Lang Lang, whose name means "Brilliant Person" in Chinese, is one of the most esteemed pianists in the world today, at age 25. But when Haim Etgar, the culture correspondent for Channel 10, interviewed him, he chose, along with news presenters Miki Haimovitch and Yaakov Elon, to focus on his funny name, his hairdo and his colorful shoes. Furthermore, the program described people in the classical music field as "nerdy types who aren't always in touch with the outside world." Etgar ended the item, which included a short segment showing the virtuoso pianist playing, with the words: "It's worth hurrying. Maybe next time he performs here, he will have gotten a short haircut."

Etgar, 32, is the youngest of the main culture correspondents on the three major channels. His peers are Sari Raz, who has been working at Channel 1 for 40 years and has been covering culture since 1978 (and prefers not to give her age), and Ilan Lukacs, 45, of Channel 2. Raz reports directly and seriously on artistic events. Lukacs, who edited news broadcasts at Channel 2 for many years (and used to edit Haaretz's "Gallery" section), has a broad approach to culture, including its social aspects. In comparison, Etgar, a former reporter for the entertainment cable news program "Good Evening with Guy Pines," provides coverage that is light and jocular, usually accompanied by amusing exchanges with Channel 10's moderators, like the lighthearted conversations with the weather forecaster.

"The media tendency to regard me as a populist derives from the fact that I was on Guy Pines' show," Etgar says, listing all the topics he has covered during the past week in order to prove he takes his job seriously. "It's true I cover the less serious side of culture," he admits, "but this derives from my understanding that culture isn't something boring. While on the other news broadcasts culture is hallucinatory or stern-faced, for me it's fun. The high-culture approach doesn't make the viewer want to touch it. The different channels cover culture in two main ways: Either they bore you and put you to sleep, or they use popular culture to improve ratings. As far as I am concerned, there is another way: to take the package and make it communicative. My aim is for the report to be a party."

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Not everyone likes the party. Some of Etgar's recent reports have raised eyebrows. For example, in a November interview with Zubin Mehta, he related to the veteran conductor with embarrassing familiarity: "You work too much; you need to talk to your agent," he said to the conductor. "People will watch this interview and think: Zubin Mehta isn't Israeli? My God!'" he commented.

"There is something refreshing about Etgar," says Haaretz television critic Ehud Asheri. "He has a kind of insolence that works in certain situations. In any case, I prefer him to Sari Raz, who reports on the field in an archaic and 'correct' way." Etgar's problem has to do with "professional authority," Asheri says. Thus, when eulogizing author Kurt Vonnegut, "It doesn't sound good, because he lacks the cultural baggage that lets one report on high culture in an authoritative way. When I see him talking about these subjects, it frightens and chills me.

"I can't remember ever having heard him ask a profound question. With him, everything is one millimeter deep, and this is wretched when done to Zubin Mehta. He grew up at Guy Pines, and he's all gags and winks. This works when he is covering popular culture, or when he interviews Leonardo DiCaprio and discusses 'Israel's national treasure,' referring to Bar Rafaeli."

The editor of the Channel 10 news broadcast, Guy Sudri, says the program's culture coverage is not shallow, and says it is all a mater of dosage and mix.

"The fact that Etgar used to be an entertainment reporter doesn't detract from his knowledge, which is no less great than that of many people who deal with culture," says Sudri. "We chose him and we were familiar with his image, but we also were familiar with the variety of his qualities in the studio, his articulateness and his wit, and his understanding and knowledge in the field. When he did a report on the eve of Maimouna, it was not one whit less good than the report by the political correspondent of the competing channel, Rina Matzliah."

Etgar, who holds a bachelor's degree in theater, has also acted on stage ("The Rebels") and in the cinema ("Temptation"). "When I report on 'King Lear,' I know the play better than the other reporters," he says. Unlike his competitors on Channel 2, he says, he does not want "to bring the audience into the idiocy that is inundating the country. Reports on Haim Revivo, or basketball player Sarunas (Saras) Jasikevicius and his wife, actress and model Linor Aberjil, modeling underwear, won't be on my broadcast because this lacks journalistic value."

Channel 2 news replies, "Even if we were to really try, we would find it difficult to reach the discerning taste of cultural marker Haim Etgar ... The level and the judgment of the person who chose him as the culture correspondent speak for themselves."

Avi Weiss, the editor of Channel 2 news, says the program has broadcast 56 culture reports since March. "This means I know this is important and interesting to the viewers," he says. "A good news program is a varied program that contains at least one report dealing with culture."

His definition of "culture" is quite broad. Weiss mentions an interview with Paco Underhill, a marketing expert who authored the book "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping," when he was in Israel.

"This is an example of how we report on what is interesting," Weiss says.

"I am always testing limits," says Lukacs, Channel 2's culture correspondent. "I've stripped in reports, and I've been on TV in my underpants. I have spoken to the camera while standing in a garbage can, and this came across. At the Maimouna celebration, I broadcast a report from the Yarkon Park about why you can't report on Maimouna on television."

One person who isn't going to appear on television in her underpants is Channel 1's Sari Raz, who is at the opposite extreme from Lukacs, and certainly from Etgar.

"People tell me the culture I deal with is too high," says Raz. "They ask me: 'Another Yugoslavian film shot in the Andes?' It's true that I don't connect with light things, pop songs and things like that. But I also don't think I talk in a hoity-toity way, and I never use high language, but try to speak plainly to people."

The veteran Raz is complimentary toward the commercial channels ("The moment they introduced cultural topics, Channel 1 woke up") and is envious of the relatively large amount of air time Etgar gets on Channel 10 ("They do a cultural report and give it the time it needs; I can't go beyond the barrier of a minute and a half"). She acknowledges that in covering culture, sales promotion is a major factor: "It is hard to find investigative reports on cultural topics. Every item I do these days is about a new film, or an exhibition, and it always promotes something. But that's the way it works nowadays. Even when covering politics, everything comes because somebody wants to promote something."

However, regarding political coverage, all the news broadcasts try to bring the best commentators onto the program. Why do editors not do so in the field of culture? The rules are clear: If it is not a matter of the death of a first-class artist, the culture reports will always come near the end of the program, and the overwhelming majority will resemble public relations, not an independent effort or an investigative report; they will also always be presented in a lighthearted spirit because their aim is to make the time pass pleasantly for the viewers. This is "soft news," in the words of Nitzan Chen, news director at Channel 1; "reports that film well," as Weiss says; "reports that break the official and serious mood in the program," as Sudri sees it. So why not laugh at a Chinese pianist's funny name?