In private life, Jensen had his demons. He turned his bouts with alcohol and Valium into public-service broadcasts. But what really did him in was the changing world of local TV news. The 70's brought the proliferation of Eyewitness News -- happy-talk broadcasts devised by consultants like Frank Magid Associates. In the new local news, there was no Top Dog but an egalitarian ''team,'' assembled to win over the full diversity of Nielsen demographics. There were jokes and casual repartee, to flatter viewers into thinking they were part of the TV family. There were no authority figures, no stentorian voices. On the new news, no one even pretended that journalism was a required skill. Putting Jim Jensen in such an environment would have been tantamount to making Judge Judy a regular on ''The View.''
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