New CNN Headline News producer Trey Hagger.

CNN hires producer with taste, common sense, soul

"We brought [producer] Trey [Hagger] in to 'class up the joint,' so to speak," said Headline News spokesperson Steve McGuiness, introducing Hagger to reporters outside CNN headquarters in downtown Atlanta. "Trey's presence will bring a rudimentary sense of style, shame and basic smarts to our behind-the-scenes team - yet another innovative concept from CNN, your global leader in news reporting."

Known mostly for his work on a series of one-hour investigative reports that aired on public broadcasting late last year, Hagger, 51, was sought out by CNN because of his ability to incorporate into his programs the basic elements of taste, logic and humanity - attributes that have long eluded CNN production staffers.

Hagger said his first step in transforming the 24-hour news juggernaut from a confusing, gauche television ratings whore into a respectable information source is to revamp the program's crass visual format into what Hagger described as "something that doesn't immediately give you a headache."

"Instead of the screen being a ridiculously cluttered barrage of headlines, quotes, sports scores, weather updates, stock exchange figures, time zone differences, pop-up statistics, infographics and assorted logos, we'll report one story at a time," said Hagger, illustrating an example of the common sense for which the father of two was hired. "By slowing down the dispersal of information, viewers will have the opportunity to actually digest the news that is being reported."

Hagger also confirmed that each story's editorial copy will now contain information that viewers would be interested in knowing.

"Take for example this story from April about a civil unrest in Venezuela," said Hagger, rolling a tape of the April 14 CNN newscast. "They showed all this footage of violence and people rioting in the streets, but all they talked about was how many people were killed and injured and arrested. Not even once did they mention why the civilians were rioting. I don't know about you, but my common sense tells me that including that information is kind of important. We must remember that we are here to inform as well as entertain."

According to coworkers, many of Hagger's other changes - changes reflecting the producer's natural penchant for exercising good taste - have been somewhat difficult for longtime employees to grasp.

A screenshot depicting CNN's crass visual format, to which Hagger is expected to incorporate elements of taste, common sense and basic humanity.

Headline News camera director Lenny Dingler said that another of Hagger's modifications - the revamping of the network's longtime policy of repeatedly broadcasting the most brutally graphic video footage possible - has not only dumbfounded control room personnel, it's led many to believe that Hagger possesses a soul, a character trait rarely exhibited by a cable television producer.

"It's not like we run all of this shocking footage because we're heartless, disturbed people," said Dingler. "It's just that exploiting the horrific situations of others is what makes for dynamic television. We're just giving the people what they want: violence, violence and more violence. Take that away from the viewer in favor of 'journalistic integrity' or whatever and they'll simply change channels and get it from somewhere else."

Hagger admitted that many of his efforts to add taste, common sense and a basic sense of humanity to CNN's daily broadcasting will be met with some initial resistance.

"The ethical concepts we'll be integrating into our broadcast will no doubt at first seem foreign to both the onscreen personalities and longtime viewers," said Hagger of CNN's new journalistic methodology. "But I'm confident that everyone will eventually warm to the notion of CNN providing important, unbiased news coverage without our relying on graphically violent riot footage and/or childlike pun humor to attract otherwise disinterested viewers."

May 2002