Marty Haag
Encyclopedia
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
station, WFAA-TV
WFAA-TV
WFAA, channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets in North America. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation and the largest ABC affiliate not owned and operated by the network...
, in Dallas, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
from 1973 to 1989. During those 16 years, WFAA won five DuPont-Columbia Awards, more than any other local television news station during that time, and a George Foster Peabody Award in 1988. Haag is considered one of the greatest local TV news directors of all time.
Haag earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
in Columbia, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...
after attending Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...
for one year. His college roommate at TCU was Jim Lehrer
Jim Lehrer
James Charles "Jim" Lehrer is an American journalist and the executive editor and former news anchor for PBS NewsHour on PBS, known for his role as a frequent debate moderator during elections...
. He earned a Master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Haag began his journalism career in print as an education reporter and editor for The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
during the late 1950s. He then moved to radio as news director at WBAP in Dallas before finding his true niche in television. Haag served first as national assignment editor and overnight manager at NBC News, then worked as an assistant news director at CBS News in New York City before joining a then ratings-impaired WFAA in 1973.
Over the next decades, Marty Haag and WFAA reached national prominence, most notably from their coverage of the Delta Air Lines Flight 191
Delta Air Lines Flight 191
Delta Air Lines Flight 191 was an airline service from Fort Lauderdale, Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, bound for Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, by way of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport...
crash at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in 1985. CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
carried WFAA's live feed for the entire day.
Under Haag's guidance at WFAA, many of the station's reporters went on to join the major news networks. They include Scott Pelley
Scott Pelley
Scott Cameron Pelley is an American television journalist who is currently anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News and a correspondent for the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes...
, Paula Zahn, Verne Lundquist
Verne Lundquist
Merton Laverne "Verne" Lundquist, Jr. is an American sportscaster, currently employed by CBS Sports television.-Early life and career:Lundquist was born in Duluth, Minnesota...
, Bill Macatee
Bill Macatee
Bill Macatee is an American sports broadcaster.-Early life and career:Macatee was born in Rome, New York, and grew up in El Paso, Texas. In 1978, he earned a bachelor of science degree in speech from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas...
, Andrea Joyce
Andrea Joyce
Andrea Joyce is an American sportscaster who works for NBC Sports after working 10 years with CBS Sports.-Education and early career:...
, Peter Van Sant
Peter Van Sant
Peter Van Sant is an American television news reporter and correspondent for 48 Hours Mystery.Van Sant was born on February 21, 1953 in Seattle, Washington. He graduated cum laude from Washington State University in 1975 with a Bachelor's degree in Communications.-Career:After gradutation, Van Sant...
, Russ Mitchell
Russ Mitchell
Russell Mitchell is an American journalist for CBS, anchor of the Early Show on Saturday, and weekend anchor of the CBS Evening News.-Early years:...
, Leeza Gibbons
Leeza Gibbons
Leeza Kim Gibbons is an American talk show host. Gibbons is the host of her own radio show, Hollywood Confidential, part of the United Stations radio syndication company.-Early life:...
, and Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
.
In 1989, Haag moved to WFAA's parent company, Belo
Belo
Belo Corp. is a Dallas-based media company that owns 20 commercial broadcasting television stations and two regional 24-hour cable news television channels. The company was previously known as A.H. Belo Corp. after one of the early owners of the company, Alfred Horatio Belo, now the name of the...
, to become the Senior Vice-President of Broadcast News Operations and to oversee the company's stations across the country. He retired in 2000.
That year, Haag received the broadcast industry's highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award for lifetime achievement. The organization described Haag as "an industry icon, who's helped establish high ethical standards and quality reporting at both local and network news levels." Former Nightline
Nightline
Nightline, or ABC News Nightline is a late-night news program broadcast by ABC in the United States, and has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. It airs weeknights, usually for 31 minutes. Created by Roone Arledge, the program featured Ted Koppel as its main...
anchor Ted Koppel
Ted Koppel
Edward James "Ted" Koppel is an English-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline from the program's inception in 1980 until his retirement in late 2005. After leaving Nightline, Koppel worked as managing editor for the Discovery Channel before resigning in 2008...
said in a letter to the Peabody committee that WFAA operates at a network level because "it reflects Marty Haag's sense of professionalism, his high standards and his impeccable value system."
After retirement, Haag worked as a consultant and taught several journalism courses at Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
. He was a voice for tough journalism and ethics. He was a mentor, teacher, boss, coach, and friend to hundreds of broadcast journalists.
Haag died of a stroke in January 2004.
Haag was survived by wife Susan Haag, and three sons; Richard, Andrew, and Matthew. Andrew and Matthew both followed in their father's footsteps by entering the field of journalism. Andrew is currently a producer at CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
for Erin Burnett OutFront
Erin Burnett OutFront
Erin Burnett OutFront is an hour-long television news program hosted by Erin Burnett on CNN. The show premiered on October 3, 2011 in the 7PM and 11PM time slot to replace John King, USA. CNN's executives hope that Burnett's new show will help with CNN prime time's ratings.-External links:* *...
in New York City. Matthew writes for The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
. Both attended their father's alma mater, the Missouri School of Journalism
Missouri School of Journalism
The Missouri School of Journalism at University of Missouri in Columbia, claims to be the oldest formal journalism school in the world. Founded in 1908, only the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Paris established in 1899 may be older...
at the University of Missouri.