It’s ironic that ABC 4 (KTVX) “investigative” reporter Chris Vanocur was one of the panelists for a discussion cosponsored by the Hinckley Institute of Politics and part of the U’s weeklong 1984 festivities titled, “News and Propaganda: Is Objective Journalism Extinct?”
Vanocur failed to demonstrate such objectivity in a report that aired in 1999 about a former Hinckley state legislative intern who had overheard a conversation between then Republican House Speaker Mel Brown and a US West (now Qwest) executive about a lucrative position with the company after Brown left office.
Vanocur portrayed the intern as an operative working against Brown and US West and suggested that The Salt Lake Tribune-the news outlet that broke the story-was tipped by a private investigator hired by AT&T (Brown was integral in passing a telecommunications act that benefited US West).
Vanocur also aired the story without pursuing comment from The Tribune or from the intern. In fact, the intern, Lynn Allison, was unaware of Vanocur’s piece until this week.
“It was the most irresponsible piece of journalism I’d ever seen.” said Dan Harrie, political news editor at The Tribune. “It was a total plant by the ‘powers that be’ behind the speaker at the time. Mel Brown, and that crew, they were trying to do everything to undermine the credibility of (Allison).”
When asked about the story, Vanocur would not “comment on the record.” This was after he said he recalled The Tribune story, but not his own. When it was proposed that he and I could watch his report together and then discuss the piece, he directed that I ask his news editor. At least I made an effort toward objectivity (Brown, also, would not comment on the situation).
Maybe Vanocur’s work was not a conspiratorial product of a propaganda spin machine. Vanocur appeared to care little about the topic of Wednesday night’s discussion, repeatedly asking the moderator to repeat the question. In his defense, I’m sure it is difficult for him to legitimately care-or even pretend to care-about a subject that he knows little about.
Whether it is apathy, stupidity or laziness that he displayed at the discussion, and in his report about Lynn Allison, Vanocur is a good example of what is wrong with the media today.
This may be why he was invited to discuss propaganda, spin and objectivity in the media-to offer a fair representation of the subject’s spectrum. It could be that Vanocur is living proof of what Don Gale, former editorial director of the Deseret Morning News and KSL, had to say to open the discussion. “Poor journalism is the result of poor training.”
Vanocur did not attend the U, so at least our friends in the communication department are not to blame. He is a good teaching tool for instructors, though, as a news reporter that did not practice objective reporting. So, thank you, Chris Vanocur, for doing your part to save objective journalism from extinction.
