What's Happening at CNN

L.A. Weekly: What is going on
with televised news?
Leroy Sievers: It’s gone to hell. When did it start going to hell? I think it was gradual. I think CNN came in and really dumbed it down. It’s funny, because when CNN first started, everybody felt really sorry for them. We’d give them tape, we’d give them equipment and stuff; we basically subsidized them, and had we known, we would have done none of that. They used to steal stuff too, anything on satellite they used to take off and air. And they were sort of funny, but they sort of came in with this attitude — “Well, if we didn’t get it right this time, we’ll get it right the next time. Or if we don’t get it right the next time, we’ll get it right the next hour, and we’ll throw up whatever pictures we’ve got, it doesn’t really matter” — and they started making money. And about the same time — this is mid- to late-’80s — all the networks were sort of taken over by businessmen, who didn’t care either. And we would say, “But look, we worry about every word, we craft every shot, you know we put such care into it.”

There was news on TV, and it was respected and well thought of and people paid attention to it. We were the good guys. You could do good. Now we’re scum. I got in trouble one time at a forum because I said: “People sort of get the news they deserve.” If they weren’t watching it. all this crap would go
away.

LA Weekly: Who was running the networks before?

Sievers: I think at least people who cared about it. News was thought to be . . . it was an annoyance to some extent, but it wasn’t a moneymaker, it was a responsibility, both legally and morally. Legally, to keep your license, you had to have news. Well, gradually that went away. Well, then you have to make money. And we were like, “What? We don’t make money. We’re above all that. We spend money in huge amounts.” And some of that was our fault — I remember if you were going into a city that you hadn’t been to before, you’d get a hotel guide, you’d open it up and pick the most expensive hotel in town and that’s where you would want to stay. But all of a sudden it was like you have to make money, and the only way to make money was to start slashing costs. So you ended up in this spiral. Your resources for the news got crappier, and so fewer people watched, and then I think, you know, FOX came up, MSNBC came up, talk radio came up and the country changed. Talk came on and it was like argument . . . I mean, you got a bunch of people yelling at each other. That costs nothing.