(HOST) During the holidays, we remember friends, family and past celebrations, and commentator Bill Seamans remembers a news story that has stayed with him for many years.
(SEAMANS) Many persons have a favorite Christmas story that they recall year after year and even pass it on to their children. Mine was written by a colleague ‘way back in 1972 when the late ABC News anchorman, Harry Reasoner, wondered how we would react to the sighting of a big star over Bethlehem – as it might appear today..
Here’s Harry’s Christmas story: "As I walked through the ABC Newsroom the other day, listening to the clatter of two dozen teletypes and twenty typewriters I heard Marty the assignment editor talking with Bill Seamans, our man in Tel Aviv….and the thought struck me. What if Seamans got on the horn and said, ‘Hey, Marty. There’s this big star coming down over Bethlehem!’
"I asked Marty how he thought we might handle this story…and he said: ‘First, I’d ask Seamans if he actually had seen the star – and if he had I’d ask him to give us a word picture. Then,’ Marty said, ‘I’d want to know who else had seen it. What was the reaction of the average Israeli on the street? If the story was developing I’d ask Bill to have somebody check with the local astronomers to see what they had to say. Then we’d try to get somebody to check out the chief rabbi of Jerusalem and the heads of the Israeli government and ask even the chief Moslem cleric for a comment. I’d want to know what security precautions are being taken in Bethlehem. Are people saying this appearance of a star is an omen of peace in the Middle East? What about the Coptic Church? What’s their attitude? How large is the influx of people? How do the merchants feel? The moneychangers?’
"Our assignment editor was really getting into this thing. ‘I’d want to know about the rumors,’ he said. ‘And let’s say that Bill told me that he heard that a couple had arrived on a burro…and they went to an inn…but there wasn’t any room for them….Let’s say the man explained that his wife was with child but that the innkeeper put them in a stable where the baby was born and the child was cradled in a manger…’ Marty frowned. ‘I’d have Bill get to that innkeeper with a camera crew in nothing flat. I’d want to know why there was no room at the inn. We’d have separate coverage for the shepherds, of course…and we’d try to get the Wise Men en route. The big question would be – do we have an exclusive!’"
Harry said "the most interesting thing about trying to report an event like the Nativity today would be public reaction to the story. Disbelief? I don’t know – we just got three men back from the moon."
That’s what Harry Reasoner said thirty six years ago.
And that was Harry Reasoner’s Christmas story – which I recall again with a wish for the best of the seasons greetings to all.