TV Does Credible Job Recapping Weaver

Call it the Randy Weaver-A-Thon.

With Senate hearings about the Ruby Ridge siege, network news programs have been falling all over themselves to revive a story that most of them undercovered the previous three years.

I was expecting a sad mixture of rehashed “revelations” and dubious fawning over Weaver himself, who hardly fits the role of hero.

I was wrong. The three network programs I’ve seen this week - “Nightline,” “Good Morning America,” and “PrimeTime Live” - have done an even-handed job of recapping the story and bringing it up to date.

The first big gun was ABC’s “Nightline” on Tuesday night, in which Chris Wallace began with the words, “Chances are you weren’t paying much attention back in 1992…”

Well, some of us were.

The first part of this half-hour program, reported by Chris Bury, was a solid re-telling of the events. The second part included an interview with Weaver’s attorney, Gerry Spence.

Spence, in discussing the federal agents’ “can and should” shooting orders, said, “The only place where that has been done, where laws of a country have been changed by secret, private decree, was Nazi Germany.”

He also said Weaver’s personal life these days is in “growth and evolution,” which makes him sound like some guy who attends a lot of men’s group meetings.

Spence also was part of “Good Morning America’s” coverage on Wednesday morning, which was by far the weakest of the network programs I saw. It was dominated by too much bluster from Spence and ABC correspondent Sam Donaldson. Spokesman-Review reporter Jess Walter, who has written a book, “Every Knee Shall Bow,” about the case, provided an expert, objective perspective, but it was hard to get a word in edgewise.

Donaldson used “Good Morning America” to hype his “PrimeTime Live” report Wednesday evening, in which Donaldson took the Weaver family back to Ruby Ridge.

“I’ll tell you, it was very emotional,” said Donaldson. “I’m supposed to be a hard-bitten guy, and nothing moves me, but I was moved.”

The story, which was more than a half-hour long, was a balanced look at a complicated and ambiguous event. Donaldson spent some time at the beginning of the story delving into what he called Weaver’s “wrong-headed” ideas before launching into the meat of the story.

It carefully and accurately recreated the events, sometimes with considerable impact. It gave plenty of attention to the key issue of the case - the rules of engagement. It also explored the family’s deep emotions about the case.

In addition, the show broke some new ground, with a short interview with FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi and a brief talk with suspended FBI official Larry Potts outside his home.

, DataTimes