Lack’s first two years prove productive for NBC news
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 10, 1995 9:00 p.m.
Lack’s first two years prove productive for NBC news
By Frazier Moore
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — It was two years ago Wednesday that Andrew Lack took
over as president of NBC News, and with it, found freedom.
He encountered almost overwhelming quantities of freedom, if
freedom really does amount to "nothing left to lose." The
once-proud NBC News he inherited had lost confidence, resources,
direction and face. Maybe it had even lost the will to live.
"Early on," Lack recalls, "there were times I thought to myself,
‘Maybe this is the way it feels just before the lights go
out.’"
The last straw had been "Dateline NBC." Finally a successful
magazine show for NBC after 17 previous failures, "Dateline" lost a
chunk of credibility after its November 1992 report on truck safety
with a staged explosion of a GM pickup.
What followed the embarrassing disclosure of this ruse was an
on-air apology by anchors Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips, the
dismissal of three "Dateline" producers and a correspondent, and
the resignation of news president Michael Gartner.
Then Lack, a versatile CBS News producer who had slogged through
the war-torn Afghan frontier with Dan Rather, as well as created
the flashy "West 57th" magazine show, was hired as Gartner’s
successor.
Did Lack feel trepidation at ending 16 years on West 57th for
the uncertainties of 30 Rockefeller Plaza?
"I had not nearly as much fear as a normal person should have
had," recalls Lack. "I came in with an almost cavalier attitude
that ‘C’mon guys, it just can’t get any worse than this.’"
NBC News has since enjoyed nothing less than a renaissance.
Its new lease on life is eloquently summed up by the "Today"
show’s $15 million sidewalk studio, unveiled last June. Also, there
are bold plans such as those for a 24-hour news channel Lack wants
to launch.
