Columnist Ken McCall:Stamberg’s talk about talk should be well-told

Ken McCall

Monday, Oct. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

IT WAS THAT FAMILIAR voice on the line.

For 14 years, the voice filled the late-afternoon hours of millions of National Public Radio devotees with information, intelligence and humor.

And this week, Susan Stamberg, former anchor of the award-winning radio newsmagazine "All Things Considered" is bringing her familiar voice to Las Vegas.

The 58-year-old New York City native will be speaking Friday at UNLV's Artemus Ham Concert Hall as part of the Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series. The subject of her 7:30 p.m. talk is "Talk, Talk and More Talk; But What Do We Have to Say?"

Although she's committed to talk about talk, Stamberg joked that she wasn't exactly sure what she'd talk about.

"It's like that old quote," she said with her infectious laugh, "I never know what I think until I sit down to write it."

But her years of experience at arguably one of the best new programs in the world give her plenty to say.

At the top of her talking points: The public's dilemma of what to listen to and what to ignore.

"There's so much broadcast talk," she said, "but there's so little insight -- so much blather."

People have to really dig through the dreck to find good information, said the admitted "public radio chauvinist."

"I'll talk about some tools for absorbing the news," she said. "It's inundating us, there's so much of it."

The talkers themselves have been making the news recently.

The Washington news corps has long been a target for politicians who don't like the coverage they're getting, but a new barrage of criticism has been targeting beltway reporters, especially those scrambling to become television pundits.

In "Breaking the News," a book published this year by James Fallows, and in last week's "Frontline" public television show, Fallows and others charge that many reporters have been wooed by the fame and fortune offered by television talk shows and the lucrative lecture circuit.

In the process, critics say, these new media stars lose their objectivity about the officials they cover and their connection to the public they are supposed to represent and inform.

The subject may not be on Stamberg's speaking itinerary, but it's one she feels strongly about.

"I felt as if that's the book I should have sat down to write," Stamberg said.

The creeping "cozyism" that grows among the Washington elite, she said, tends to take the edges off the hard questions reporters are supposed to ask.

Stamberg's NPR colleague, Cokie Roberts, who also works for ABC News, has received her share of bad press for speaking to large corporations and powerful trade groups for up to $40,000 a pop.

Can a reporter really go after a corporation, critics ask, when she's received what many would consider a good year's wages for an hourlong speech?

Roberts isn't exactly alone on the gravy train: Columnist George Will and ABC correspondents Brit Hume and Sam Donaldson are just a few reporters-turned-celebrities. Then there is the gaggle of reporters who turn themselves into news clowns every week on shows such as "The Mclaughlin Group."

Stamberg defended Roberts: "Her integrity is irreproachable. She's one of the finest reporters I know."

But, she said, "I also feel it's a problem -- one that we all have to revisit."

Stamberg is being paid to speak at UNLV, but pointed out she's speaking to a journalism school with an endowment for lectures.

"That's not the same as a drug company or a legal group I'm going to have to cover," she said. "I turn down plenty of requests, and I do plenty for no money or very little."

Besides, Stamberg isn't so much the hard newshound any more. After 14 years on "All Things Considered" and 2 1/2 years as host of "Weekend Edition Sunday," she went for a change.

While she occasionally pinch hits as a substitute NPR host, her new title is special correspondent covering cultural issues -- a topic that has long been her true love.

"I not only adore but am deeply committed to cultural reporting," she said. "The arts have healing powers -- and we desperately need it.

"The crazier the world gets, I really believe the arts are going to save us, if anything can."

While she's here, Stamberg plans to "nose around" and do a story on the Strip.

We'll see if she discovers any healing powers among the green felt, sequins and neon.

Whatever story she finds, though, you know it'll be well-told.