Newsies' feet held to congressional fire
Like everyday rascals, news org prexys had to stand up, one by one, while Tauzin administered the congressional oath.
All the big guns were there: ABC News prexy David Westin, CBS News prexy Andrew Heyward, CNN chair-CEO Tom Johnson, Fox News chair-CEO Roger Ailes and NBC News prexy Andrew Lack.
Ailes was the most upset at having to promise that he wouldn't pull a Pinocchio.
"I am further disappointed that this committee views its role as adversarial, requiring us to take an oath as if we had something to hide. We do not. Without or without a swearing-in photo op, we will hide nothing," Ailes said.
He had a point.
Tauzin and other lawmakers know one of the easiest ways to grab a headline is to take on Hollywood and its congloms. Even better is to get a photo of TV toppers swearing to tell the truth.
Washington insiders say news chiefs were furious when they learned that Tauzin would swear them in.
Ultimately, Tauzin cut a behind-the-scenes deal with TV chiefs. He wouldn't let photographers sit in front of the witness table and, second, he would give the oath individually.
Capitol Hill old-timers say it's somewhat unusual to swear in witnesses.
Notable times when the oath has been invoked include the famous tobacco hearings and, much more recently, the Firestone tire hearings. Lives on the line, and so forth.
Several times during last week's hearing, Tauzin reiterated it was common practice to swear in witnesses when the committee was conducting an investigation, such as in this instance.Oath or no oath, Tauzin is to be credited for making sure news orgs learn from the mistakes of Nov. 7. As new chair of the House Commerce Committee, he jumped on the issue immediately, asking for a detailed accounting.
News orgs say they would have launched internal investigations, with or without Tauzin's prodding.
All have agreed that they won't project a winner until all polls in a state have closed; anchors will remind viewers that a projection is just a projection; all will provide more resources to VNS, the consortium that provides exit-polling info to nets.
Newsie execs also say they support a drive in Congress to establish a uniform poll closing time, eliminating the chaotic race to declare a winner, state by state.
"Let me thank all the networks for this self-examination," Tauzin said upon calling his hearing to order. "The good news is that we discovered no intentional bias."
