FC: ABC's "The Beast" (10 pm Wed) features always-on-camera reporters

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Wed Jun 13 2001 - 11:07:16 PDT

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    http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58364-2001Jun12.html
    'The Beast': Headline Snooze
    2001-06-13 03:15:13
    
    The "beast" is World News Service, a CNN-MSNBC-Fox News Channel-like animal 
    that earned its nickname because "it always needs feeding," in the words of 
    one of the network's many harried employees. In tonight's premiere, the 
    viewer is fed quite a bit, though most of it is hard to swallow. [...]
    
    
    http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20010613/en/ap_on_tv_mrs_landingham_1.html
    2001-06-13 07:10:05
    
    Jackson Burns is a media mogul who has built a 24-hour broadcast news 
    organization like no other. His unique team of reporters not only cover the 
    stories but are covered as well: Cameras in the halls, in their cars and 
    behind closed doors document the inner workings of World News Service (WNS) 
    - a k a The Beast. [...]
    
    
    http://www.arizonarepublic.com/smartliving/articles/0613goody13.html
    Ferociously true 'Beast' is (groan) false
    2001-06-13 05:15:21
    
    A prospective employee of World News Service, a TV news network, asks
    why people call the station "the Beast." "Because it's always hungry,"
    the woman interviewing her replies. Well, duh. That's about as subtle
    as The Beast, ABC's new drama, gets. Disappointed you didn't see
    Timothy McVeigh executed? You'll get your chance here to see capital
    punishment, albeit fictionally - and not by lethal injection, either.
    We're talking electric chair. [...]
    
    
    http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/features/hodges/939163
    Fictional newsroom drama stretches viewers' credibility
    2001-06-13 05:21:12
    
    The Beast is a new hourlong drama series that sets up a new way of 
    satisfying the insatiable appetites of cable news channels. A shark frenzy 
    of media madness feeds The Beast's premiere tonight, in this fictional 
    newsroom stew created by Kario Salem... Harry, a shadowy Big Brother whose 
    Internet cameras eavesdrop on everyone in sight and feed their every 
    dilemma live to the World Wide Web. [...]
    
    
    http://web.thestate.com/content/columbia/2001/06/13/life/13picks.htm
    Cameras are everywhere in 'The Beast'
    2001-06-13 05:41:40
    
    In "The Beast," Frank Langella plays Jackson Burns, the fanatical media 
    mogul who founded the 24-hour WNS (World News Service) and is obsessed with 
    allowing the public to know everything no matter what.... Burns' insistence 
    on having cameras cover his own reporters in action isn't done for 
    sensationalism. He believes journalists long ago lost their objectivity, at 
    the expense of honesty and truth. The cameras are there so he can make sure 
    his reporters maintain credibility and don't let their personal agendas 
    influence a story. [...]
    
    
    
    
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