News Story, A (1971)

Some people have moved to the country and set up farm communes. Others have set up living arrangements in the city. Either way, it's not an easy way to live. Some resent the loss of privacy. Others don't quite have that sense of responsibility to to live in a large group of people in such close contact. Many of the communes therefore have failed, dissolved, fallen apart. One that hasn't though is is this one. A group of 13 people in their 20s living together in an old rented house in Southeast Portland. Um we try every story we try to make as interesting to as broad an audience as possible. And um if it isn't interesting to a broad audience the the best we can do then is uh make it short. On a day like today and a time like Portland, it's not much of a choice. You have a hard time finding features in news that uh really warrants coverage. This is John Stossel from KGW-TV News and I was interested in doing a story on a commune communal living arrangement in Portland that was working. And Okay, well what I want to do is um there've been stories about communes who have gotten together and most of them are young kids who aren't that serious about it. And most of them didn't last very long. Most of them folded after about 6 months or so. And apparently yours has gone on for some time. And what I want to do is sort of present a this is your lifestyle, this is another kind of way of doing it. And let you tell about what your problems are and and if you're being hassled by anybody, what the advantages are, what some of the problems are about it. And possible film you all doing something together. I guess eating would be the most suitable way. Um one request if you can talk in terms like you're talking to the 15-year-old child on the street because when you talk in terms of primary and energy, it's impossible with with this media because we don't have the time and and the average viewer will lose interest. Okay? Thank you, owner, and and we'll be there at 5:30. Okay, good night. Find anything? I don't know. Hey, you want to be in pictures? Mhm. You want She far? Half of it, yeah. She far? I want yellow one. I want a Come on. I want a yellow You want a yellow No, I don't want a yellow one. You want a yellow one? Half of You want I don't know. Jack and Diane Jack and Diane going to get me down. And if I get behind Jack and Diane going to get on down home. Going to get me down home. She was there. I thought I was I thought I was right. Where is it? I don't know, on the northwest side somewhere. I got to be on the west side here. Where is Pat, what I think I'd like to do is uh start on me and I'll do a stand-up and say we're not communists and some of them are screwed up and some work and some don't. There's one here that has Do the stand-up inside while they're fixing dinner with them in the background? them in the background. And then when I say there's one that has, here it is on so-and-so. And then you go off me onto them. And then I don't have any information yet, but I'll say, you know, here these 11 people, Portland State students, and they do this together and that together, whatever they do. But I mean, they're all they're professional people and they're all very precise about what they are, at least the ones I've talked to are very precise about what they get out of it. They aren't really going to say, "Hey, it's really groovy." Or or really pretty far out. They're going to say it in a very precise terms. I'm not sure it's going to work. Are they on the like biodegradable food, that type of thing? Are they involved in that? Just a family, and there've been a lot of other families that are a lot more radical than they are. What about you can have a close stand-up close? think of one now. Hopefully something I'll say will lead me to it. Okay, can you have it Yeah. All right. The signal being that we can go in? Yeah. Where are you going to be eating your stuff? We're going to be We don't want to burn it. It's a little bit of a hassle, but we're going to be eating it here. And where will you be fixing dinner? In the kitchen, which is in here. You're Rick? Yeah, that's Rick. And some people want to eat but don't want to be filmed. While they're eating? I don't know how you're going to work that. If I were going to ask you what you get out of that out of the commune, what would you tell me? It's convinced me that I want to live in a group of people like all my life. Because of the sense of self-criticism and growth as a group rather than Okay, let's inhibit Think of a way to say that in terms of I I feel this way and rather than you're saying it in group perfect thinking and so forth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can just think and then we'll ask you on film once you give a short like 20 seconds or so summarize your whole feelings about it. It's not much, but if you could think think about that a few seconds, okay? A few seconds? Uh what what do you get out of it personally? One important thing is that I feel that living together with our our group of people and sharing resources is an ecological way to live. And that the American standard of living is really harmful to the ecology. And the way we're living we can share like we would be normally if we were living in five or six apartments and have to have that many washing machines and that many stoves and that many refrigerators, but this way we can just make maximum use of what we have. You want to ask about the about the meetings I have. They said there was a little bit of a hassle at times that you kind of brought out things that get technical. It's what? It's technical to portray in film. Okay, let's let's go over again what you get out of it. What why do you do it? Um Because I like the spontaneous interaction with people all the time. Can you elaborate on that? Um Can you start over and then elaborate on it? That's the question, Rick. Okay, but I I don't want the question in. Well, we can cut that out. Not if he says because. No, just ask the question and then Okay, and if you could say that one sentence and then elaborate on it a little more. Um, okay. What Why do you I really like to to be here because people are here all the time that I can interact with. And if I if I come home and I'm tired or if I'm excited about something, there's always somebody here to talk to. Um, to relate that with and there's always somebody if I'm depressed or happy or um, worried or any any number of other emotions uh, that that can keep stimulating me and that I can keep stimulating. And it's a much more exciting, I think, life than just living in a one-to-one situation with my wife or whoever. Good. You happy? You would rather not talk. I take it. No. It's okay. But would you want to talk a little bit again? Maybe hold your baby? And also like it's very important for me to like learn how to cook and learn how to do dishes and learn how to take care of a household. Which I never was expected to do when I was young. And I never thought I'd have to do. I always thought that that was what women did. You know? But now women are telling me, "No, look, you know, you've had all the good things." And uh, there's some there's some really good things that we've got that you haven't got like taking care of kids and that. Like learning how to cook. And I've learned that and it's really exciting. It's good. Um, I can talk about Do you want to talk about the skills? I would except we we're burning it real quick. What is that? We're using up a lot of film. Are you ready, Pat? Sure. Ready? Just start setting the table like like you were setting the table. How how much sound do you want before you have the first interview? If there's something that that would be interesting, fine. But I don't see what would be. Pass the butter or giggling or rather than just being a straight interview like we normally do, we could just let it run. Just let them exchange as if we're not there. We have a 3-minute story and 30 seconds of it is them passing the butter. What, you know, why? Some resent the loss of privacy. Others don't quite have that sense of responsibility to to live in a large group of people in such close contact. Many of the communes therefore have failed, dissolved, fallen apart. One that hasn't though is is this one. A group of 13 people in their 20s living together in an old rented house in Southeast Portland. You you live together, you eat together, you cook together, you uh support somebody who's out of a job. We try. And you try to do most everything together. No, we don't try to do most everything together. I think because we're because we have such a variety of interests. It's a group of young people. Right. As I can get. Between 21 and 30. A college professor, a teaching intern, uh let's see. A lawyer, a a hospital worker. Most of them with professional jobs then I could say. I have a terrible way of saying it. No, I don't think you can say that either because there's such a variety. But you don't necessarily recommend it for everybody else either. Um we recommend it for for as many people who can make the decision to do it. Like it's not not a game. The group cooks together, eats together, they raise their children together, they share their expenses, and they meet to work out their problems as a group. They don't recommend it to everybody, but they say for themselves, they wouldn't want it any other way. John Stossel reporting for KGW News. We might have just made it. Well, thank you, everybody. Bye. Goodbye. Thank you very much. Thank you. Here we are, mild-mannered Dave. Left to our own little house. Show's over. Not a camera inside, or even a flashlight. People get to see the way I am when I'm not acting, when I'm not Can that be tighter? Just, you know, feeling in a good mood, and going out and seeing people the way that I am all of the time. And it's giving me feedback on on the way that that we are. I want to keep your head looking up. The group cooks together, eats together, they raise their children together, they share their expenses, and they meet to work out their problems as a group. They don't recommend it to everybody, but they say for themselves, they wouldn't want it any other way. John Stossel reporting for KGW Didn't quite make it. Yeah, okay. It's good. You don't mind the the flash, and it has enough tail on it to go through. Yeah, I do mind the flash, but I think we still get away with it. It's something you got, but you don't want to I'd rather use it than than a layover. Would you? Yeah. All right. I'm, you know, I'm sorry to be critical about those shots, and they were beautiful shots, just that they don't seem relevant to the the interview arrow. You know, argue with me if if I'm wrong. Could use it tonight. We're pretty soft. Okay. Wait, do we have the house structure? Everyone has an equal role. Is there someone who's like a breadwinner and someone who's like a house cook? Wait, do we have the house structure? Everyone has an equal role. Is there someone who's Okay, I was trying to give you the general gist and then you can write it anyway you want. What we want to do a news feature on the ski business and I'd like some information from him about Mount Bachelor if he could call me. 224 8 8620 Thank you very much. Goodbye. Here's the cutsheet. It's the open. These are all the shots and this is the close. When Joe and five and six are repeats, so they could easily be B-rolled. Yeah. I've got one hour. That's a lot. I'll show basically short little scenes one following the other. I'll show person at the stove working, stirring, person cooking, fixing the beets, one making cookies, one washing the carrots, that type of thing. It'll make it seem like there's a bit more activity than there was. Looks like a mishmash now and Rick is a bit concerned cuz he didn't think they would show people working together, but I have it in my mind that when I edit it, I'll show that they are working together and then it'll when I splice it together it'll look look good. Is anybody up there in the booth that I need somebody? What do you need? You want to I think you're going to be a couple of minutes late. Good, we may need it. Ivan, we may be a minute or so late. I don't know how Late getting in or Late getting the getting on the air. Oh, well, we've got a couple minutes to spare, so let's hope it's not too many. They're late getting on this show off what's happening up here and they're going to drop this trim the tree a bit I think which will give us an extra minute then we'll be late. Yeah. Well, probably 45 seconds at the most for weather on the end if he goes right into commune coming up. 15 seconds. Okay, 10 seconds. Stand by. On two, Jack. Here we go. Good evening, everyone. A crackdown coordinated by Multnomah and Washington County agents has put a dent in local prostitution business. Senate debate has begun on the SST in what will probably be a close contest. This is NewsWatch. With Jackie Erickson and Don Carter. With sports director Doug LaMear. Right here. Stand by. Camera one, right. About 30 policemen took part in a half dozen raids last night, and the Multnomah County Grand Jury today launched an investigation into organized prostitution. Ready, sound on 10. We need a We don't have a super on this one, though. Sound on 10. Take one, view ready, two. In queue here, we can't stand anymore. Roll commercial. Yeah, turn that off. The middle one. There is. It's Pennings. Give her a beautiful night's sleep for Christmas and save 20% this week on our brushed nylon sleepwear. 5 seconds. Here we go. Here we go, Dick. Experiments in living are popular these days, especially among young people. John Stossel has a report on one such experiment, a Southeast Portland commune. Roll film, take it sound. Some people have moved to the country and set up farm communes. Others have set up living arrangements in the city. Either way, it's not an easy way to live. Some resent I lost my license. Others don't find it easy I was thrown in the street. to live in a large group of people in such close contact. Many of the communes therefore have failed, dissolved, fallen apart. One that hasn't though is is this one, a group of 13 people in their 20s living together in an old rented house in Southeast Portland. People get to see the way I am when I'm not acting, when I'm not um just you know, feeling in a good mood and going out to see people, but I am all the time. And they can give me feedback on on the way that they're reacting to me. So I have a better understanding of myself. It's like having a mirror or something reflecting how I am. Who I am. And if I if I come home and I'm tired or if I'm excited about something, there's always somebody here to talk to uh to relate that with. And there's always somebody if I'm depressed or happy or um worried or any any number of other emotions um that I that can keep stimulating me and then I can keep stimulating. You can sit go and sit down next to somebody on a bus and talk about just about anything, but when you're living with that person and what you talk about, you know, has consequences the next 5 minutes um it makes it a lot different. It makes it a lot more meaningful. It like makes it a lot more real. I now have an opportunity in living with a group of people to be a father and be a mother, um, you know, without actually being a blood relative of people. And like, I can get very close to them, Matthew or our kids that I'm living with. Um, most people have a special skill and when you get them living together, they can share them. Um, Bill taught me how to play the guitar and I'm teaching other people how to do ceramics. Some people know how to make candles and they're teaching us how to do those. Like, it's very important for me to, like, learn how to cook and learn how to do the dishes and learn how to take care of a household, which I never was expected to do when I was young. And I never thought I'd have to do. I always thought that that was what women did, you know. But now women are telling me, "No, look, you know, you've had all the good things." And, uh, there's some other there's some really good things that we've got that you haven't got, like taking care of kids and like like learning how to cook. The group cooks together, eats together, they raise their children together, they share their expenses, and they meet to work out their problems as a group. They don't recommend it to everybody, but they say for themselves, they wouldn't want it any other way. Where did the kale come from? It was a bowl. It's just pre-digested and, uh, tasteless, like, uh, bread. I feel really ripped off, you know. I kind of feel ripped off, too, because like it Yeah. Like, because it was so blah, Yeah, exactly. But we were, too, you know, like, we were really coming off blah and the whole thing, you know, it's like there's so much unconscious. And what you said what you said, Joe, about, you know, my mother's comment about they didn't distort us. And and you said we distorted ourselves for them. And that's really where it was. What, you know, was what we did to ourselves to be on television. I said I started to say things like, "Well, I I really get a lot out of it because we share a lot of values that are in common, you know." And so then he said, well, don't talk about that. Talk about how you feel. You know, right now. What do you get out of it? And don't put I believe in and don't put I think in and don't put this that and the other thing in, but just just tell me what I want you to say, you know. Oh. Kind of thing. And that was really a drag, you know. We were talking about it after watching the story, my wife and I, and a lot of the things that they said they got out of that communal living experience were things that I think a lot of people feel they get out of just a marriage. I have the feeling that many of them are deteriorating physically. They're letting their their teeth go to pot and they're they're not maintaining themselves and they're depreciating in a in a way that's going to be irretrievable and quite expensive to them ultimately and not in terms of money, but in terms of capacity to be productive. It usually ends up that when people in the media look into communal living situations, they bring to it the same old yardstick they bring to businesses and um government and those things and they say, well, is it a success or is it a failure? And it really isn't make much meaning, you know, when you think about it because it's just life. It's just people getting together and if people decide after a while they're going to split or some of them stay and some don't, then it's that's just another part of life. Uh well, there's there's many good things that we got. You haven't got that picture of this one. I think I have it though. A group cooks together, eats together, they raise their children together, they share their expenses, and they meet to work out their problems as a group. They don't recommend it to everybody, but they say for themselves they wouldn't want it any other way. I'm really ready. I think this is going to be a very dynamite show. Okay, there's a television news on communal living. What do you think of that? Presented the only way they could be presented objectively. They went and they the guy was standing there. He asked each person in the community how they felt. Well, you know, a couple of the people. He didn't have time to ask all 13 people. That's the only way really to report, I think, is to follow people around and ask people in the commune. But also to ask the people that left the commune because person said, "Well, he could always have someone to talk to when he's depressed and everything." Another person would feel that there's too many people to talk to when you're depressed. Okay, what are you saying? Without the story It could be just as slanted as anything. They may not pick up everything and they may show it in just a special way. Why? Because it's what they want to get across. The reporter had a role in the beginning and in the end. Was he fair? Was he unbiased? In the beginning, he said, "Most of them have failed." He said, "Most of them, you know, they're no good." He He said, "Most of them" He said, "Most of them have failed." most many He said, "Many of them have failed." Right. Um any said that people aren't going to like the lack of privacy. Many people don't like the lack of privacy. And there was one People were generally irresponsible. Yeah. They don't want to be responsible. Right. They resent the responsibility. Yeah. So, that's biased. If if you're going to No, it's not biased. He's presenting the facts. that that's how other people feel. He's presenting the facts. people feel that most people are going to not want these, so they're no good. No, no, not He doesn't come right out and state this. See, this is something that's done on television advertising. They never come right out and say something. They imply. They give the implication of something, and this is what the reporter did. It's just the way that we all interpret it. It's different. And the establishment, meaning usually meaning our parents because they are the ones that set it up. They react to something differently than I do. Uh okay, are you saying that um you're sitting there with your mother watching a television program and all the facts are being presented and just because of the difference in age between your mother and you, you're going to react differently? There's no doubt about it any age. They call it the generation gap. But there is a difference in the attitudes. I know I have terrible arguments with my parents about about many things, about marijuana. They argument. I know the facts cuz I just I just wrote a paper about it. I know the facts and what I know the facts. My parents My mother does not know the facts, but she thinks she knows the facts and I'm wrong. No matter what I say, I'm wrong. facts here? Do you know all the facts here? Do you know all the facts? know all the facts, but I know more than my mother knows. You think you uh know the facts? The National Health something or other just said that um if you uh if you smoke two joints a day for two years, it causes There is proof it shows it might cause brain damage, irreparable brain damage. Oh, where did you hear or see or read this? Newspaper, LA Times. The Los Angeles Times? And you believe the Los Angeles Times? Yeah, anything that you read, you take it into consideration that it could be true. You take Okay, that's a good point. Anything that you read, you take into consideration that it could be true. Yeah. Doesn't necessarily mean that it is true. Well, you know, you you can pull any set of facts you want from anywhere, so you know, it's going to wind up being on your own interpretation anyway, no matter what you're talking about. That news beat, Richard Roth, John Cartis, Doug LaMere, and Jack LaPell reporting for the Channel 8 News staff. Ronald Holden reports on Nightbeat tonight at 11:00. And now, John Chancellor and the NBC Nightly News. I'm John Chancellor Double life. All right, you guys. Pull the basketball. Mhm.