Rountree Revisited

For her new Press Conference program, Producer Martha (Meet the Press) Rountree dreamed up a new TV formula: a scoop a show. The first Press Conference was too successful. Editors across the U.S. lambasted both the show and U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell for using it to break news of an impending Justice Department antimonopoly suit against General Motors (TIME, July 16).

Last week, for the second Press Conference, Producer Rountree had planned to have Tennessee Governor Frank Clement. But since Clement had been chosen to keynote the Democratic National Convention (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Butler vetoed the Press Conference appearance for fear that Clement might tell TV viewers what most already knew: Clement supports Adlai Stevenson. Instead, Rountree was able to book Montana's Democratic Senator Mike Mansfield for the show. Mansfield's big news: he, too, is for Stevenson.

Though editors ignored her show this time, Producer Rountree had other troubles. In a letter to Editor & Publisher, she denied any "insistence" on her part that Press Conference guests have to come through with news breaks. Despite this assurance, the New York Times let it be known that staffers will be allowed to appear on Press Conference only if the featured guest is nonpolitical.

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