Looking Back At "60 Minutes"
LOOKING BACK AT "60 MINUTES"
ROUNDUP
When we first heard that "60 Minutes" had sent a crew to visit the Mojave Desert and do a story about off-road recreation, we were pleased and hopeful. "60 Minutes" is probably the best known and most respected television program in the U.S. The men who write, direct and produce it have good reputations. And because this magazine is part of CBS Publishing and "60 Minutes" is done by CBS Television, we even felt some pride. The TV people and magazine people are part of the same family.
Turns out the relationship was distant. We telephoned the “60 Minutes” offices and offered our help. Some of the people here have been riding and racing in the desert for years. We know something about the terrain and the people and the problem.
Our calls were not returned. We were still hopeful. The desert clubs had been called by the film crews and the club guys said the TV guys seemed okay. They enjoyed the races and several of them even asked if they could come back and learn how to ride. Looked like fun, the club riders were told.
Then the segment appeared on the tube. What we got goes under the trade name of Impact Journalism.
What we got began with pictures of cars and trucks and trailers loaded with bikes and buggies, bumper to bumper on their way to the wilderness.
Then we got film of bikes racing; row on row, flying through the air and toward the cameras, dust clouds in all directions. We got pictures of motorcycles hurtling up hills, rocks flying in all directions. We were shown ruts in the hillsides, tracks across the desert floor, bushes ripped apart by tires. We even got the famous aerial view of an ancient artifact destroyed by tire tracks.
We heard from landowners whose homes had been vandalized. We were told about rowdies and thugs. There was an elderly woman afraid to live in her desert home. There was a man who never thought he could feel such anger as he feels toward the motorized RV crowd. We were told of bikers who chase rabbits until the creatures’ hearts literally burst. Ecologists and officials told us of the threat to the wildlife in the area.
But—“60 Minutes” would surely point out—the program contained what’s known as opposing viewpoints. Time was provided for the American Motorcyclist Association. There were film clips of the riders themselves, giving their side of the story.
We can’t say the program didn’t have facts. Only a few words, specifically reference to the Barstow to Vegas ride as a race, which it wasn’t, could be argued factually.
The program wasn’t inaccurate. Or false. Instead, it was unfair.
Impact Journalism is where you select the exciting parts.
One flattened bush is more exciting than several million acres of bushes that haven’t been flattened. One frightened woman has more drama than, say, a woman who lives in the desert because she likes to ride bikes. Pictures of damaged heritage are box office. Announcing that the fence around the artifact was donated by off-road enthusi-> asís is. well, dull.
“60 Minutes” showed us the shocking side of a problem. They didn't show' us the plodding side of the solution, the scores of people; bikers, drivers, government groups, working to balance the heeds of a recreation-minded public against a shrinking outdoors.
They didn't lie about us. They told some of the truth, the sensational side of the truth and enough of the truth to make the truth into entertainment.
A few hundred thousand off-roaders saw the show, and know who did what to whom. While millions of people who don't use the woods and have never seen a desert saw the show and now think they know what we're like.
