Newscasting: The Empty-Chair Approach

The Empty-Chair Approach

If the myriad imitators of television's Meet The Press were to be given a generic name, they might well be called Spivaks (after Lawrence, the host, of course). This year yet another species of the genus Spivak — the Novak, it might be labeled — was launched on 15 Metromedia TV and radio stations and eight public-TV channels. Titled The Evans-Novak Report, the program is run by a regular two-man press panel, Columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak. Unlike most of the other spin-offs from Meet The Press, it does offer at least one new wrinkle: during...