A Convention Hall of Mirrors

By Stephen Smith

In Detroit, the story was less than met the camera's eye

"Gerald Ford will be his selection as his vice-presidential running mate ... They are going to come to this convention hall tonight to appear together on this platform ... to announce that Ford will run with him."

And that's the way it was, according to Walter Cronkite. At least that's the way it was at 10:10 Wednesday night. Within 15 minutes, CBS floor correspondents began hearing that the deal was coming unstuck. At 11:54 Dan Rather's worried voice crackled across the network's internal radio system. "Tell the anchor booth to be very careful," he said urgently. "There's something very strange going on here."

Indeed there was. At that very moment, NBC Correspondent Chris Wallace was walking between the New York and Pennsylvania delegations. He recalled afterward: "One of Reagan's regional political directors came careening down the aisle, ashen-faced, shouting, 'It's Bush! It's Bush!'" Wallace turned to a second source for confirmation and put the story on the air without waiting for a camera.

One of the most frenzied nights in the history of television news had come to a curious climax. In the end, the journalists emerged intact, reporting as fast and accurately as they could under the circumstances. Said NBC's Wallace, 32, son of CBS's Mike: "It was one of the most remarkable moments of my life." Almost forgotten in the euphoria was the fact that the networks had been dead wrong about Ronald Reagan's ticket mate for hours--and that they were not alone.

Thirty-two years after the Chicago Tribune ran its infamous headline proclaiming Thomas E. Dewey the presidential winner over Harry Truman, an early edition of the rival Sun-Times blared: IT'S REAGAN AND FORD. Both the Associated Press and United Press International swallowed the Ford story--and swallowed their pride later in the night with corrected versions. Eastern radio and television stations using the wire-service reports on their 11 o'clock newscasts got burned. So did the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer and the Shreveport (La.) Times, all of which had a Reagan-Ford ticket for part of their press runs.

The possibility that Ford would join the ticket gained momentum Wednesday morning after Rather reported on CBS radio that Reagan had "indicated to some leading powers in his party that his preference" was the former President. Reports of meetings between Ford and Reagan were aired on the evening news shows. At 7 p.m. Rather went on TV live with the strongest story up to then, saying that Reagan was not going to consider anybody else "until he gets a final, unequivocal, new no from Ford." Rather took pains to note that his sources did not think Ford would accept.

As Rather finished his report, Ford walked into the CBS anchor booth for a previously scheduled interview with Cronkite. It turned out to be a remarkable conversation, somewhat reminiscent of Cronkite's electronic diplomacy in 1977 bringing together Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Ford opened the possibility of returning to Washington if he had "a meaningful role across the board." He added, "Before I can even consider any revision in the firm position I have taken, I have to have responsible assurances."

Barbara Walters of ABC rushed to the CBS booth to line up Ford for an interview of her own. Rumors raced through the hall fueled by television reports, which were in turn fueled by the rumors on the floor. Three politicians and two journalists told Reagan's floor whip, Congressman Robert Michel, that the presidential nominee was about to arrive with Ford. "Where did you hear that?" Michel demanded. Someone replied that Dan Rather had reported it. Michel tried to call the Reagan suite and G.O.P. Chairman Bill Brock, but could not reach either. Then he ran smack into Rather, who immediately phoned his producers to report that Michel was trying to set up a meeting with Brock. Said Bill Kovach, Washington editor of the New York Times: "It was a hall of mirrors out there."

When the rumors cleared, many print journalists suggested that the networks had been reckless--and some network executives were inclined to agree. Said Roone Arledge, president of ABC News: "A lot of information was being passed on by questionable sources." But Cronkite thought otherwise: "The Reagan people got too far out on a limb. They passed the word in the hall that the deal was set. If we were out on a limb at all, it was by taking that at face value."

Well, maybe. But more cautious reporters would have avoided that limb by checking their facts a bit harder before going public. Network reporters who did seek confirmation of the rumors seemed not to hear when their interview subjects expressed doubts. In the end, it was NBC, which got scooped on the Ford boomlet, that had to backtrack least. David Brinkley congratulated his floor correspondents at the evening's end: "I think you were alone, alone in not being taken in."

The press could not blame its errors Wednesday on lack of manpower. Upwards of 12,000 newspaper, magazine, radio and television people were in Detroit to watch 1,994 delegates ratify Reagan's nomination. The networks together spent some $30 million to send nearly 2,000 staffers, along with more than 500 tons of office and technical equipment, 90-plus cameras and hundreds of miles of cable. A.P. and U.P.I, each had more than 150 people on hand, and major dailies such as the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post had more than 30. NBC News President William Small reviewed his 600-member team at a "pep rally" before the opening gavel and quipped, "If King George had an army this large, we'd all be working for the BBC."

Many of these people went to Detroit out of nostalgia for the days when, as H.L. Mencken put it, conventions were "as fascinating as a revival or a hanging." Nowadays the party gatherings are tightly managed and have about as much suspense as an Elks lodge meeting. But they remain a rite of passage for younger journalists and a reunion for battle-scarred veterans of the campaign trail. Said Wally Pfister, a former ABC producer who is now a broadcast consultant to the G.O.P.: "Everybody gripes about what a dull convention it is and how there are too many people out here to cover it. But if they were left at home, they'd jump out the window."

Those who thought most seriously of jumping worked for the home-town Free Press (circ. 602,000), which had its ambitious convention coverage plans dashed when delivery-truck drivers went on strike two days before the opening gavel. The paper had prepared a special section on the convention and was hankering to go head to head with the afternoon Detroit News (circ. 631,000) in front of the national press. Said Executive Editor David Lawrence Jr.: "We're numb."

With little to chase except their own tails, the assembled newshounds churned out a stream of obvious stories about vice-presidential possibilities, Reagan's family, the mood of the Republican Party and the state of Detroit's renaissance. Boston Globe Columnist Mike Barnicle interviewed some hookers and members of the Black Dragon Motorcycle Club. Said he: "I'm writing about anything but politics. I mean, when you put something in the paper, you want people to read it, right?"

The journalists also turned on one another like a bunch of hungry cannibals. A report that Dan Rather was staying in a "six-bedroom English Tudor mansion with a heated pool, a cook, a gardener, a maid and nearby tennis courts" at $7,000 a week was picked up by other news organizations. Rather was livid: "It's not a mansion; it's a house. There's no garden and no cook." He said he was sharing it with another CBS staffer, and the network produced a lease showing that it cost a mere $6,500 for two weeks.

Many of the television luminaries in Detroit were better known than the people they were covering. Rather and NBC's Tom Brokaw were besieged by gawkers and autograph seekers everywhere they went--even on the convention floor, where Brokaw cut a dashing figure in gray-and-blue running shoes. Carol Wallace of the New York Daily News polled the rubberneckers in the lobby of the Detroit Plaza Hotel and found that Cronkite was the main attraction, ahead of Ford, Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor and Wayne Newton. Even so, visiting reporters felt vaguely silly interviewing one another. Cracked 60 Minutes Executive Producer Don Hewitt, chief floor producer for CBS in Detroit: "There's only one thing dumber than us being here. And that's you being here writing about us being here."

One of the genuinely new press stories at this convention was the fact that local TV stations were sending their own people rather than relying on the networks' phalanxes. Only a handful of local stations covered past conventions. This year more than 150 made the trip. The new, lightweight minicams have made it technologically easier for the locals to come, and the brass-knuckle competition among stations has made it imperative. Said Pfister: "News has become such a big profit center that they're willing to spend a lot to keep their ratings up."

As they looked for news, all three networks padded their coverage with pretaped features and with live wisdom from special commentators. Bill Moyers, Jeff Greenfield and James Kilpatrick had a sparkling chemistry on CBS, and Syndicated Columnist George Will, one of four print people signed by ABC, is worth listening to any time. On NBC's morning Today show, Syndicated Columnist David Broder Sand the Washington Star's Jack Germond provided their usual informed analysis, but the ballyhooed commentary by Independent Presidential Candidate John Anderson was tepid.

ABC, which had abandoned gavel-to-gavel coverage in 1976, returned to the fold this time. But the paucity of real news in Detroit raised questions about whether conventions should be covered so exhaustively. Fewer than half the homes watching TV last week were tuned to the convention; the top audience was Wednesday, when 54% were watching. Asked about this, network executives trot out Cronkite's dictum that the quadrennial spectacle is an important "civics lesson." Arledge of ABC, however, sees an end to the full nightly coverage. "It doesn't make any sense," he said. "It just shows how we can flex our muscles by putting our cameras in front of everything that moves."

What bothered some viewers was the capriciousness of the networks' intrusions on the convention. Frequently, they interrupted speeches in mid-sentence for floor commentaries that were no less boring--or for commercials. "Everybody under stands the need for commercials," said Columnist William F. Buckley. "I mind much less yielding to Wheaties than I mind yielding to pundits."

There was much grousing about overkill last week, but as CBS'S Hewitt pointed out, "I don't think I've been to a political convention when we all didn't say we were never going to another one." The Democratic ses sion in New York City next month has special significance: sit will mark the end of Walter E Cronkite's 28-year stint as the 5 CBS convention anchorman. "I think we'll know in a week or ten days how that one's going to shape up," said Cronkite eagerly. "We could have a beauty there." -- By Stephen Smith, Reported by Elizabeth Rudulph/Detroit

With reporting by Elizabeth Rudulph/Detroit

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