(2 of 3)
Languishing Right. The policy in question has caused CBS trouble before. It drove away Analyst H. V. Kaltenborn in 1939 ("If I'm any good as an analyst, I have a right to an opinion"), and Cecil Brown in 1943. CBS President Frank Stanton agrees that objectivity may not be humanly possible, but he argues that only by trying to achieve it can the network satisfy its conception of "fairness and balance."
To CBS's credit, it has been trying to remain faithful to Federal Communications Commission regulations, and it led the industry's fight for the right of broadcasters to editorialize. As a result, in 1949 FCC granted the right in limited form: stations may editorialize if they also give a "balanced presentation of all responsible viewpoints" in opposition. Since then, Stanton has used the editorial right in CBS's name only once, and the network has let Murrow do a few special editorials of his own—notably, his dramatic 1954 profile of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Otherwise, CBS has let the formal editorial right languish. It is unwieldy and expensive; each affiliated station must approve in advance, and opposing views would occupy costly time.
Other networks wear the FCC strait jacket with no trouble. NBC insists upon its right to editorialize as a network, but has never used it. Unlike CBS, it treats comment as a legitimate function of its individual analysts, so long as they label it as such and document it with facts. Because of the "habit of mind" sought in NBC analysts, outright advocacy is infrequent, says Vice President Davidson Taylor, "but there is no rule against it." Chet Huntley, who worked at CBS for eleven years, feels greater freedom at NBC. Says Kaltenborn: "I had complete freedom at NBC." The network fired outspoken John W. Vandercook, but he says: "I was always allowed to say exactly what I damn pleased until I got the ax."
"Spectrum System." The liveliest and freest solution belongs to ABC, which meets FCC's standard of "balanced presentation" simply by hiring analysts of varied political convictions and giving each his head. Vice President John Daly, himself an ABC commentator, calls it the "spectrum system," a full range of "outspoken, highly personalized discussion and criticism." ABC's spectrum, from left to right: Martin Agronsky, about to switch to NBC; Vandercook and Edward P. Morgan, who are sponsored by the A.F.L.-C.I.O.; Quincy Howe, Daly, John Edwards, John Secondari, Erwin D. Canham, Paul Harvey and George E. Sokolsky. Mutual uses a similar method, with commentators from Cecil Brown to Fulton Lewis Jr. The results are often harpoon-sharp. Howe pundited last week: "It is unlikely that the President will quibble over the slight changes in his Middle Eastern resolution, since he does not yet seem aware of the difference in meaning between the words 'as' and 'like.' " Roared Brown: "Dulles has followed a course of disaster in the Middle East." Snapped Lewis: "This Administration is just spending, that's all."