Joel Cheatwood, the news director of CBS flagship station WCBS-TV in New
York who has been accused by critics of instigating “flash and trash”
features at stations where he has worked, has indicated that his station
intends to concentrate on the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks during
the November sweeps.
In an interview with New York Post TV writer
Michael Starr, who once referred to him as “Joltin’ Joel,” Cheatwood said
that typical sweeps features “are irrelevant compared to what we’re going
through on a daily basis. …For the first time in a long time viewers
are watching the news again–not based on convenience but on a
life-and-death search for information.”
Today’s Washington Post
indicated that stations throughout the country are likely to follow suit.
In the Washington DC area, it noted for example, stations have scrapped
reports on such subjects as junk mail and dog-food ingredients. “We’re
not going to force typical sweeps pieces into our system,” WUSA-TV news
director Dave Roberts told the newspaper. “We’re going to take a serious,
straightforward approach to covering the biggest story of our lifetime.”
