Fourth-rate?
Sir: For years television news has been criticised for concentrating upon the events of a particular day, at the expense of broader and deeper .issues. This led, we were told, to superficiality. Worse, there was a bias against understanding by failing to explain the background to those events of the day. Personally, I have always been suspicious of such rhetoric which is partly why I avoid- ed grandiose claims about the revolutionary nature of ITN's Channel Four News. We simply wish to report the world rather than change it. It was therefore surprising to find Richard Ingrams castigating us for in- cluding a report on El Salvador and an in- terview with Jimmy Carter (27 November). Does he really believe that a full report on El Salvador was not 'news'? Ealier this year the place was never off our screens. What has happened since that much-publicised election is news to me, if not to Mr In- grams. And so is a former President of the United States saying that the weapons manufacturers are stoking up the arms race.
Now, had we included such topics at the expense of equally Important events which had happened on that particular day, Richard Ingrams would have had a point. In fact, this was not the case. The great ma- jority of our longer reports — whether they be about politics, arts, science or the economy — are pegged directly to either events of the day .or events about to hap- pen. Striking the right balance between our current affairs aspirations and our news programme obligations will never be easy and I do not claim that we get it right every time. But maybe Spectator readers have a more sophisticated perception of what is news than does your television critic?
Derrik Mercer
Editor, Channel Four News, ITN Limited, 48 Wells Street, London WI
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