H. Martin "Marty" Haag, Jr. (1934–2004) was the news director at the perennially dominant

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

station,

WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed Estrella TV affiliate KMPX (channel 29), ...

-TV, in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

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 The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 1988.

Education

Haag earned his bachelor's degree from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

after attending

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

for one year. His college roommate at TCU was

Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer (; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. Lehrer was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS NewsHour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a deb ...

. He earned a Master's degree in Journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Career

Haag began his journalism career in print as an education reporter and editor for ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' 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, becoming their executive news director. 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 was a regularly scheduled Delta Air Lines domestic service from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Los Angeles with an intermediate stop at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). On August 2, 1985, the Lockhee ...

crash at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in 1985.

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

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 Cameron Pelley (born July 28, 1957) is an American journalist and author who has been a correspondent and anchor for CBS News for more than 31 years. Pelley is the author of the 2019 book, ''Truth Worth Telling'', and a correspondent for th ...

Paula Zahn Paula Ann Zahn (; born February 24, 1956) is an American journalist and newscaster who has been an anchor at ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, and CNN. She currently produces and hosts the true crime documentary series ''On the Case with Paula Zahn'' ...

Verne Lundquist Merton Laverne Lundquist Jr. (born July 17, 1940) is an American sportscaster. Biography Early life and career Lundquist was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He graduated from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, before attending Texas Lutheran Un ...

Bill Macatee Bill Macatee (born November 17, 1955) is an American sports broadcaster for CBS Sports and Tennis Channel. Early life and career Macatee was born in Rome, New York, and grew up in El Paso, Texas. He graduated from Burges High School in El Paso. ...

Andrea Joyce Andrea Joyce Kuslits (born August 17, 1954), better known as Andrea Joyce, is an American sportscaster who works for NBC Sports after working 10 years with CBS Sports. Biography Education and early career Joyce graduated from the University of ...

Peter Van Sant Peter Van Sant (born February 21, 1953) is an American television news reporter and correspondent for '' 48 Hours''. Early life and education Van Sant was born on February 21, 1953, in Seattle, Washington. He graduated cum laude from Washington ...

Russ Mitchell Russell Edward Mitchell (born March 25, 1960) is an American journalist best known for his career at CBS where he was anchor of ''The Early Show'' on Saturday, news anchor for ''The Early Show'' during the week, and weekend anchor of the ''CBS ...

Leeza Gibbons Leeza Kim Gibbons (born March 26, 1957) is an American talk show host. She is best known as a correspondent and co-host for ''Entertainment Tonight'' (1984–2000) as well as for having her own syndicated daytime talk show, ''Leeza'' (1993–20 ...

, and Bill O'Reilly. In 1989, Haag moved to WFAA's parent company, Belo, to become the Senior Vice-President of Broadcast News Operations and to oversee the company's stations across the country; thus handing over the executive news director duties to John Miller, who was previously assistant news director. He retired in 2000. That year, Haag received the broadcast industry's highest honor, the

for lifetime achievement.60th Annual Peabody Awards
May 2001. 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'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...

'' anchor

Ted Koppel Edward James Martin Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is a British-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for '' Nightline'', from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005. Before ''Nightline'', he spent 20 years as a broad ...

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."

Retirement

After retirement, Haag worked as a consultant and taught several journalism courses at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

. Haag died of a stroke on January 10, 2004.

Criticism

Barbara Cochran Barbara Ann Cochran (born January 4, 1951) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from the United States. Born in Claremont, New Hampshire, Cochran was the second of four siblings of the famous "Skiing Cochrans" family ...

of the

Radio-Television News Directors Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...

called Haag, "... one of the best and brightest the television news business has ever known".

References

External links

Belo mourns passing of a television industry legend, former executive H. Martin Haag, Jr.

A Tribute to Marty Haag

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haag, Marty American television journalists Peabody Award winners 1934 births 2004 deaths University of Missouri alumni Texas Christian University alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni The Dallas Morning News people American male journalists