Trouble with Depth Vision

Like the 21-in. image on the television tube, TV news commentary lacks depth. The big eye can survey, but it runs into trouble when it tries to interpret or explain. Last week, in an unsponsored effort to supply TV news coverage with the rare dimension, the Columbia Broadcasting System introduced a news program designed to examine more than the profile of big events: Behind the News with Howard K. Smith.

Behind this pretentious title stands a solemn, grey-streaked, 44-year-old newsman with an unusual list of references for the job. Nearly all of Howard Smith's professional career has been spent in radio and TV reporting, and nearly all of it abroad. He went to work for United Press in London in 1939 right out of Oxford, where he was the first American undergraduate to head the Labour Club; he wore a sandwich board in front of No. 10 Downing Street in demonstrations against the Conservative government. After a short stint with U.P. he joined CBS as Berlin correspondent early in 1941.

He was the last U.S. reporter to leave the Nazi capital--aboard a train to Switzerland on Dec. 6. 1941. His book. Last Train from Berlin, was a bestseller in England and the U.S. (While still a political liberal, Smith is now embarrassed by some of the positions he took in the book, e.g., a statement that "Russia looked better the longer I stayed and the more I saw.") He replaced Edward R. Murrow in 1946 as CBS's chief European correspondent, was brought to the U.S. in 1957. Sig Mickelson, CBS vice president and news manager, calls Smith "the intellectual dean of the CBS news staff."

Smith had some warmup for his new show. Since October 1957, he has appeared on a daily CBS-TV news program as a news analyst, but is limited to a 90-second spot. Behind the News provides him with 30 minutes for the same job. He mixes in film clips, unrehearsed dialogues with special guests, and visual aids with his own commentary. But more time is not enough. Smith's first two programs (devoted to the U.S. visit of Russia's Anastas Mikoyan and the ascendancy of French President Charles de Gaulle) were not very deep. As usual, television's all-seeing eye dominated the show, and Smith and his associates, for all their worthwhile effort, added little depth to either subject. The screen was still 21 inches across; giving it a new dimension was still a major challenge.

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