Television network executives fear rather than embrace the ongoing change in media, veteran journalist Jim Miklaszewski said Wednesday in a speech to students at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Miklaszewski, chief Pentagon correspondent for NBC News, formerly served as a correspondent for CNN with Mike Boettcher, visiting Gaylord professor.

“I think what scares the hell out of most news executives or [reporters] is that it’s change — it’s huge, dramatic change and Mike and I both when going through our early days of CNN got to see how much it frightened the big three networks,” Miklaszewski said.

At NBC since 1985, Miklaszewski served as White House correspondent during the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. He viewed firsthand the response of the military and intelligence community to Sept. 11. According to his NBC bio, he was the first to report on the scene of the Sept. 11 Pentagon attacks and has led the network’s coverage of the war in Afghanistan.

Prior to joining NBC, Miklaszewski was a national correspondent with CNN during the Reagan administration. The autonomy the young network gave its reporters brought “the most liberating time as a member of the journalistic community that Mike and I could have ever had,” Miklaszewski said.

The initial jolt of changes that CNN brought to the news industry — 24 hours of news and up-to-the-minute updates — is similar to the current changes the Internet is bringing to media.

Journalism senior Kolt Atchley asked if Miklaszewski was concerned about increased partisanism in news.

“I don’t think that we’re going to be able to get away from that kind of programming, but it’s what that network tries to do with the rest of their programming that sets them apart,” Miklaszewski said. “MSNBC is considered a counter to the conservative Fox network, and looking at our programming I can’t really argue with that. CNN says that they have struck a middle ground, and overall they have had pretty good ratings.”

Boettcher noted CNN was responsible for breaking ground in partisan discussion with the debate program “Crossfire,” though Miklaszewski added the show supplied both sides simultaneously in contrast to the current split along network lines.

Hailey Branson, journalism senior, asked about “war fatigue” of both the public and news executives, and whether Miklaszewski considers it to be exaggerated or underestimated by the public.

Miklaszewski said it’s actually part of a larger phenomena in which the news industry will focus obsessively upon a story and then forget it completely.

“It’s like a switch going off,” he said. “War fatigue is a real phenomenon, that I myself have felt. I have a hard time putting it on the American people or news executives, because I understand it.”

He also said there is a point in news coverage where reporters are repeating themselves and no longer advancing the story.

Miklaszewski finished the day at OU with lunch with professors and selected journalism students and then provided the students with individual critiques.