With a deep voice and strong presence behind the podium, David Hartman offered a glimpse of the man who had spent years in front of the camera as the original host of ABC's "Good Morning America."
Although he delivered his lecture "TV News Interviewing '04: Entertain? Inform? Inspire?" Wednesday night to a far more intimate audience than the millions he reached while on national television, he remained humble--stressing gratitude, privilege and responsibility.
The event served to honor Hartman, who received the Futrell Award for Excellence in Communications and Journalism, named for Ashley B. Futrell, Sr., publisher of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington (N.C.) Daily News.
From the outset, it was clear that Hartman was a man who stayed true to his roots, making sure to offer due credit to his colleagues for their help during his impressive career.
"I do not work alone; it is not the nature of what I do," Hartman said. "All of the work is our work, not my work."
He offered some background on the historic nature of broadcasting in radio and television, which he said in the early years required performing a service for the community. In the 1980s, Hartman said, the development of satellite technology led to increasingly diluted programming, while the government walked away from many of its ethical standards. Whereas ratings had once been calculated in 15-minute blocks, he said they are now documented every minute, requiring news to be more sensational and less informative. Still, he admitted that the popularity of the new format had not changed.
"Know this--garbage and gossip do sell," he said.
Hartman said his father provided him with an important lesson in his childhood--that he was given the gift of 1,000 minutes each day, and that he should do something positive with it. The lesson has stayed with him, even making its way into his morning show's daily sign off, "Make it a good day today."
Hartman said an interview should be about the guest, not the interviewer, a fact many current journalists ignore. "We need more thoughtful Q&A.... We can't learn anything from having people scream at each other for half an hour," he said. He noted several programs that provide good examples of how an interview should be conducted, including the CBS Sunday Morning News program and "Newsmaker," a PBS program hosted by Jim Lehrer.
He also commented on the CNN-Fox News-MSNBC style round-the-clock news, which he said was weak and sensational due to its lack of context and depth.
"CNN could put a camera any place on the planet and show something blowing up or someone getting killed and put it on the air and call it news without any context," Hartman said.
Ana Mukkoska, a visiting scholar from Macedonia, said Hartman's high ethical standards for news had an effect on his view of the current state of media. "He seemed to have a nostalgia of earlier TV culture and the lost ethics of broadcasting," she said.
Audience member Bruce Flynn, who works for the National Academy of Science, said Hartman provided an interesting perspective.
"It's good to hear from someone who's been there and can now reflect," Flynn said.
Hartman said it was up to future generations to bring news back to higher standards by refusing to compromise and showing a responsibility to good journalism.
"The fun is in the work. T-G-I-M, Thank God It's Monday," he said.
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