complicated stories. But he'd shy away from complicated stories whenever he could.

SAN MIGUEL: What -- I've also heard this past week, those who worked with him say that David Brinkley did not take himself very seriously. He took the work seriously, but not himself, had a very wry sense of humor, was very self effacing about his own place, I guess, in pop culture. Do you have any anecdotes that kind of illustrate that?

ANGOTTI: Well, he was never comfortable with the idea of being famous. And he was always looking for little gems, those little stories that the rest of us could never find on the wire copy. There was a story about Buster Blevin. Buster Blevin was an inmate trustee at a penitentiary in Pennsylvania. And he was so trusted, that he was allowed to walk the warden's dogs every day. And he did this for about a year.

And one day, Buster Blevin's just walked away. He just kept walking. And David reported that story, closed the newscast with it. We got so many letters and phone calls, that David decided to update that story every couple of months. So he would have the -- he would have our researcher call the prison and say any word on Buster? And then he would end the newscast saying, for those of you who want to know, Buster's still missing.

SAN MIGUEL: And that's also a pretty good Brinkley that you just did there.

ANGOTTI: Thank you.

SAN MIGUEL: One other quick question, we only have about 45 seconds left. What did he tell you after he had retired, if you had any kind of conversations with him about the state of broadcast news today? I mean, where we have come now with the shouting heads and the 24/7 multi channel media universe that we're in now. ANGOTTI: Well, he was not pleased with the direction in television news. He believed that television news should be a quiet medium, that informs people on the very personal basis. And the confrontational kind of media that we have now really did displease him. And I wish he hadn't -- he wishes that it hadn't come about to this.

SAN MIGUEL: We wish we had more time to talk with you. And we wish we had had more time to savor David Brinkley and his writing. Joe Angotti was the executive producer of NBC Nightly News. He is now teaching journalism at Northwestern University.

Mr. Angotti, thanks for being with us today.

ANGOTTI: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com