Longtime news exec dead at 69
Advanced broadcast journalism professor H. Martin”Marty” Haag Jr. died Saturday at age 69 from a stroke.Haag was admitted to Baylor University Medical Center aftersuffering a massive heart attack Friday afternoon. He is survivedby his wife, Susan, and sons, Richard, Andrew and Matthew.
Haag was Executive in Residence in the Division of Journalism atSMU and taught three advanced broadcasting classes. He was also thefaculty sponsor for SMU TV’s Morning Update, a projectcreated by senior broadcast major Melissa Knowles and junior BradBean.
“Marty used his great depths of knowledge to teach me thebasics and beyond in broadcasting,” Knowles said.”Working with him one-on-one was an invaluable experience. Iwill someday tell my kids that he’s the reason I stuck withthis business.”
Before coming to SMU, Haag was the senior vice president in theBroadcast Division of the Belo Corporation. Haag started off hiscareer at The Dallas Morning News in the late 1950s as a reporter,general assignments editor and education editor.
Haag made his greatest impact in the journalism world in 1973,when he was named executive news director for WFAA-TV in Dallas,where he supervised every aspect of the station’s newsoperations for 16 years.
While involved with WFAA, Haag created a new and improvedmanagement system for the television station. His system wouldlater be imitated by many others. Haag also set the transaction ofthe station’s owner, A.H. Belo Corp., to invest in expensive,state of the art equipment for the station.
Soon after, WFAA began to use more advanced broadcast technologyfor better news coverage. Included was the use of videotape asopposed to the former industry standard of news film.
During Haag’s rein as executive director, WFAA becameknown for scooping big stories before other news medias, as well asfor their accuracy and excellence.
When Delta flight 191 crashed in 1985, WFAA showed superiorbroadcast coverage. They shot live from the airport for almostseven hours without commercials.
“Marty was primarily known for his extraordinary influencein the journalism world,” said Tony Pederson, BeloDistinguished Chair in Journalism.
“He set an incredibly high standard for WFAA, and I thinkeveryone is in agreement on that. The high bar that we have fortelevision news today is due, in part, to his impact,”Pederson said.
