20 Questions: Catherine Crier
August, 1992
We can understand why a TV news anchor might change careers to become a Texas judge. It's the reverse that puzzles us. But for 37-year-old CNN newswoman Catherine Crier, there wasn't much hesitation. After being elected to the bench for a second four-year term, she wanted to return to a more active role, "pursuing and developing a case." When a TV agent suggested she do an audition tape, Crier was intrigued by the notion of mixing her legal skills with journalism. CNN loved the tape--one executive there called her "fantastic, electric"--and invited Crier to join the staff. She debuted as co-anchor of the evening newscast in the fall of 1989. Today, only three years later, Crier also co-hosts the network's "Inside Politics" election coverage and has her own daily program, "Crier &f Co." Crier also finds time for sculpting, exercising her horse, golf and writing a book. Contributing Editor David Rensin met with Crier at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. Later, they went to dinner. Rensin describes the trip: "She drove. Fast. And played Lyle Lovett. Loud."
1.
[Q] Playboy: When you arrived at CNN, there was criticism about how quickly you moved into the anchor's seat. The complaint centered on your lack of journalistic experience. Was the carping fair?
[A] Crier: Sure. It's also fair for me to say, Give me a chance. There are parallels between my current job and my previous ones. As a prosecutor, I hit the streets, I rode with the cops, I interviewed the witnesses and I pulled together a case--then delivered it to a judge instead of to an audience or a news editor. My final argument was delivered to a jury instead of doing a stand-up in front of the courthouse. As a judge, I didn't advocate one side or the other. I listened to all the evidence, determined the facts, applied social perspective and public policy and rendered a decision. That's what a journalist does.
2.
[Q] Playboy: You now co-anchor two newscasts. What goes on behind the scenes that might change our perception of what's being presented?
[A] Crier: There's an element of immediacy you try not to show because you want to deliver information calmly. Behind you, people are rushing through the room, ripping copy off the wire, running in with information or talking into your ear. It's very much like Broadcast News, a picture I can appreciate since taking this job. During the Persian Gulf crisis, our producer was yelling, "Get me Amman! Get me Riyadh! Get me Tel Aviv! I need the State Department!" I realized that our audience is receiving information virtually as fast as the President, the policymakers and those participating in events. Do we have enough time to reflect, analyze and evaluate before we report? Instant information has a tremendous impact. Do we understand what it means to have a camera poised on top of a tank as a revolution gets underway? Do we know if it has any effect on the event itself?
3.
[Q] Playboy: Good questions. Care to answer them?
[A] Crier: In many circumstances it does. British writer Timothy Garton Ash wrote that at the end of the Twentieth Century, all revolutions will be tele-revolutions. Because events across eastern Europe from the fall of 1989 through the Soviet coup were televised, messages got out. People who might not otherwise have known learned of the movements. Then they took action. So, yes, history has been changed.
4.
[Q] Playboy: You also have your own show, Crier & Co. What makes it any different from other shows with a panel of talking-head experts and a moderator?
[A] Crier: We wanted to showcase women experts, but not simply on issues that have been traditionally categorized as women's issues. The original idea was more or less a Crossfire with women, where I moderate a discussion-debate format that tries to represent left, right and center on major issues. It's evolved to more of a Nightline format. Since we debuted in March of last year, we have seen more women policymakers and experts on shows that have traditionally turned to white males for opinions.
5.
[Q] Playboy: Any advice for Ted Koppel?
[A] Crier: [Laughs] No. I've always been a fan of the show. I can listen to intelligent discussion ad nauseam. I'm entertained by that. Ted is very good at finding that kernel in a succinct fashion. I'm not interested in listening to a moderator ramble on. What I want to hear is what the guests have to say.
6.
[Q] Playboy: Yet an occupational hazard of a panel show is the guest who talks a lot while saying nothing. How do you handle the hot air? How do you know when it's time to cut in?
[A] Crier: I have to say, "Excuse me, I just heard four minutes of drivel. Would you mind returning to the question at hand?" But I try to be careful because there's still a bit of the trial lawyer in me that wants to jump in and get more aggressive. There's no need to be rude.
7.
[Q] Playboy: You are also co-anchoring CNN's election-year program, Inside Politics. How are you covering the process differently?
[A] Crier: People are interested in the issues, and we want to give them the meat of the campaigns. It's necessary that we point out inconsistencies and campaign drivel. We plan to analyze election commercials to find what the candidate is really saying. It's an extraordinary time in American politics. This country belongs to the people, and they have a responsibility as owners to participate in its management. I think the message is getting through. Certainly, there was more interesting, issue-oriented debate than I initially expected. However, personalities may overshadow issues. I'm frustrated by the time devoted to "character" issues. Every contingency can't be dealt with, so the American people have to look at inherent qualities of individuals to be able to make some determination about how they will act in the future. But I do not want to see the debate focused on those issues to the exclusion of the critical concerns facing this country.
8.
[Q] Playboy: Having twice run for a judge-ship in Dallas and won, give us your expert opinion on paid political advertising and campaign contributions.
[A] Crier: Thank goodness judicial campaigns were not quite as sophisticated when I ran. [Laughs] I believe it is necessary to limit and regulate the source of campaign contributions. Many good men and women who go to Washington or to their state and local offices with good intentions are not corrupted by the system, but they're still constantly under pressure as a result of those influences. As yet, the voters don't understand the influences and aren't crying out for reform. But when they do, that's when you'll see response out of Washington.
9.
[Q] Playboy: You campaigned on the Republican ticket. Republicans often complain about the liberal bias of the media. Did you subscribe to that viewpoint? Has moving over to the media side changed your perspective?
[A] Crier: I don't categorize. And when you say "the media," I could point to magazines or articles that have a certain obvious bent. But I don't think there's an overall liberal bias. I do think the media have an inquisitive character and an investigative nature that tend to poke and prod at the status quo. But that's what they're supposed to do. Perhaps always asking questions, demanding more information and more responsiveness, only makes the media seem liberal. I've never had a problem maintaining a healthy independence. I let the viewers make up their minds. You become well-informed by listening to diverse opinions, facts and information garnered to paint a complete picture, not a biased position. That's respected at CNN. We're constantly evaluating reports and packages and story delivery: Did we get both sides in clearly enough? Is there a position that needs to be handled more effectively because it wasn't covered? We can't run this piece until we get more sound from the other side. I have learned how hard I believe the media--my limited experience being CNN--work to give an objective point of view. And on top of the obvious liberal-conservative, Republican-Democrat positions, CNN also understands there is an international audience, not simply an American audience. International issues deal with a multiplicity of viewpoints.
10.
[Q] Playboy: You be the judge: Clarence Thomas or Anita Hill. Who was telling the truth?
[A] Crier: A fascinating event for the American people to watch. Very uncomfortable. There were frustrations from both perspectives. We were watching a process that was in part being treated as a legal proceeding without really having the evidentiary rules and regulations of a courtroom proceeding. Yet it was not as open as a journalistic inquiry might have been. It's possible both people were telling the truth as they perceived it. There were moments when the world wanted to say someone was lying. That is, unfortunately, what one probably ultimately has to do. And this is part of the problem with the whole issue: What is harassment to a woman may not be understood as such by a man.
11.
[Q] Playboy: How would you describe yourself to a stranger?
[A] Crier: Too serious, needs to be more impulsive, but loves life and is committed to making the world a better place. Up and at 'em. Greets the day with a breath of fire.
12.
[Q] Playboy: You're also smart, good-looking and single. The romantic applications have to be rolling in. What sort of guy stands a chance with you?
[A] Crier: Ooo! [Embarrassed laugh] Intelligent, articulate, funny, impulsive--with great eyes. I used to think similar career paths were necessary, but not so much now. One gets so much input from work that a little diversity from the outside would be Ok.
13.
[Q] Playboy: When would you just as soon have a man make up your mind?
[A] Crier: At the end of a long day, figuring out where we're going for dinner. I once dated someone in Dallas, and the joke was that on the bench I was making important decisions, but by the end of the day, "Where do you want to go for dinner?" would throw me. I'm a big-picture person. I love global politics, the world at large. Just don't make me deal with the small stuff.
14.
[Q] Playboy: As a judge, you didn't actually sit on a bench, you sat on a chair. As a newsperson, you also sit a lot. Describe the perfect chair.
[A] Crier: There is no perfect chair for me. It's simply the chair for that moment, depending on my mood or what's needed. On The World Today, the evening newscast, the desk is high. Originally, the chair was also high, sort of a stool with a back but also with a wobble. And it wobbled precariously. My first night on the air, two weeks into the job, I sat there thinking, Please, don't let me fall off this chair. So I requested a small riser built behind the set so that a regular low chair could be used. They accommodated me. That chair rolls, has a back, no arms. It's perfect because I don't slump back and relax. I have to sit up and look into the camera. My judge's chair was leather, kind of overstuffed, with arms. But since you sit there hours and hours listening, you need the comfort. And of course, they always make sure a judge's chair is a little bigger than life and imposing. At home, I'm a real sloucher.
15.
[Q] Playboy: Let us in on the secret: What do judges really wear under their robes?
[A] Crier: Well, I had something on under the robes. [Laughs] The business suits that I wore in court are pretty much what I wear on the air today, only they were brighter. Still, there are times when I find the wardrobe and appearance part of this job a little disconcerting. Occasionally, I feel like a poodle. [Laughs] And this is not the substance of the job: a pound of make-up on your face, ratting the hair, the hair spray. It's not something I used to pay lots of attention to. Sometimes it's frustrating to spend a great deal of time on an interview only to have someone comment on my hair or the color of my jacket. One side of me sometimes wants to toss out the powder puffs. I'm happiest in a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt, out on the form.
16.
[Q] Playboy: Do you have a hobby we would never suspect?
[A] Crier: Horses. My family has raised and shown Arabian horses for years. I have my horse outside Atlanta, and any time I'm in town on the weekends, I ride across the countryside. There is no greater escape. I'm a Texan at heart. I had a saddle about the same time many little girls got dolls. Now riding works for me the way running works for joggers. It's my moment of contemplation.
17.
[Q] Playboy: What's your favorite song about Texas?
[A] Crier:All My Exes Live in Texas (That's Why I Hang My Hat in Tennessee).
18.
[Q] Playboy: Complete this sentence: You know it's a bad news day when the lead story is....
[A] Crier: Once when things were very slow, there was a controversy about a story on bottled water. It was important, but to have had to debate whether or not it should be the lead? The story had been floating around, shall we say, for about twenty-four hours. So the challenge became making it interesting by finding a guest to develop the story and enhance what might be an otherwise dry topic.
19.
[Q] Playboy: Defend the car phone.
[A] crier: I'd have to defend the answering machine and the microwave oven, too, and unfortunately I've succumbed to all three. And I mean unfortunately. I remember when I thought, Who in the world would need a microwave oven? Now I can't remember the last time I turned on my real oven. The answering machine helps me communicate with my nearest and dearest. In fact, I have a wonderful friend whom I cannot wait to hear from on the answering machine because she will give me an entire discourse on world events and on her day that will leave me in stitches. It's so hard for us to get together so we can sit down and talk. And the same thing's happened with the car phone. [Smiles] I also just broke down and bought a fax. Disgusting, I know. Now I have to figure out how to hook it up and use it.
20.
[Q] Playboy: What would you tell your boss, Ted Turner, if you could get away with it?
[A] crier: I can already speak my mind freely. And I can always go back and hang out my law shingle, right? [Laughs] Actually, I am very much in sync with the philosophy of this company. My dreams and visions are encouraged by this environment, not discouraged. Most people hate where they work. I'm lucky.
the brightest news face on cnn broadcasts her views on judicial robes, judicious reporting, good men and good chairs
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