Manhattan's hard-bitten police reporters clannishly resent invasions on their beat, whether by some general-assignment upstart from the city staff 'or by a gadget called TV. Last week the newsmen at headquarters glared hard at TV's intruding eye and stared it right down.
In setting up a special telecast featuring Police Commissioner Stephen Kennedy, an NBC producer offered two of the headquarters reporters $25 each to appear with the commissioner and question him. Then they learned that Kennedy's talk would include New York's semiannual crime statistics—a surefire front-page story.
Not only did the two reporters reject the offer, but their ten headquarters colleagues backed...