The debate over television's handling of violent news took an unusual turn in Seattle recently when the union representing the people who bring the city its TV news -- reporters and anchors -- began attacking what it calls "bodycount journalism." The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists organized a public forum on TV news violence and talked two of the city's three news directors, Andy Beers of KING-TV and Bill Lord of KIRO-TV, into confronting a hostile audience of reporters and viewers who demanded less play -- especially less promotional play -- for violent crime stories.

"Random violence has become part of the scene in our community," Beers insisted. "We'd be dishonest not to cover it." But what about the violence on local newscasts that isn't local? responded professor Floyd McKay of Western Washington University, a member of the Seattle panel. "You borrow it by satellite from Miami, Detroit, or Los Angeles and show it repeatedly in Seattle." The Seattle forum coincided with a chorus of criticism elsewhere, some of it focusing on children. For example, half the children interviewed for a recent national study commissioned by an Oakland, California, advocacy group called Children Now, said they felt angry, afraid, or sad after watching the news. When the organization hired professor Dale Kunkel of the University of California, Santa Barbara, to analyze child-related news on television, he found that nearly half the stories having to do with children dealt with crime and violence either against children or committed by children.

In Seattle, KIRO news director Bill Lord assigned Karen O'Leary to report on the AFTRA forum, and to examine -- on the station's 5 P.M. newscast -- KIRO's coverage of violence. Her report combined tape of the debate with some of KIRO's own crime-scene footage, and acknowledged public criticism of television's emphasis on violence.

Meanwhile, news executives in other markets have sensed a backlash against newscast violence among viewers, and responded accordingly. WCCO in Minneapolis and KXTV in Sacramento are among several stations that have made a commitment to minimize sensational crime and violence on their early evening newscasts, when children are most likely to watch.

"Not that we don't aggressively cover major crime stories," KXTV news director Mike Beardsley says, "but we don't show the graphic blood."

KIRO'S Bill Lord says coverage is often a matter of manpower and money. "You're going to have to invest more time and staff in the more complicated issue stories," he observes. "We don't always have it."

By comparison, local crime stories are quick and easy, and some are obviously very compelling. Those borrowed by satellite from a city 3,000 miles away are even cheaper and easier.

So the debate over violence, at the Seattle forum and elsewhere, extends beyond what is covered to what is not. "Nobody is telling us [in Seattle TV news] about our schools, housing, and transportation problems," McKay complained. "All the public policy issues that used to be the major content of the news are pushed out by this preoccupation with blood."

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