The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 6

1 vv-TTVvVT TTT 7 7 7 7 7 i "rrmnr fit 'x -V i TTTvrrT TJ w' 1 6 THE HERALD WEDNESDAY JANUARY 29 1997 TV guru changes channels Channel Cheatwood moving to Chicago their said Tom Doerr news director at WPLG-Channel 10 the Miami ABC affiliate decided they should strike out on their But Doerr added: want to get into all that they didand whether it was good or Helping WSVN it lost its NBC affiliation at a time when the major TV networks began losing substantial shares of their audience to cable and independent stations Later WSVN was bolstered anew when it allied with the ascendant Fox network which brought it hit programs like The X-Files and event programming like Super Bowl influence spread to Boston in 1993 when Sunbeam Television parent company bought WHDH-Channel 7 Cheatwood was put in charge of news programs both there and in Miami As for the controversy Cheatwood remains convinced that his news programming reflects the special characteristics of South Florida living full of glitz and glamour wealth and poverty fraud and violent crime designed a product for the time and he said overlook that amid the flash and graphics there was a solid base of coverage We determined there be a big story be outcovered its unorthodox route to success even became the fodder for a case study at Harvard Business School is one of the smartest programmers in said Bryan Norcross of WFOR-Chan-nel 4 the local CBS station Joel and I have differed is along the journalistic The influence of this so-called tabloid-television approach to news reached its zenith during the OJ Simpson trial when coverage by even the most tradition-bound media had a lurid sensationahstic edge Cheatwood acknowledges that he has frequently been the subject of criticism But he says circumstances simply forced him to make decisions that he thought best particularly after NBC dropped WSVN in the late 1980s leaving the station without network programming or national news we did back in 1989 really was out of he said we had no Ansin called his managers together and suggested they fill the air time with more local news news hour just kept Cheatwood said In other innovations the late-evening newscast was moved to 10 pm think he did a very smart thing years ago when they lost CHEATWOOD FROM 1A from criticism to outrage The high-crime content and the application of entertainment-style production values to historically serious news programming blurred lines that previously been crossed in broadcast journalism was part of the team who made the station what it WSVN owner Ed Ansin said developed what is really a new type of television But many have found that new identity uncomfortably long on style and short on substance Crime and entertainment news typically dominate Woefully short are areas like economics think Cheatwood had an enormous impact on local television news both here and throughout the said Joseph Angotti a professor of communications at the University of Miami I think his legacy is necessarily one that he can be proud But as its ratings rose somewhat garish style nevertheless spawned imitators Indeed A FRIEND CLASSMATE GONE: Outside Conniston Middle School in West Palm Beach friends and fellow students of John Kamel place flowers on the spot where he was killed Monday morning By standing by indifferently many bear some blame in killing are too much like us Use it to help turn machismo toward useful pride Use it to expect better from our children and challenge them to deliver it If we can say goodbye to John Kamel in this way perhaps we will spare ourselves from saying goodbye to some other child whose name the headlines yet know And maybe the words can sound like a promise again You can count on Smart Final for: Low Competitive Prices No Membership Fees Order by Fax Special Orders Wide Assortment Consistent Selection Convenient Early Hours Helpful Friendly Staff PITTS FROM 1A boom And Mangum walked away Underline that The witnesses did not say Mangum ran away in panic at what he had done Nor did he stand there crying and shaking with the realization that he had taken a life No they say he walked away What can we say to the Kamel family about a society that produces human beings like that? Moreover what can we tell ourselves as we watch our own children leave home in the morning? What can we say to them? Perhaps we haven't the experience to say anything Sure I used to have hell with bullies when I was a child Got punched and kicked mocked and extorted gave up enough milk money to buy a dairy farm But there were no guns The ordeals I went through seem quaint and impossibly safe when viewed from a day when children play for keeps slaying one another over trivial things they learn that from you want to ask But you already know the damning answer It is as near as the mirror as near as adults who murder over traffic disputes neighborhood feuds romantic rivalries Death seems such a casual thing these days violence capricious and easy mindless rage never far from the surface We teach children that in our homes show it to them in our streets entertain them with it on television And then are surprised when some of them become killers Or killed I worry for my children I remind them that they must stop and think even in especially in moments of rage So many disputes can be settled short of harsh words and harsher actions So many arguments can be ended by just walking away No argument is worth your life They listen but I know if they really hear over the drumbeat of popular culture and headline news that say that the worst thing you can do is back down and that the most awful sin is to appear Many in the generation after live by a code of misguided machismo in which reputation is everything and peace only a greeting used by the trendy and cool I am reminded of something a songwriter once said: believe the children are our It was meant as a promise It sounds evermore like a threat Go ahead and blame rap music for that if you want Blame television blame the movies but forget to blame you and me for losing the will to fight back For ever reaching the point where the death of a child by violence was less than a jolting thing How can we say goodbye to John Kamel? Perhaps the best thing we can do in his name is to pierce the numbness and feel again To remember that he is not just a name in the news He was a boy he was a friend he was a son he had a life he had dreams and he is dead Needlessly stupidly dead And the least we can do in the wake of that is to suffer the pain of his loss And then use it Use it in our churches and mosques recording studios and community centers classrooms and newsrooms hearts and minds Use it to talk once more to the children we have learned to fear because they $199 ooc Smart Final White or Clear Plastic Cutlery Spoons forks or knives $599iob Unde Ben's Converted Rice Riceland Long Grain Rice 25 lb 625 Sunny Delight Florida Gtrus Punch 1 qal 229 $699s rolls Bounty Paper Towels iOBleach I tolftnqueadof 691 gal Smart Final Bleach $549t4 rolls Charmin Bathroom Tissue Pepsi Cola Sort Drinks iL Lauderdale Lakes 3333 Stale Road 7 (954) 735-51 57 Hollywood Little Havana Miami 2299 SW 8th St (305) 643-1124 Westchester Little Haiti Miami Biscayne 79th St (305) 754-2471 Hialeah Pricey effective Wednesday January 29 through Sunday February 9 i 1 01 So State Road Miami 8746 SW 40th St 775 49th St 1997 7 (954) 894-8840 (Bird Rd) (305) 228-1526 (305) 557-8872 corpora.