Al's Morning Meeting

Friday's most-emailed story on CBSNews.com was an eight-minute story that aired Thursday on CBS Evening News. It was the longest single story to air on the evening broadcast since Walter Cronkite was sitting in the anchor chair. It was a blockbuster.



The piece raises disturbing questions about the care that military doctors give to our servicemen and women, and it presses the issue of whether soldiers should be able to sue the federal government for malpractice -- which is not currently allowed.

National Correspondent Byron Pitts tells the story of Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez III, a 29-year-old who "loved life, his family and the Marine Corps. He was also an artist, a father, and a part-time actor. He once appeared with Katie Holmes in a scene on the TV series Dawson's Creek."

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Pitts met Rodriguez two months ago. The Evening News story shows graphic video of Rodriquez, who weighed less than 80 pounds. For a year and a half he was slowing dying from stage 4 melanoma.

CBS.com reports:

I interviewed Byron Pitts by e-mail. (Disclosure: Byron is a friend and guest faculty member at Poynter):
Tompkins: How did you hear about the story?

Byron Pitts

Pitts: CBS News Producer Rodney Comrie tracked it down. He's a magician with a laptop. There are few people I know in television who treat story subjects (the people in the stories) with more respect or dignity. CBS News Producer Betty Chin helped do the research and legwork. They're the brains behind the CBS News national team, for which I’m proud to serve as national correspondent.

This story is an example of "power reporting" from a manager's perspective (something Poynter actually teaches). Rick Kaplan is the executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. When he took over the CBS Evening News months ago he could have done away with the national team. He didn't. Instead, he called us to his office and said something that fundamentally changed me as a network correspondent: "I don’t have to have you on TV every day, I want you to be prolific." I went to Catholic school and a small university, so I had to look that one up.

But truthfully, with that statement he inspired a team of experienced journalists to reach higher, work harder and do better. Our work is still far from "prolific." But by his simple directive and encouragement Rodney and Betty pushed hard and looked far. They get the credit. Kaplan got the best out of his people.

Tompkins:You must have known he was near death when you arrived at his home. Tell us about the ethics conversations you had about what images are too graphic for the evening news.
Pitts: As Rodney and I were in the car for the two-and-a-half-hour ride to the Rodriquez home, he actually posed the question: "What if he dies while we're there?" My first reaction was, "Come on, how likely is that? Just stop it. Turn the radio back up." So he asked again. After some soul searching we agreed that if it came time to cross that bridge we'd be professional.

And we agreed to treat the Rodriquez family like we'd like our family to be treated. On the way I shared with Rodney a story Ed Bradley told me once about the secret to a strong interview. Ed said, "Just read, read, read. Then listen, listen, listen."
Rodney had done the hard work days before we got in the car. We both felt we knew the material well. We knew the points we needed to cover. And no matter what happened when we got there, we'd listen, listen, listen. Add to that, we were fortunate enough to work with one of the great photojournalists of our times. Henry Bautista is an award-winning journalist. He's been around the world. Seen the best and worst in people. Once we arrived at the house, we briefly huddled with Henry about the possibilities. We trusted his eye, his talent, his experience. So when the "tough moment" came, we shared a glance and that was enough.

Tompkins: What has the public response been?
Pitts: The public response has been overwhelming. As I write this note, the emails to the CBS Web site are around 400. According to our colleagues at CBS who track such things, the numbers aren't that earth-shattering, but the nature and depth of the response have been astonishing. People have written to ask for how they can send money to the family. Many have forwarded the video link to their member of Congress and the Senate. Some have written their U.S. Representative.

Don Hewitt, the famed creator of 60 Minutes, said of network TV news, "In times of crisis, ABC, NBC, CBS become the nation's chapel. A place to go to grieve, to get information, to know everything's gonna be OK."
Today (Friday) the Internet felt like a chapel: a place where people from all walks of life could come together and grieve, scream about injustice, demand change and perhaps even begin to organize to bring about that change. It seems all that was required was a computer and a heart. We've been given a path to do several follow-ups.
Tompkins: This is certainly one of the longest stories aired on CBS Evening News in a long time. Why did this piece go on Evening News rather than, say, 60 Minutes?
Pitts: Great question. I'm the national correspondent for the CBS Evening News. Betty and Rodney are certainly as gifted as any producer we have. And the ones at 60 Minutes are the very best in TV. No one in the office can remember the last time CBS News devoted more than eight minutes total to one story.
Tompkins: What did you learn by telling this story?
Pitts: What we do still matters. People matter. People still crave and appreciate seeing and reacting to news of substance. I was reminded of something else I learned at Poynter years ago from (you) ... People remember how they felt longer than what they know. That's always stuck to me. More than a trick to keep in your pocket, it's a reminder that in TV news we have a chance to challenge the human brain and heart. We can't take either for granted. As many of my colleagues have said in so many kind and encouraging emails, "This is why I got into TV news."