THE GLOSSED-OVER PARTY?

	August 16, 1996
	The glib, glossy GOP convention may have played well with Republican honchos, and it may even have boosted Bob Dole's poll numbers, but many journalists, here en masse to cover a political event, felt relegated to the role of little more than movie reviewers. Kwame Holman reports on the reporters.

KWAME HOLMAN: With 15,000 journalists, broadcasters, and technicians in San Diego to cover only 2,000 Republican delegates things got a little crowded. There were the usual sites. All week long television reporters roamed the floor of the San Diego Convention Center with cameras close behind. High above network sky boxes lined the perimeter. Cable ran for miles, and outside, TV production trailers spread out over several acres. The media had come to San Diego prepared to cover the convention their way. But Republican convention planners had other ideas. William Greener was the convention manager. WILLIAM GREENER, GOP Convention Manager: What we tried to do was recognize, No. 1, our obligation to address substantive matters, but No. 2, do it consistent with the way that people receive information in a television age. SPOKESMAN: Please welcome the governor of the great state of California-- KWAME HOLMAN: At times, the convention took on a look closer to the crowded prime time entertainment schedule that surrounded it than a traditional political convention. Organizers went for less oratory and more Oprah. Events like Elizabeth Dole's walk through the delegates on Wednesday night, heavily crafted videos from around the country focusing on Republican issues, and on the night of Bob Dole's nomination a live satellite hook-up from Dole's home town of Russell, Kansas. The Republican Party even offered its oven coverage of the convention dubbed GOP TV. The party procured blocks of time on the Cable Family Channel, owned by Christian Broadcaster Pat Robertson, to beam its message around the country. Critics said the well-packaged convention was designed to present a softer image of the Republican Party. TOM BROKAW, NBC News: The Republicans tonight attempting to close what is a dangerous gap for them, it is called the gender gap. They're showing off an awful lot of women tonight. KWAME HOLMAN: And all the scripting drew admiration from some journalists. JIM WOOTEN, ABC News: We are just looking at the minute by minute schedule for tonight's program--I started to say broadcast--it struck me that we're all in the same business--television--and I so far have to give them high marks for--as producers. They've got high-tech video. They're getting to say and show exactly what they want to people at home, and they've got a wildly enthusiastic studio audience, as it were. KWAME HOLMAN: Still, broadcasters, for the most part, followed their own script. As usual, the cable network C-Span provided uninterrupted coverage of the convention, and CNN had a regular presence. The commercial networks' evening newscasts closely covered convention stories and issues. But until last night's acceptance speech by Bob Dole, the networks with the largest audiences, ABC, CBS, and NBC, offered only one hour of convention coverage during prime time. And that one hour didn't always follow the Republicans' schedule. For example, when Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts delivered his impassioned speech Tuesday night, ABC's Peter Jennings was analyzing the convention with David Brinkley. Dan Rather of CBS was with political analyst Kevin Phillips, and NBC's Tom Brokaw was interviewing other convention speakers. On PBS, the NewsHour, joined by NBC News, offered at least three hours of convention coverage each evening, but it too did not show everything on the Republicans' schedule. But despite failing to get full coverage, Republicans were proud of their efforts. WILLIAM GREENER: What's important is that we have hopefully in a substantive, in a substantive manner consistent with television put our case before the American public. When we have a chance to present our ideas on what we think makes sense in terms of giving us the keys to the car, in general, and Sen. Dole in specific, we're think we're advantaged. KWAME HOLMAN: A major complaint of many in the media was that all the scripting stifled any real news the convention might have offered. After only two days at the convention, ABC's Ted Koppel and most of his Nightline staff packed up and left San Diego. Tuesday night, Koppel explained the decision to viewers. TED KOPPEL, Nightline: (ABC News) There was a time when the national political conventions were news events of such complexity that they required the presence of thousands of journalists, but not this year. If anything important happens, we will certainly have an adequate staff here to cover it, and we will send an equivalent unit to Chicago. But we don't all have to be here, so most of us from Nightline are going home tomorrow. This convention may prove to be one of 'the' most interesting news stories in the world tomorrow. If so, we'll cover it. If not, we'll do something else. KWAME HOLMAN: But William Greener says the networks' refusal to give full coverage in the past forced Republicans to re-write the convention script. WILLIAM GREENER: I really believe in some sense this is akin to blaming the victim. If the television cameras covered us in a certain way, in other words, if a sequence of people standing at the podium giving long speeches resulted in coverage of those speeches, then that would make sense to do. But so long as that's not the case, it seems to me that it's reasonable to say that so long as you're addressing important matters, you ought to do it consistent with the way that you all do your business. KWAME HOLMAN: Today broadcasters packed up their belongings and left town. Now it's on to the next convention in Chicago, where the Democrats will be waiting.