TV & VIDEO - April 27, 1989

The CBS News magazine “West 57th,” as part of a revamping, may occasionally use actors to reenact historic events. It’s an unusual but not unprecedented move. CBS News guidelines discourage but don’t bar the use of actors or reenactments and dramatizations. The news division previously employed actors to reenact historic moments in Walter Cronkite’s “You Are There” (1953-57), and its “The American Parade” series (1975-76), among other projects. Now under consideration is casting actors in dramatized scenes for a segment the program is planning on Vernon Johns, a civil rights pioneer. NBC News’ coming three-show prime-time series project, “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow,” also is considering dramatizations of some stories.