of your proposals may not take effect this year, or maybe even next year, but we have planted, under your leadership, some very important seeds.

It has been a pleasure to work with you over these years on such important matters as budget control, and I appreciate your cooperation.

Senator BROCK. Thank you, sir.

Chairman METCALF. I again want to call attention to the publication of the Congressional Research Service, and Mr. Stewart, prepared at the Joint Committee's request, entitled Congress and Mass Communications.

It is a very valuable document, and it has been referred to by many of the witnesses today.

I also want to thank National Public Radio for broadcasting these hearings, demonstrating the idea we are trying to get across about the importance of Congress and its communications needs.

This hearing will be recessed until tomorrow at 10 a.m., at which time we will reconvene in this same room. We will hear representatives of network television, CBS, ABC, and others, and discuss the facilities that they might provide us and still preserve the decorum and dignity that we want to preserve, both on the Senate floor and in the committees.

Unless there is anything else to come before the committee, we will be in recess until tomorrow at 10 a.m.

[Whereupon, the committee was in recess at 4 p.m.]

CONGRESS AND MASS COMMUNICATIONS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1974

U.S. SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JOINT COMMITTEE ON CONGRESSIONAL OPERATIONS,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met. pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m.. in the Dirksen Office Building, Hon. Lee Metcalf, chairman, presiding.

Present: Senator Metcalf, and Representatives Brooks, Giaimo, Cleveland, and Dellenback.

Chairman METCALF. The Joint Committee on Congressional Operations will be in order.

Yesterday, the Joint Committee on Congressional Operations received informative and useful testimony from a number of Members of Congress on the broad subject of how Congress, as an institution, might communicate more effectively its activities and decisions to the American people. We expect to be receiving written statements from other congressional witnesses as the hearings progress. These statements will be released to the public and included as part of the printed record of these hearings.

Today we are privileged to have with us representatives of the country's commercial and public broadcasters, including the presidents of the Columbia Broadcasting System, the American Broadcasting Co., and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Later today we will hear from a panel of broadcasters who are in charge of news bureaus in Washington.

We hope that these gentlemen will describe some of the day-to-day problems they face and the opportunities they see for covering congressional news.

On March 7 we will receive testimony from additional commercial and public broadcasters, including Julian Goodman, recently appointed chairman of the board of the National Broadcasting Corp.; Hartford Gunn, president of the Public Broadcasting System; Jim Karayn, president of the National Public Affairs Center for Television; Lee Frischknecht, president of National Public Radio; and Matthew Coffev, president of the Association of Public Radio Stations. We are also looking forward to presentations by representatives of public television stations and State legislators from Connecticut and Florida, where there has been extensive television and radio coverage of the Connecticut General Assembly and the Florida Legislature.

At the March 7 session of the Joint Committee, we will have monitors set up so members of the Joint Committee can view videotaped excerpts of the legislative debates in Florida and Connecticut.

There are two additional points that I would like to make prior to calling our first witness, Arthur Taylor, president of CBS.

First, we are asking representatives of the broadcast industry for their frank comments and opinions on how the Congress can more effectively communicate its actions and decisions to the people of the United States. Lest there be any doubt in anyone's mind, let me emphasize this point: We are not accusing the broadcasters of failing to do their job nor are we seeking in any way to intimidate broadcasters in the exercise of their duties as professional journalists.

We believe that most broadcasters would agree with the proposition that it is possible to provide a more complete and more accurate picture of the work of Congress than is being provided now. We also believe that most broadcasters would agree with the proposition that there are no easy or self-evident ways to achieve this more complete and accurate reporting.

But it is our hope that these hearings will offer some solid clues as to responsible and sensible ways to proceed in the future.

Second, we have invited testimony from commercial and public broadcasters with widely varying perspectives and responsibilities. We know that the commercial networks approach the job of covering Congress from one perspective, that public broadcasters have a different perspective, and that local commercial stations have still other

concerns.

We also know that television broadcasters see the job of covering Congress from a perspective that is quite different from the perspective of radio broadcasters.

All of these perspectives are valid and important. We hope that the particular concerns and interests of each broadcast medium can be as clearly and fully developed today as possible, and that these expert witnesses will be willing to respond to any additional written questions required to give us a complete record.

I will now call on this morning's first witness, Arthur Taylor, president of the Columbia Broadcasting System. Mr. Taylor, we are delighted to have you and your colleagues with us today.

You may proceed in any way you wish.

I notice Congressman Cleveland brought along his book, "We Propose: A Modern Congress," and I think we should at least give it a mention here. Thank you for the contribution you have made in this book, which includes discussion of the need for greater public understanding of the workings of Congress as an institution.

Representative CLEVELAND. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the benefit of those people who were not here yesterday, the chairman spoke about the educational function of Congress, and then he promptly proclaimed the list of nominees he unearthed as becoming something of a bestseller in the realm.

Chairman METCALF. It was not a bestseller, Congressman Cleveland. It was a giveaway, and so there was a great demand for it.

Representative CLEVELAND. After his rather successful activities, I have to admit the book, "We Propose: A Modern Congress," had been a worstseller, and I think that is relevant, Mr. Chairman, because I could not help noticing in the papers this morning the very little coverage these hearings have had, practically nothing. So I think we have to take as a starting point at least that the subject we are dealing with-which is communicating to the people what we do or try to do, and trying to reform our procedures so our performance will be

more meaningful and more newsworthy-is not exactly newsworthy in and of itself.

I find this regrettable, because I thought some of the statements yesterday by such people as Congressman John Anderson and Senator Muskie and Senators Humphrey and Mondale, and remarks from this podium by the chairman and myself and Congressman Giaimo and Congressman Dellenback, went a long way toward making news.

We had a consensus that the electronic media should come into sessions of the House under certain circumstances, and again on the floor of the Senate. I find it a little startling that this was not newsworthy. But again, as you said, Mr. Chairman, there is no attempt by this committee or any committee of Congress to tell people what is news, and we will have to keep going along, as we are, trying to improve our performance, and by doing that, making the news. It is a bit discouraging. I am glad you did mention this book, who knows, maybe we can put it into print again. If we get a little publicity, it might be a bestseller like your list of nominees.

Chairman METCALF. Thank you very much, Congressman Cleveland. Our first witness is Arthur Taylor, president of the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Mr. Taylor is a historian, and he has turned around now to make history on a day-to-day basis, and he is a distinguished representative of an important facet of our society.

I am proud to have Mr. Taylor with our committee. It is a great privilege to have you here to testify and to assist us in exploring ways Congress can be more helpful to you in televising and broadcasting congressional activities.

You may proceed in any way you wish.

ARTHUR R. TAYLOR, PRESIDENT, COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM

Arthur R. Taylor, 38, was elected President and a director of the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1972, after serving as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the International Paper Company for 2 years. He began his business career in 1961 as a trainee with the First Boston Corporation, where he worked for 9 years. A native of Rahway, New Jersey, he is a graduate of Brown University where he studied Renaissance history. He also serves as a trustee of Brown and of Bucknell University.

Mr. TAYLOR. Thank you, Senator.

Before I begin, just a comment on the conversation between you and Congressman Cleveland on the subject of the worstseller.

I want you to know CBS has an interest in a publishing house which several times has retired a permanent trophy in that particular category.

I appreciate very much the opportunity to be here today.

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this Joint Committee of the Congress in your consideration of a question of historic import to the Nation: How the American people can be even better informed of the views and activities of their Congress. This committee, under the distinguished leadership of its chairman, deserves the thanks of all thoughtful citizens for undertaking a full discussion of these issues. In my mind there are two major and related aspects to this question. One is the coverage of Congress that is provided by broadcasting. The

other is the specific question of the balance between the legislative and executive branches in communicating with the people through the mass media.

Let me first address myself to broadcasting's coverage of Congress. The age of broadcasting has opened major and diverse opportunities for the American citizen to see and hear our Government at work and to meet elected representatives close up on the home screen, despite the many restrictions that have been put on broadcast coverage of many governmental activities. I do not believe that the extent of this existing coverage generally is realized by many inside or outside Congress. It is only when we take stock of the capabilities and performance of our Nation's flexible and sophisticated system of broadcasting resources that we begin to discern the magnitude of that coverage. CBS News, with 22 full-time Washington correspondents and reporters, supported by 8 fully equipped camera crews, is well prepared to cover the day-to-day activities of Congress, as well as its extraordinary sessions. Day-to-day activities are reported usually on television on regularly scheduled news broadcasts.

To give an example of the extent of this coverage, the CBS Evening News. broadcast 6 nights a week to 18 million people a night, included 222 interviews with or appearances by Members of Congress from June 1, 1973, to last week. These have covered a wide range of issues, from disarmament to health insurance to the 1974 elections. In addition, there were virtually hundreds of other reports of congressional activity on the CBS Evening News during that period.

Congress is also well covered on CBS Radio. Since last April, CBS News has offered the 246 CBS Radio Network affiliates hourly news broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with literally countless reports on Congress.

In addition to our regular news broadcasts, CBS presents coverage of issues in Congress not only in terms of replies to the President, which I will discuss in a moment, but also on such broadcasts as "60 Minutes" and "Face the Nation", as well as documentary and special radio and television broadcasts. In 1973, for example, there were 31 appearances by Members of Congress on "Face the Nation" alone. The impact of this broadcast, and similar broadcasts on the other networks, reaches well beyond their immediate audiences, and often makes headlines in the following day's newspapers.

The coverage of Congress on CBS is both deep and, I believe, comprehensive. I believe a look at CBS News' network television coverage of just one issue the energy crisis-will demonstrate my point. Since June 1, 1973, 45 Senators and 12 Representatives have appeared on regular and special CBS News broadcasts on the subject. The crisis has demonstrated the flexibility of the broadcast medium in adapting to various needs and situations. The recent hearings of Senator Jackson's subcommittee on the energy crisis were broadcast in both special reports and in 10 instances on regular news programs.

In such extraordinary circumstances as last summer's Senate Watergate hearings, congressional proceedings have received extensive live coverage, as well as reports on regular news broadcasts. In that case, CBS News provided the public with 121 hours and 15 minutes of live and recorded network television coverage and 137 hours and 36 minutes of live coverage and special reports on the CBS Radio Network.