Reply to Annette Kolodny

Mr. Ralph Cohen

Editor, New Literary History

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA 22903

3/17/96

Mr. Cohen,

My colleague Lesley Stahl forwarded to me your letter and the copy of Professor Kolodny’s article. I was the producer of the “60 Minutes” segment in question. I’m sorry for the delay in expressing our thanks to you for sending it, and for responding to it.

In all honesty, my first reaction to the Professor’s weighty report was: “Doesn’t she have anything better to do with her time? Like, say, teach?”

More seriously, Professor Kolodny’s primary complaint appears to be that we came in with pre-conceived ideas and conclusions, and that our research was not serious or balanced. Excuse me, but we spoke to serious and responsible people on various sides of this issue, and then tried to fairly represent their views in our report. Professor Kolodny seems to have made no such effort.

Is it possible that a person so well trained in the standards and practices of scholarly research could purport to conduct a serious investigation of a piece of work without ever attempting to contact the people and sources responsible for the work? I would have been more than happy to discuss our segment with her, but she never called. I also note that another participant in our story—Professor Solomon—is just across campus, but he doesn’t turn up in her notes. His view of our work was quite different, but perhaps Professor Kolodny didn’t contact him because he didn’t fit into her “pre-conceived script” (Kolodny, p. 697). She had one audio cassette from one interview representing one view of complicated issues. From this she can produce a piece anyone can take seriously?

I don’t claim to know anything about editorial standards to which your contributors are held. But under the standards of “ordinary” journalism, Professor Kolodny might be advised to “go get the other side, and then we’ll talk about publishing your story.”

Thanks for your time and attention.

[signed}

Rome J. Hartman

Producer, “60 Minutes”