Papers of a prominent news producer and executive arranged by the various periods of his career: early years, CBS (1947-1967), public television (1967-1969), and ABC (1969-1970). Both the early and later materials are fragmentary, consisting of scrapbooks of his student years and some material related to ABC's coverage of the 1970 election, but documentation is substantial for the other two phases. Relating to CBS are files of correspondence and office memoranda to and from Fred W. Friendly, Richard S. Salant, and others; news scripts; program ideas; and clippings and news releases about Westin, programs he produced, and CBS in general. There are two scrapbooks pertaining to radio programs on which he worked as field reporter: The People Act and Nation's Nightmare The former program, which was funded by the Ford Foundation, is also represented by recordings of 20 episodes. For Westin's two years with PBL, the experimental news program produced by the Public Television Laboratory, there are memoranda, program proposals, general correspondence, speeches, articles, and news clippings.
The collection has been chronologically arranged into six main series: 1) EARLY LIFE, roughly up to 1949; 2) CBS YEARS, 1949-1967; 3) PBL YEARS, 1967-1969; 4) ABC YEARS, 1969-1970; 5) VISUAL MATERIALS, 1972; and 6) AUDIO RECORDINGS.
Early Life
Consists of the contents of one scrapbook including photographs, clippings, and other material relating to Westin's activities and experiences as a student at New York University, particularly during 1949.
CBS Years
Two scrapbooks, designated as scrapbooks #2 and #3, contain letters, CBS staff memoranda, newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, postcards, interview transcripts, and other material relating to Westin's employment with CBS Radio, 1951-1952. Scrapbook #2 includes material on two radio series for which Westin worked as a field reporter: The People Act and the Nation's Nightmare. Scrapbook #3 includes photographs of the arrival of the Aircraft Carrier Wasp after its collision with the USS Hobson and coverage photographs of the 1952 political conventions with some explanatory material.
Scrapbook #2 is complemented by recordings on discs of 20 of the 26 shows in the series The People Act. These recordings represent an effort sponsored by the Ford Foundation and produced by CBS Radio to report the positive achievements of average citizens in geographically diverse American communities.
Additional material concerning Westin's employment with CBS has been arranged into the following categories: correspondence and office communication; writings and ideas; personal files; clippings; and news releases. Within each of these categories the material has in general been arranged chronologically.
The bulk of the correspondence and office communication consists of office memoranda. Westin's own designation of “confidential” office communication from 1963 to 1966 has been retained. Office communication for 1966 includes memoranda from Westin to Richard Salant concerning the organization of CBS News, particularly the public affairs aspect.
The writings and program ideas include radio scripts, a draft of an article comparing radio and television news coverage, program ideas and proposals, a transcript of an interview with Westin on election coverage, and two drafts of his masters essay. The program ideas and proposals are arranged chronologically with the exception of the materials on Newshunters, First Person/Today's Heroes, and Television around the World for which Westin's original arrangement has been retained.
The Earlier news releases (1952-1961) are selective but those of 1965 and 1966 appear to be the entire “bundle” released by CBS.
PBL Years
This material dealing with Westin's years of employment with the Public Broadcast Laboratory Division of National Educational Television has been arranged in six categories: correspondence and memoranda; Editorial Policy Board Minutes and correspondence; programming; speeches and articles; personal files; and clippings.
The general correspondence includes a few letters from Westin to Richard Salant, President, CBS News. For extracts from the PBL memoranda see the “Processor's Note: at the end of this inventory. Included with the Editorial Policy Board minutes and correspondence is a complete list of the members of the board with their addresses and occupations.
The programming category includes a program rundown complete through May 5, 1968. Program proposals for February-May 1968 were arranged alphabetically by the name of the producer in charge. Westin's original arrangement was retained for the June-October 1968 projects. Documentation of the East European project seems to be rather complete since Westin participated personally. Included is correspondence with Paul Zinner who worked as a consultant for the project.
ABC Years
This section of the collection is as yet only fragmentary. There is some material on ABC election coverage.
Visual Materials
A small set of photographs relating to his book on heroin, Heroes and Heroin, and from Nixon's trip to China in 1972.
Audio Recordings
