American Cinematographer - January 1993 - 65

cator, archivist and film critic.
The
IDA's
Career
Achievement Award went to re¬
nowned news correspondent
Walter Cronkite. According to IDA
President Wilkman, Cronkite's
"dedication to the search for the
truth and unmatched ability to
reach large audiences with a wide

of information make him a
distinguished representative of the
documentary spirit at its best."
Upon receiving the award,
the veteran journalist shared some
words of wisdom acquired over a
lifetime of crossing the globe in
search of stories. His speech, ex¬
cerpted here, closed the ceremonies
on an
inspiring note and gave wel¬
come
praise and encouragement to
range

all those involved in the "other cin¬

ema," that of documentaries, which
often, according to its pro¬

is all too

likely to present a
engrossing film than a
producer with a little less passion
(perhaps) for the subject. Nothing
is wrong with polemic at all, just as
long as it sticks to facts to make its
points and clearly identifies spon¬
sors (I
might add) who might profit
from the presentation.
"I harp upon the necessity
for integrity, pristine funding, and
accurate labeling because I worry a
much

more

dio,

now

television- has cut the

life. I was lucky enough,

in presenting the daily news, so that

cars,

and I often found much the same
kind of adrenaline in making docu¬
mentaries. I'm

lower and
most of my

an

however, to be selected to work

perhaps we're not getting as much

with some great documentarians at

as we

CBS, and working with them was

magazines, and we should be go¬
ing to those, but they are in turn
handicapped by the fact that far too
many of us in this age of visuals

totally satisfying in the sense that
we were
helping to record history.
"Documentary is of course
the whole scope of human experi¬
ence, but its essence is keeping that
scope of human experience as his¬
torical documentation, not only for
our own
generation, to remind us
of who we are and what
which needs to be done

we are

-

quite fre¬

quently - but also for future gen¬
erations.

"Factual accuracy was at
the core of everything that we did
at CBS. I hope I'm not being too
much of a purist in believing that

cannot, or even worse, will not,
read. So we're left with primarily
our visual medium.
"We have a vast commu¬
nication gap,

and it's a serious
problem. You know Thomas

Jefferson said 'The nation which
expects to be ignorant and free, ex¬
pects what never can, and never
will be.' Well, our

ignorance is
growing in our country to such an
extent that our democracy actually
is threatened. Our educational sys¬

tem, and our social and economic

herence to facts, to the truth

inequities that deny equal opportu¬
nities to large sections of our nation,

-

as

nearly as that can be ascertained, of
course. Clearly there is nothing
wrong with the polemic, disputa¬
tious presentation of an issue. Some
of the very best documentaries fall
into that category. A skilled polemi¬

news

from tele¬

with near certainty that most of our

people

are not getting enough in¬
formation to intelligently exercise
their senses.
"In television we have, as
we all know, created somewhat of
a monster. Its
product is so easy to
absorb that we've discouraged

blame, of course. But so, I'm
afraid, is the business to which I've
are

tion is your product,

to

given forty-two years of my life:
this magnificent instrument we call

the documen¬

tary. It is the longer form documen¬
tary that will inform and educate

people now and in the future,
shape their view of themselves and
the world, and inspire them per¬
haps to rise from their lethargy and
become useful and contributing
our

citizens. It's unfortunate that the

documentary as we all think of it
has disappeared from network tele¬
vision. It's a shame that the net¬
works feel forced by competition

and their shrinking revenues to
yield, and I think sometimes almost
happily, to their belief that the
public's attention span won't toler¬
ate the full-form documentary.

need from them. We have the

documentaries

ought to be distin¬
guished primarily by their rigid ad¬

getting all of its

vision, then we can certainly assert

sion and of course in movie exhibi¬

form of omission and commission

race

from television, and half of it

today. I worry, and I see the docu¬
mentary as at least part of the solu¬
tion. The daily television news pro¬
gram is far too truncated, far too
short to possibly adequately inform
the population of the great issues of
our time.
Broadcasting - first ra¬

ambulance-chaser

"I used to drive

news

is

reading to a large degree. But what
we have in our
industry of televi¬

a
breaking news
primarily. I've been a fire-fol¬

status:

population is getting most of its

lot about the state of information
and communication in this country

advertising dollars in so many
ways that most cities only have a
single newspaper. And while the
single newspapers' publishers pro¬
claim their intentions to purity, de¬
spite the fact that they are a mo¬
nopoly, the truth is that a certain
sloth sets in with monopolies in the

ponents, relegated to a second-class

man,

cist indeed is

"[But] television isn't

nearly

as disconnected as some
would have it. I think the hope is
there. Those cable networks that
have a sense of mission beyond en¬
tertainment have a thirst for docu¬
mentaries that is providing a new
and exciting market. There surely
is

a

healthy future there for docu¬

mentarians who will have as much

satisfaction and fun as I've had in
this exciting field.
"It takes a high degree of

for which no medals are
given, for which very few plaudits
courage
are

received

-

except among our

contemporaries like this - to take
an idea and
pursue it, frequently at
personal economic sacrifice, some¬
times even at personal physical
risk, until it becomes that wonder¬
ful

thing:

a

film that certainly will

illuminate, may well educate, and

might

very

well

move

tain."

the

moun¬
▲

television. If the polls are right that
more than
eighty-percent of the

January 1993

American

Cinematographer

63
American Cinematographer - January 1993

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