'Week in Review' laments ailing state of journalism
"The Week in Review" marks its 30th anniversary with an hourlong special at 7 p.m. Friday on WTTW Channel 11, but somehow the celebration comes off as more of a death knell for journalism.
Although host Joel Weisman and interviewer extraordinaire John Callaway make playful reference to the show's "next 30 years," with guests Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson they express real concerns for the fate of journalism, and along the way they all but hold a wake for the Sun-Times.
Coming after AP sports columnist Jim Litke said on last week's show that "in five years there may not be five newspapers left," it doesn't leave Your Friendly Neighborhood TV Critic feeling very jubilant. And considering that "The Week in Review" has been one of the increasingly few programs where true journalists were welcome on local TV in recent years, it's a damning place for that opinion to be expressed.
First of all, though, let's be clear: The fate of journalism is certainly not the responsibility of Weisman and "The Week in Review." If anything, the gloom it reflects grows out of Weisman's sympathy, affection and admiration for journalists and newspapers. As he explains in the second half of Friday's program, in which Callaway comes in for his weekly one-on-one interview segment and basically plays host to a "This Is Your Life" episode with Weisman as the subject. Weisman was a newsman himself with the Chicago American (later Chicago Today) and the Sun-Times before getting fired in a power struggle and making the gradual shift to television -- with a legal career as his straight gig.
Thirty years ago, "The Week in Review" grew out of Channel 11's "Public News Center" project. Hoping to instill some sort of substantive news presence, Channel 11 President Bill McCarter suggested Weisman develop something akin to PBS' "Washington Week in Review." Weisman understood that the set four-panelist format worked in Washington, D.C., with its steady diet of political news, but probably not in Chicago, so he altered it to make the panel different each week, depending on where the news buzz was. That was inspired. "The Week in Review" eventually became the regular Friday installment of "Chicago Tonight," now joined in the second half of the hour by Callaway's interview session.
As host, Weisman describes his own role as that of "conversation traffic cop, provocateur and historian," and at times he's gotten great results out of that freewheeling approach. The first quarter of Friday's anniversary special reminds a viewer of the occasional kismet, when in a highlight clip none other than my old Tribune TV counterpart Steve Johnson makes the strongest remarks about the sentencing of former Gov. George Ryan.
Yet let's not deny that those fortuitous moments were all too rare. Weisman likes to mix it up by throwing a question at a panelist outside his or her area of expertise, but last week he asked Litke about state transportation funding and got little back beyond what the man in the street would provide.
Also, while it's great that Weisman and 'TTW have taken an extra look at the local news each week, let's not get carried away. A half-hour offers precious little time to scratch beneath the surface of the news. Weisman also says he likes to ask questions the average viewer would ask, so he doesn't always press panelists to provide insight. I've been on the show myself, and I know that sometimes you're only just getting to what you find truly interesting when the conversation moves on to the next topic.
The most interesting part of Friday's special is Weisman's session with two panelists: Kurtis and Jacobson. Weisman admits, "Politics has been marginalized by both newspapers and television," a battle he has actively engaged. And Kurtis bemoans the rise of "faux news," saying, "We're looking at the precipice for print journalism."
Yet Jacobson gets off a couple of killer lines. Pointing at the loss of various panelists shown in the highlights -- Steve Neal, Paul Hogan -- he says, "We're all dead in a sense, in that we're not doing what needs to be done in Chicago journalism," later adding, "The days of making a difference because you knew what was going on, I think, are over."
In that, he's describing not just newspapers, but "C2N" and "The Week in Review." So yes, by all means, celebrate "The Week in Review" while you can. I actually remain optimistic about the fate of such shows -- and journalism in general. Just be sure to celebrate for the right reasons.
In the air
Remotely interesting: The 12th installment of "The Amazing Race" came to a delightful conclusion Sunday on CBS' WBBM Channel 2 with the victory of "hippies" Rachel & T.K. It remains the Cadillac of reality series. … At the other end of the quality spectrum, "The Celebrity Apprentice" soldiers on without fired former Kiss tongue-wagger Gene Simmons at 8 p.m. today on WMAQ Channel 5. The episode promises a confrontation between Donald Trump and wrestling impresario Vince McMahon. If McMahon grabs Trump by the hair, that might make it worth watching. NBC is having a live auction of memorabilia from its shows -- such as Michael's lucky tie from "The Office" -- at its nbc.com Web site. The auction closes Jan. 30. A portion of the proceeds will go to the United Way.
Barack Obama and John McCain won Nickelodeon's first kids' primary.
End of the dial: Former radio producer Rick Kaempfer reads from and signs copies of his new novel on the industry, "$everance," at 7 p.m. today at Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson St., Naperville. Kaempfer has also launched a new Chicago Cubs Web site at the appropriate address www.justonebadcentury.com.
Majors Junction performs live in the studio on "Hambone's Blues Party" at 10 p.m. today on WDCB 90.9-FM.