Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130579
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: CHUCK MILTEER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Since the start of Soering's trial on charges he murdered Derek and Nancy Haysom, viewers in Southwest and Central Virginia not only have been able to follow the trial through daily radio, television and newspaper accounts, but also by watching videotaped testimony.
Roanoke television station WDBJ (Channel 7) has been airing coverage of most of each day's proceedings at midnight in two- to three-hour special reports. The video images of the trial are beamed daily from the Bedford Courthouse to WDBJ's newsroom by microwave link, then edited by reporter/producer Ted Stone.
Stone said he pares about five hours of tape from the court's daily sessions to the two to three hours needed by editing out some of the motions and lulls in the proceedings.
"But we're trying to use as much as possible just as it was without editing," Stone said.
The broadcasts apparently have been well-received by viewers. "From the notes that I've seen, [the trial broadcasts] have gotten the most positive reaction from viewers of anything we've done for some time," said news director Jim Shaver.
There's no accurate way to gauge how many people are watching the broadcasts, because the most recent ratings surveys ended about a week before the trial began, Shaver said. He said he suspects some people are recording the programs and watching them later.
That television pictures of the trial can be shown at all is the result of an experimental cameras-in-the-courtroom program under which the Virginia General Assembly allowed broadcast news organizations and newspapers to record the sights and sounds of trials in selected courts, including the Circuit Court in Bedford. Begun as a two-year program in July 1987, it was extended last year until July 1992.
Shaver said many of the calls WDBJ has received about the Soering trial broadcasts have been questions about legal maneuvers - and even a few suggestions for the attorneys on both sides.
"I think it has given viewers a little insight into what actually goes on inside a courtroom," he said.
Channel 7, unlike competitors WSET (Channel 13) and WSLS (Channel 10), doesn't have to pre-empt entertainment programming to air the trial coverage. Since the demise of the low-rated "Pat Sajak Show," CBS has been feeding its affiliate stations reruns of network shows to fill the time period.
"Late night offered us the opportunity to give our viewers a place to turn for more information about the trial," said Kay Hall, WDBJ's programming and promotion director.
Jim DeSchepper, the general manager of WSLS (Channel 10), said he thinks the special reports may be excessive. "We're covering it on a daily basis, and we feel that's sufficient."
by CNB