The Business of Getting “The Get”: Nailing an Exclusive Interview in Prime Time

Abstract

In “The Business of Getting ‘The Get’,” TV news veteran Connie Chung has given us a dramatic— and powerfully informative—insider’s account of a driving, indeed sometimes defining, force in modern television news: the celebrity interview. The celebrity may be well established or an overnight sensation; the distinction barely matters in the relentless hunger of a Nielsen-driven industry that many charge has too often in recent years crossed over the line between “news” and “entertainment.” Chung focuses her study on how, in early 1997, retired Army Sergeant Major Brenda Hoster came to accuse the Army’s top enlisted man, Sergeant Major Gene McKinney—and the media firestorm her accusations (later joined by those of others) created. She delves behind-the-scenes into the role of Hoster’s lawyer, how a reporter was “selected” for the initial breaking story, and then the maelstrom of media requests for “exclusive” interviews that followed. She lets us see, in that maelstrom, how journalists compete for the interview, the techniques and strategies they use, the role luck and circumstance sometimes play, and why—among the literally hundreds of press supplicants willing to tell Sgt. Hoster’s story—the vast majority failed. Drawing on her own experience as well as that of fellow broadcasters such as Barbara Walters, Walter Cronkite, and Mike Wallace, she lets us see how the quest for the celebrity interview— the “get” in her title—has evolved over the past two decades. She also lets us see how the “get” phenomenon isn’t confined to broadcasters— a fact print reporters sometimes like to forget—but is common to newspapers and newsmagazines as well. Indeed, in a detailed description of the competition for exclusive first excerpts from Gen. Colin Powell’s book, Chung shows us how the cross-media competition served to intensify the level of journalistic competition overall. In a final section, Chung reflects on the “get”’s impact on TV news. Going beyond CBS producer Don Hewitt’s frank (and likely widely-shared) conclusion that “gets” are “the most disgusting” thing on television, Chung tries to give us fresh insights into the “get”’s effect on TV news, and how networks could act in order to recover a sense of lost balance and integrity that appears to trouble as many news professionals as it does, and, to judge by polls, the American news audience. One may agree or disagree with all or part of her conclusion; what is not disputable is that Chung has provided us in this paper with a nuanced and provocatively insightful view into the world of journalism at the end of the 20th century, and one of the main pressures which drive it as a commercial medium, whether print or broadcast. One may lament the world it reveals; one may appreciate the frankness with which it is portrayed; one may embrace or reject the conclusions and recommendations Chung has given us. What we owe Chung, for “The Business of Getting ‘The Get’,” is our thanks for giving us a carefully-crafted window of understanding into one of the most influential forces of our times.