The Nightly Daily

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--2/11 Through 2/15

2012-02-18T01:19:00.005-08:00

What a great week on Nightly News! It was Whitney, Whitney and more Whitney. And lots of rerun stories.  Plus a Chelsea Clinton sighting. And as a bonus, we got to see Anne Thompson dance. Here are the highlights:

Sat. Feb 11--There was a "Winter Blast" in the central part of the country. Really? In February? That's amazing. Thanks for the news flash.
***Lester Holt informed us that the Powerball jackpot was up to $325 million. I don't see how this is news, but it's nice to know that someone might end up being as rich as Brian Williams.
***The final story was a 2:30 piece about the Knicks' newest sensation Jeremy Lin. Obviously, the Nightly News producers get most of their story ideas by searching trending topics on Google, Twitter, Yahoo, ESPN and other websites. During the story, Lester described Lin as "Chinese-American". He's actually Taiwanese-American and that's an important distinction. The story included such overused cliches as "Lin-Sanity", "Lin-Spiration" and a "modern-day Cinderella story". What a brilliant piece of journalism. Or perhaps I should say "Jour-Lin-ism".
Sun. Feb. 12--It's pretty obvious that the lead story was Whitney Houston's death. Nightly News spent the first eight-and-a-half minutes on Houston before reluctantly spending a fraction of that time reporting other news stories like Greece (1:30), Syria (25 seconds) and the Republican candidates (2 minutes).
***Despite the amount of time devoted to Whitney Houston, there was still time to report a "Winter Blast". Temperatures as low as zero in northern Minnesota and North Dakota! In the 20's across the middle of the country and the east coast! In the 30's and 40's in the south! Two to four inches of snow in Kansas City and St. Louis!  One to three inches in Chicago, Indianapolis and Cleveland! Amazing. I mean it's amazing that Nightly News wastes our time night after night reporting idiotic stories on cold weather and snow in February.
***We saw a thrilling 2:15 story on the record-high gas prices. Nightly News loves to show these "consumers-are-mad-as-hell-and-we-aren't-going-to-take-it-anymore" stories because they earn high ratings from the viewers. People just love to watch other people complain about high prices (gas, milk, heating oil, whatever). No newscast ever lost viewers by pandering to the public's anger over price inflation.
***This next story was a doozy. It was about a New York State prison inmate serving 25 years to life for killing a police officer--and he claims he is innocent! Wow! This nearly-three-minute story was lifted from Dateline to fill time on Nightly News and, of course, ended with Lester reading a promo telling us that we could see the full story later that night on Dateline. Obviously, one of the most important functions of Nightly News is to serve as a promotional vehicle to boost the ratings for NBC's anemic prime-time lineup. This story was reported by Luke Russert who once again demonstrated that he has no journalistic talent or ability whatsoever. In case there is anyone out there who doesn't know Russert's story, he was personally handed a coveted on-air job at MSNBC by Brian Williams after Tim Russert (Luke's father and Brian's pal) died. Apparently, Brian made some sort of Mafia-like vow that he would look after the kid (much like Tony Soprano looked out for Christopher after his father died), despite the fact that Luke had no background in television journalism. There are thousands of seasoned, veteran television journalists out there looking for jobs, and Brian just hands one to Luke Russert. Bravo, Brian. Well done.
***The broadcast ended with another minute of Whitney Houston clips because obviously eight-and-a-half minutes just wasn't enough to tell this story. It's pretty appalling that on a night when almost half the broadcast was devoted to Whitney Houston, the Nightly News producers still wasted our time with pointless stories about high gas prices, cold weather in winter and a prison inmate who claims he is innocent.
Mon. Feb. 13--No mystery here. The lead story was again Whitney Houston. This three-minute story was pared down from the previous day's Whitney-thon. There was no new information to report, it was just a rehashing of previously-aired stories. But, of course, that never stopped the Nightly News producers before.
***Have I mentioned how much I love Pete Williams?  As he does with all the correspondents, Brian introduced Pete with a syrupy "Good evening, Pete."   (Apparently, Brian wants his viewers to believe that the correspondents actually like him. As if.) But Pete (reporting on Justice Stephen Breyer's robbery) refused to say "Good evening, Brian." As usual, he just ignored Brian and launched right into his story. If only the rest of the sappy Nightly News correspondents could take a cue from Pete Williams (especially Kristen Welker and Peter Alexander, who always respond with an overly enthusiastic, "Good evening to you, Brian!") the world would be a much better place.
***The story on the Greek financial situation was titled "Greek Tragedy". That's hilarious. Brian ended the story by saying, "Scary weekend there over the weekend." Huh? I think that phrase must have come from the Department of Redundancy Department.
***A story about the shortage of the leukemia drug methotrexate was really just another exploitative kids-with-cancer story. Nightly News runs these stories frequently because they get high ratings by shamelessly playing to the viewers' sympathy. Half of this two-minute story consisted of close-up shots of kids with leukemia in their hospital beds. Exploiting cancer-stricken kids for ratings is despicable, but it doesn't seem to bother the Nightly News producers. They do these stories over and over. The last one--on Oct. 17--was about...a shortage of cancer drugs for children. Sound familiar? By the way, correspondent/shill Robert Bazell told us that one explanation for the shortage of cancer drugs is that the drug companies often choose to produce their more profitable drugs instead of the cancer drugs. But of course Bazell didn't mention any of these drug companies by name because his main job is to promote or protect companies like GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer (both of which are major Nightly News sponsors). Exploiting kids with cancer and protecting the drug companies. The Nightly News producers really hit the daily double with this story.
***Brian spent more than a minute giving us his recap of Sunday's Grammy telecast. About Adele he said, "She chose her classic, the break-up anthem of the decade, 'Rolling In The Deep' and delivered a stunning performance to thunderous applause in the hall. She positively sparkled and she just about walked away with the whole night." Kiss ass much, Brian? Okay--first of all, no matter how great a song "Rolling In The Deep" may be, it was only released a year ago and certainly cannot be called a "classic". "Smoke On The Water" is a classic. "Honky Tonk Women" is a classic. "Free Bird" is a classic. "L.A. Woman" is a classic. "Rolling In The Deep" is not a classic. And since when is it a news anchor's job to give us personal opinions about music, or anything else for that matter? But of course, Brian Williams is not a news anchor. He is an entertainment barker, like Kevin Frazier of "The Insider" or Mario Lopez of "Extra". And by the way, on Monday's CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley did not even mention the Grammys--and they aired on his own network! That tells us everything we need to know about the difference between Brian Williams and Scott Pelley. Pelley forgoes an opportunity to promote his own network's Grammy telecast because he would rather report actual news, while Brian goes out of his way to give us his own personal Grammy review. I think Brian deludedly imagines himself as some sort of music guru and believes that viewers are actually interested in hearing what he has to say about the Grammys. Can you say "massive ego"? At Nightly News, entertainment is obviously much more important than news. Maybe Brian should change the name of his broadcast to NBC Nightly Entertainment.  And with all his yapping about the Grammys, Brian somehow forgot to mention the show's phenomenal ratings. I guess that's not surprising since Brian only brags about the ratings of NBC shows. According to the New York Times, "The Grammy awards telecast on CBS Sunday night smashed every recent ratings record for that show and for any awards broadcast...(T)he Grammys attracted 39.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched nonsports program of the television season. It was the second-biggest audience for a Grammys show ever...." So if Brian is shameless enough to tell us (twice!) that the Super Bowl was THE most-watched TV show in history, he could at least have mentioned the Grammys' sky-high rating.
***Next, Brian told us all about Jackie Kennedy's 1962 TV tour of the White House. There is no doubt that Brian has a twisted and bizarre JFK fixation. This was the ninth JFK-related story he has reported in the past five months. Of course, let's also not forget that it's easier and cheaper to show 50-year-old news footage than to prepare a new story from scratch.
***Brian spent 30 seconds reporting the important story of Olympic swimmer Matt Grevers, who proposed to his girlfriend on the awards podium at a swimming event in Missouri. Obviously, this story isn't news, but Brian will report any Olympic-related story because his job is to promote the upcoming Olympics for NBC Sports. In 2010, he spent 160 minutes promoting the Vancouver Olympics on Nightly News. I'm guessing that Brian will spend even more time promoting the 2012 London Games.  I guess we could call that a new Olympic record.
***The broadcast ended with another Whitney Houston story (you didn't think they would only show one Whitney story, did you?). As Brian introduced this 2:45 story, the words "The Voice" (the title of the story) appeared over his left shoulder for more than 15 seconds, below some video of Houston. This was no accident. It was obviously a shameless and heartless way for NBC to use Houston's death to promote their singing competition show, also called "The Voice", which would be airing later that same night. There is absolutely no doubt that Brian and the Nightly News producers intentionally titled this story "The Voice" to promote the NBC show of the same name. (This is not the first time Nightly News has used a story's title to promote one of NBC's prime time shows. On the 12/1/11 broadcast, a story about the auctioning of Liz Taylor's jewelry was given the title "Rock Center" to promote Brian's "Rock Center" show.) This is one of the most grotesque and crass displays of sleazebag marketing that I have ever witnessed. Is nothing sacred? Brian Williams and his producers should be ashamed of themselves. They owe an apology to Houston's family and fans, and to all the Nightly News viewers as well. Meanwhile, on Monday's CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley did not even mention Whitney Houston until he was more than nine minutes into his broadcast. Before reporting a modest 2:40 story about Houston's death, Pelley reported stories about Syria (his lead story that night), Iran and Israel, Greece, Wall Street, the U.S. economy and the U.S. debt and budget. I think it's obvious which anchor is concerned with reporting real news and which anchor is intent on reporting entertainment stories as a weaselly way to increase his ratings. I'll let you decide which is which.
Tues. Feb. 14--The lead story was a 2:45 report on the record-high gas prices. That sounds familiar. Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah--now I remember. It was on Sunday's Nightly News.  Tuesday's story (reported by John Yang) was virtually identical to Sunday's story (reported by Kevin Tibbles). That's right--Nightly News reran a story they had aired only two days earlier. On Sunday, Tibbles was at a Mobil Station in Chicago. On Tuesday, Yang was at the same Mobil station. On Sunday, Tibbles reported that by Memorial Day, gas prices were expected to reach a national average of $3.95 per gallon, including high prices in Atlanta ($4.60 per gallon), Los Angeles ($4.70 per gallon) and Chicago ($4.95 per gallon). On Tuesday, Yang reported that by Memorial Day, gas prices were expected to reach a national average of $3.95 per gallon, including high prices in Atlanta ($4.60 per gallon), Los Angeles ($4.70 per gallon) and Chicago ($4.95 per gallon). On Sunday, Tibbles explained that these high prices were partly due to rising tensions in the Middle East and reduced capacity in some east coast refineries. On Tuesday, Yang explained that these high prices were partly due to rising tensions in the Middle East and reduced capacity in some east coast refineries. On Sunday, Tibbles profiled a soda delivery company that is being affected by the higher gas prices. On Tuesday, Yang profiled a bakery/sandwich shop that is being affected by the higher gas prices. This was absolutely ridiculous. It's hard to believe that with all the important news going on across the country and around the world, the Nightly News producers insult us by showing a story that is a virtual rerun of a story that aired only two days earlier. They must really think we're morons.
***During a story about the U.S. visit of China's Vice President Xi Jinping, Andrea Mitchell showed a clip from "Saving Private Ryan" (because Xi liked the movie). Obviously, the Nightly News producers were scared that viewers were losing interest in the news story so they spiced it up with a little Spielberg. Well done.
***The idiotic Anne Thompson reported a story about allergies in February. Maybe the producers should have attached a "breaking news" banner to this one. At one point during the story, Thompson was walking through a park in Pine Mountain, Georgia. This reminded me of Thompson's Jan. 31 story about the mild winter weather, when she was walking through New York's Central Park with a rental dog that we were supposed to believe was her actual dog. So why couldn't she find a rental dog in Georgia? Maybe the dog rental company wouldn't deliver one because of the high gas prices.
***In a story about the best and worst airports for on-time arrivals and departures, we were shown an NBC News animation made to resemble an airport arrival/departure board. On the board was a list of randomly-chosen cities like Phoenix, Oakland, Atlanta and Seattle. Anchorage was also on the board, except the Nightly News producers misspelled it as "Ankorage". This is not the first time this has happened. Nightly News used the same animated flight board on Jan. 14 and Jan. 18. And on both those days they also misspelled Anchorage. Come on guys, it's been a month now. Fix the damn problem.
***Brian spent 45 seconds narrating a story about Pres. Obama's speech in which he implores men not to forget Valentine's Day.
***After that, Brian spent another 45 seconds on a story about the "hidden danger" of lead in lipstick. Nightly News loves to run stories about the "hidden danger" of this or that because alarmist stories attract viewers and get high ratings. The bottom line? Some lipstick does contain lead, but the FDA considers the lead levels to be completely safe. Hidden danger, indeed.
***The final story was about Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple who were chased out of Virginia more than fifty years ago because he was white and she was black. They didn't return to Virginia until the Supreme Court overturned the state's ban on interracial marriage in 1967. It was an interesting story, but Nightly News only reported it because the Lovings are currently the subject of an HBO documentary. So it's actually a story about HBO. At Nightly News, a story isn't really news until it's been on TV. By the way, Rehema Ellis began the story by saying, "For Richard and Mildred, it was love at first sight." In fact, the Nightly News story was titled "Love At First Sight". But that wasn't the case. In the HBO film, Mildred Loving says, "When we first met I didn’t like him, I don’t know, he was arrogant. But I got to know him and he was a very nice person."  It's appalling that Ellis didn't know this. Did she even see the HBO film? Apparently not, or she wouldn't have made that mistake.
Wed. Feb. 15--In a story about the continuing hostility between Israel and Iran, a man named Yoram Schweitzer was identified in a Nightly News graphic as being from Israel's "Institute for National Securities Studies". Actually, it's the Institute for National Security Studies. Schweitzer doesn't study securities (i.e stocks and bonds). He looks for ways to keep Israelis safe from terrorist attacks. There's a difference. Someone should tell the Nightly News producers.
***In a story about the Michigan Republican Primary, we were shown a gratuitous clip of the Clint Eastwood "Halftime in America" Chrysler ad. That's not surprising. One of Brian's main jobs is using Nightly News to promote Chrysler. It bolsters the image he has carefully cultivated for himself as a "good old red-meat-eating NASCAR-loving American-car guy". Every time Chrysler launches a new ad campaign, Brian reports on it extensively. And this time is no exception. Excerpts from the "Halftime in America" ad have been showed several times already in Nightly News reports, and the campaign is barely a week old. Just one problem--during this story, the Nightly News producers misspelled Chrysler as "Chyrsler" in the ad's on-screen credit line. Not too bright. Brian busts his ass shilling for Chrysler and his idiot producers screw it up by misspelling the company's name. Oops. Brian ended this story with a "quick program note" (which is, of course, a euphemism for "promo") for a Rock Center story later that night about a GM plant in Flint (you didn't think that Chrysler was the only car company Brian shilled for, did you?). By the way, that "program note" wasn't all that quick. Brian's promo for Rock Center actually lasted longer than the entire story on Syria he had narrated earlier in the broadcast. Well, at least Brian has his priorities straight.
***In a teaser for an upcoming story about dolphins that are beaching themselves on the shores of Cape Cod Bay, Brian said, "We'll check in with the good folks trying very hard to solve a mystery." Good folks? How does he know they're good folks? Has he ever met any of them? Of course not. But when you're a serial panderer like Brian, everyone is "good folks".
***Brian then told us about the winner of the Westminster Dog Show. He mispronounced the dog's name (Malachy) as "Machaly" before correcting himself. The entire 20-second story consisted of video of the dog show (which was televised by the USA Network--owned by NBC/Universal) so Brian was really just promoting an NBC property. Nice job.
***In a story about a J.D. Power survey of the most reliable and least reliable cars, Brian had the unenviable task of telling us that Chrysler placed dead last in reliability. Ram, Jeep and Dodge (all made by Chrysler) were also among the least reliable cars and trucks. How on earth did this story get on Nightly News? Brian's job is to promote Chrysler, not to report bad news about it. I am at a loss to explain this. It was a bad day for Chrysler on Nightly News. First their name was misspelled and then this story came out. Maybe their "promotional" payment to Brian was late so he decided to show them what would happen if they didn't pay on time in the future.
***The broadcast ended with a 2:20 story about the Knicks' newest sensation Jeremy Lin. That sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before? Oh yeah--now I remember. It was Saturday. When Nightly News did a story about...Jeremy Lin. And this "new" story was virtually identical to the earlier story. Well, at least the producers waited four days before rerunning the Jeremy Lin story. That's better than the mere two days that separated the stories about high gas prices. I'd call that progress. Naturally, before signing off, Brian gave us one more plug for Rock Center. Just because.

Brian Williams Exploits Whitney Houston's Death

2012-02-14T17:33:00.004-08:00

On Monday's NBC Nightly News, the lead story was Whitney Houston's death. This three-minute story was merely condensed from the nine-and-a-half minutes of Whitney Houston stories that had already aired on Sunday's Nightly News. There was no new information to report--it was just a rehashing of these previously-aired stories. Monday's Nightly News also ended with a 2:45 Whitney Houston story. As Brian Williams introduced this story, the words "The Voice" (the title of the story) appeared over his left shoulder for more than 15 seconds, below some video of Houston. This was obviously a shameless and heartless way for NBC to use Houston's death to promote their singing competition show, also called "The Voice", which would be airing later that same night. There is absolutely no doubt that Brian and the Nightly News producers intentionally titled this story "The Voice" to promote the NBC show of the same name. (This is not the first time Nightly News has used a story's title to promote one of NBC's prime time shows. On the 12/1/11 broadcast, a story about the auctioning of Liz Taylor's jewelry was given the title "Rock Center" to promote Brian's "Rock Center" show.) This is one of the most appallingly crass displays of sleazebag marketing that I have ever witnessed. Is nothing sacred? Brian Williams and his producers should be ashamed of themselves. They owe an apology to Houston's family and fans, and to all the Nightly News viewers as well.

Meanwhile, on Monday's CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley did not even mention Whitney Houston until he was more than nine minutes into his broadcast. Before reporting a modest 2:40 story about Houston's death, Pelley reported stories about Syria (his lead story that night), Iran and Israel, Greece, Wall Street, the U.S. economy and the U.S. debt and budget. I think it's obvious which anchor is concerned with reporting real news and which anchor is intent on reporting entertainment stories as a weaselly way to increase his ratings.

Also on Monday, Brian Williams spent more than a minute giving us his recap of Sunday's Grammy telecast. About Adele he said, "She chose her classic, the break-up anthem of the decade, 'Rolling In The Deep' and delivered a stunning performance to thunderous applause in the hall. She positively sparkled and she just about walked away with the whole night." Kiss ass much, Brian? Okay--first of all, no matter how great a song "Rolling In The Deep" may be, it was only released a year ago and certainly cannot be called a "classic". "Smoke On The Water" is a classic. "Honky Tonk Women" is a classic. "Free Bird" is a classic. "L.A. Woman" is a classic. "Rolling In The Deep" is not a classic. And since when is it a news anchor's job to give us his personal opinions about music, or anything else for that matter? But of course, Brian Williams is not a news anchor. He is an entertainment barker, like Kevin Frazier of "The Insider" or Mario Lopez of "Extra". And by the way, on Monday, Scott Pelley did not even mention the Grammys--and they aired on CBS, his own network! That tells us everything we need to know about the difference between Brian Williams and Scott Pelley. Pelley forgoes an opportunity to promote his own network's Grammy telecast because he would rather report actual news, while Brian goes out of his way to give us his own personal Grammy review. I think he deludedly imagines himself as some sort of music guru and believes that viewers are actually interested in hearing what he has to say about the Grammys. Can you say "massive ego"? At Nightly News, entertainment is obviously much more important than news. Maybe Brian should change the name of his broadcast to NBC Nightly Entertainment.

Postscript: With all his yapping about the Grammys, Brian somehow forgot to mention the show's phenomenal ratings. I guess that's not surprising since Brian only brags about the ratings for NBC shows. According to the New York Times, "The Grammy awards telecast on CBS Sunday night smashed every recent ratings record for that show and for any awards broadcast...(T)he Grammys attracted 39.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched nonsports program of the television season. It was the second-biggest audience for a Grammys show ever...." So if Brian is shameless enough to tell us (twice!) that the Super Bowl was THE most-watched TV show in history, he could at least mention the Grammys' sky-high rating.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--2/4 Through 2/10 (Revised)

2012-02-12T01:52:00.005-08:00

This past week, Nightly News spent more time reporting on Bruce Springsteen than they spent reporting on Australia, South America, Africa and Eastern Asia combined. That makes sense. Brian Williams knows that he gets high ratings reporting on entertainers and celebrities and low ratings reporting foreign news. And for Brian, it's all about the ratings. Always. Well, there probably wasn't much going on in those places, anyway. Just a hunch--I'm guessing that in the months leading up to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics (to be televised by NBC), Nightly News will spend a lot of time reporting on South America. Here's what happened on Nightly News this week:

Sat. Feb. 4--Breaking news! There was a "Winter Blast" in Denver! Obviously the producers decided to report this story because a snowstorm in Colorado is such an anomaly. Especially in winter.

***We got to see an awesome "Super Bowl Preview". I'm sure this story was included on the broadcast because it was important, not because it was a shameless way to spend 2:45 promoting NBC's Super Bowl coverage. Funny thing--Nightly News didn't do a Super Bowl preview last year when the game was on CBS. Oh well, I guess they were too busy doing stories on Mary Thornberry that week to bother with the Super Bowl.

***The final story was about the kids from an Indiana high school football team who were selected to be stand-ins for the Super Bowl players when NBC was preparing their coverage and setting up their camera angles. What a surprise--another Super Bowl story. Who would have thought.

Sun. Feb. 5--No news today because of the Super Bowl. Duh. Obviously, a news broadcast would have interfered with NBC's 11 straight hours of Super Bowl coverage.

Mon. Feb. 6--I guess everyone at NBC was hung over from the Super Bowl because Nightly News reported just six stories this night--and only three could be considered actual news. They reported on Syria, President Obama and the Washington man who killed himself and his sons by blowing up his house. Fair enough--those stories are newsworthy. But the other three stories--about JFK's intern, the Super Bowl Chrysler ad and WW II veterans (which together took up more than 10 minutes of news time)--had no news value and did not belong on a network newscast.

***During the story about Matt Lauer's interview with President Obama, Brian and Chuck Todd referred to it three different times as the "Super Bowl interview". Um, guys, the game's over. You don't have to promote it anymore. How nice that the leader of the free world is reduced to being a pawn in NBC's non-stop back-slapping self-promotion. And apparently there was a "turf war" between Matt and Brian for the right to interview the President on that day. It seems pretty obvious who the NBC executives consider their "golden child". Sorry, Brian--it's not you.

***We saw a three-minute story about Mimi Alford, the JFK intern who doubled as the President's sex toy. (In his intro to the story, Brian mispronounced her name as "Minnie" before correcting himself.) This story was really just a promo for a longer version of the story that would be airing on "Rock Center" later in the week. Brian seemed to think that the interview was some sort of scoop. I guess he didn't notice that Ms. Alford was using Nightly News to promote a book she had written about the affair. And why is this news anyway? The affair had already been revealed years ago. Clearly, Brian is obsessed with JFK. This is the fourth JFK story Nightly News has reported in the past two weeks. For Brian, it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to report 50-year-old news than to report current news. Naturally, the story (and the broadcast) ended with a promo for "Rock Center".

***After that, Brian spent 40 seconds rehashing the Super Bowl. First he told us that it was "the most-watched television program in American history." That's nice--a news anchor who shamelessly brags about his network's ratings. How humble. (Funny thing--I never hear Brian bragging about ratings for programs on other networks.) Then he said, "Nielsen estimates 111.3 million of US watched as the Giants defeated the Patriots in an epic battle in Indianapolis." Us. Because the news is always about Brian.

***Then Brian spent more than two minutes fawning over the Clint Eastwood "Halftime In America" Chrysler ad that aired during the Super Bowl. He called it "a big, sweeping and impactful ad." He showed us 45 seconds of the ad, including a 30-second continuous clip. So much for anchor neutrality. But don't let Clint Eastwood's appearance in the ad fool you. Brian Williams is Chrysler's most avid pitchman. He has made it his mission over the years to relentlessly promote Chrysler on his broadcast. On the 2/7/11 Nightly News, Brian devoted a whopping 3:15 to shamelessly promoting the Eminem "Imported From Detroit" Chrysler ad that aired a day earlier during the 2011 Super Bowl. And who could forget the 11/13/07 Nightly News, which Brian anchored from a Chrysler plant in Detroit? That broadcast was nothing more than a 30-minute commercial for Chrysler. The broadcast ended with an "interview" Brian conducted with Jim Press, then Chrysler's #2 executive. This "interview" began with Brian asking Press softball questions and concluded with Brian and Press talking about how great Chrysler cars and trucks are. What an incisive interview. Why doesn't the Nightly News announcer just say, "And now, here's Brian Williams for Chrysler." I'm just wondering--how much does Brian get paid to be Chrysler's shill? His partisan support of NBC's sponsors is a gaping violation of journalistic ethics. I'm sure he doesn't care.
***The broadcast ended with a ridiculously long 4:15 piece about World War II veterans in New Hampshire who are contributing their stories to a book about the war. Here's how Brian introduced the story (with a waving flag animation behind him): "It might be the greatest slow motion tragedy of our times and we can't stop it. The greatest generation is fading from the scene--World War II vets are dying at the rate of 740 a day...." And here's another of Brian's sappy, Hallmark-style quotes: "Long ago he was a young man--brave, scared, proud to be a part of a fighting force on a foreign shore trying to save the world." Sheesh. I'd ask who wrote that crap, but it's obvious that Brian wrote it. Once again, he's pandering to the viewers because the NBC News research department has informed him that rah-rah gung-ho stories about veterans are popular and get high ratings. So altogether, Brian wasted more than 10 minutes with his ridiculous stories about JFK's intern, the Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad and WW II vets. How much real news could he have reported in that time? And it's even more appalling when you consider that Nightly News did not air on Sunday, so Brian had 48 hours of news to catch up on. And this is the garbage he chose to waste valuable time on. Appalling.
Tues. Feb. 7--Kelly O'Donnell reported on that day's caucuses and primaries from St. Charles, Missouri. After her report, Brian said that she was reporting from St. Charles, Minnesota. Can someone please buy this guy an atlas? Brian later corrected himself, no doubt after his producers pointed out his error.
***In a story about the Obama administration's decision to require religious institutions to provide birth control, David Axelrod was identified in a Nightly News graphic as a White House "advisor". On the Jan. 28 broadcast, a "Meet the Press" promo identified Axelrod as a White House "adviser". No one cares at Nightly News.
***Pete Williams continues to be my hero. Every time Pete reports a story (such as this night's story about same-sex marriage), Brian segues to him with a treacly "Good evening, Pete". But Pete never takes the bait. Instead of responding with "Good evening, Brian", Pete just launches right into his story. You go, Pete! Why does Brian feel the need to exchange pleasantries with every correspondent he talks to? Can't he friend them in private?
***Brian spent 26 seconds reporting about the events in Syria. A few minutes later, he spent 30 seconds reporting on the parade given for the New York Giants after their Super Bowl victory. The Giants get more air time than Syria--I think that tells us everything we need to know about Brian and Nightly News.
***Nightly News correspondent/shill Tom Costello spent 2:20 reporting on the dangers of sodium in food. As usual, Costello's main job was to protect the NBC sponsors by not showing any name-brand products. Costello reports frequently on hidden dangers in consumer foods and never shows any actual products. NBC's pals at Kraft and Frito-Lay wouldn't like that.
***Brian spent 20 seconds telling us that Michelle Obama would be participating in a physical fitness challenge on that night's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon". In the past week, Brian has also promoted Mrs. Obama's appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "Ellen". He is a shameless shill.
***The broadcast ended with a 2:20 profile of Nicole Lyons, a female race car driver. She was one of TheGrio.com's 100 history makers chosen for Black History Month. Let me get this straight. TheGrio.com (an NBC-owned website) arbitrarily chooses history makers and then Nightly News reports on them? That's just a mutually self-promoting scam. And by the way, this story had zero news value. But Brian loves to show racing stories because they allow him to pander to the important NASCAR demographic.  And we all know that Brian gets to air stories on whatever he wants.
Wed. Feb. 8--What a surprise--another story on JFK's intern. This time, Ms. Alford was given a 4:05 chunk of airtime to promote her book. So in the span of two weeks, Brian has reported five stories (totalling more than eleven minutes) on JFK. That's even more than the four stories he's reported on Michelle Obama in that time! Obviously, the JFK story was meant as bait to lure viewers to that night's "Rock Center" (which has been moved to Wednesdays to try to improve the anemic ratings it was generating on Mondays). In case there was any doubt, the story ended with a shameless plug for "Rock Center".
***Brian showed us photos of the Northern Lights taken from space. This was the fifth story on the Northern Lights that Nightly News has run in the past two weeks. Brian thanked his "friends" on the International Space Station for the photos. I'm sure they think of Brian as their friend, too.
***Brian read an obituary for Nello Ferrara, the inventor of Atomic Fireballs, Red Hots and other candies. No disrespect to Mr. Ferrara, but does this really belong on a network evening newscast?
***The final story was a 2:05 "Making A Difference" piece about a group of San Diego women who began getting together for dinner and started raising money to help needy girls and women around the world. Now, Dining for Women has more than 8,000 members in 38 states. It's really great that these women are helping people in need. But why is this on a news broadcast? Has anyone ever noticed that Nightly News shows hundreds of minutes of "Making A Difference" stories every year and not one of them has ever contained even a shred of actual news? Obviously, these MAD pieces are included because they're viewer favorites that earn high ratings.  Viewers connect with these sappy "people helping people" stories on an emotional level, and that translates to ratings. Brian and his producers understand that viewers are bored with real news so they pad the broadcast with garbage like this (not to mention stories about famous actors, musicians, cute animals, British Royals and other ratings-grabbers). It's a formula that works.  Nightly News may not be a real news broadcast, but it certainly gets high ratings. And that's what matters most to Brian and his producers. The broadcast ended with another promo for "Rock Center". Did you expect any different?
Thurs. Feb. 9--Here's some breaking news that Brian reported: "As we mentioned, there's music news for Bruce fans. The Boss will be sporting an entire brass section when the Wrecking Ball tour sets out later this year." Wow! A story about Bruce Springsteen! Awesome! Of course, this isn't news, but it gave Brian yet another opportunity to show some totally rad concert footage of his pretend-pal Bruce. Don't forget--no one tells Brian what to do.  He gets to report on whatever the hell he wants. So he's going to show us as many stories about Springsteen, Bono, Bon Jovi, Michelle Obama, Michael Douglas, John and Jackie Kennedy, Kate Middleton, Meryl Streep and George Clooney as he damn well pleases. And don't you forget it, pal.
***You can add Steve Jobs to the above list. He's another one of Brian's favorites. This time, Brian brought us a 45 second story about the FBI file on Jobs. People said he was arrogant! He used drugs! He didn't support an out-of-wedlock child! He twisted the truth to achieve his goals! As if any of this was news. I can't wait to read the FBI file on Brian.
***Next, we got an important story about L.A. County officials raising the fine to $100 for throwing a football or frisbee in any undesignated area of L.A. beaches during the summer. Oh no, say it ain't so.
***The broadcast ended with a pointless "Making A Difference" story about a former marine who helps returning soldiers find jobs in agriculture. He should be congratulated. But this isn't news. This was a waste of 2:15 of valuable news time. By constantly doing these hokey "golly-I-sure-do-love-America" stories, Brian proves that wrapping himself in the flag is a ratings bonanza. By the way, on this night, Nightly News did not air a single story about Greece, Syria or any other foreign country. Not one report from outside the U.S. But we learned all about the L.A. school sex scandal, the measles outbreak in Indiana, the dangers of C-sections and that Gabby Giffords' aide will run for her congressional seat, Foreign news bad, Springsteen good. Thanks, Nightly News producers! Great job!
Fri. Feb. 10--Finally! The Nightly News producers discovered the crisis in Greece. The other networks have been covering this story for weeks, but not Nightly News. If only the producers had used their heads, they could have turned the crisis in Greece into a promo for this summer's London Olympics by showing footage of the 2004 Athens Games. Do I have to tell them how to do everything?
***The idiotic Anne Thompson reported a story about a Philadelphia Cardinal who died one day after a judge ruled that he could testify in a lawsuit alleging child sex abuse by priests. Anyone who's ever seen Thompson's fawning and obsequious coverage of the Pope (or any matter relating to the Catholic Church) knows that she is far too biased to report objectively on the subject. She should go back to reporting about the nice weather in winter and walking her rental dog in Central Park. Of course, that's not going to happen. Brian's own rabidly pro-Catholic stance insures that he will continue to assign shills like Thompson to cover his beloved church.
***We then got a two-and-a-half minute story about a Norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship. I don't know why Nancy Snyderman needed so much time to report this story. Maybe it has something to do with Nightly News demonizing cruise ships after the Costa Concordia tragedy. Cruise ships are the new Jerry Sandusky! Well, at least we got to hear Dr. Nancy say "diarrhea".
***Brian then spent 35 seconds telling us about some Boeing test pilots who used their flight route to trace the Boeing logo "over an eight-state area". Actually, according to the on-screen map that accompanied the story, it was across a nine-state area.  I guess Brian dosen't think too much of South Dakota. Brian said that, "Our friends at the website 'FlightAware' alerted us to this...." Really? I wonder if Brian's "friends" at FlightAware know his other "friends" from the International Space Station who took those photos of the Northern Lights. He has so many friends!
***The next story was very important. Brian told us that, "We now know that New York fans 'held it in' the whole time because water usage in the city of New York spiked 13% in those first moments after the [Super Bowl] game." Really?  Forty-five seconds about Giants fans not peeing until the game ended? I think Walter Cronkite turned over in his grave. Of course, this was just another excuse for Brian to spend more time talking about the Giants' victory. "One of the best football games in Super Bowl history not to mention the world champion New York Giants' stunning victory. It was also THE most-watched TV show of any kind for all time." Good thing he's not biased or anything. By the way, Brian always gives selective information about NBC ratings. According to a blog on NBCSports.com ( http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/06/super-bowl-falls-just-short-of-ratings-record/): "The ratings for Super Bowl 46 were very strong, but not quite strong enough to set a new record. The Giants’ 21-17 win over the Patriots came in with a 47.8 overnight rating and 71 share of the viewing audience, according to the Associated Press. That’s just off the record 47.9 overnight rating for the Packers’ victory over the Steelers last year, a mark that game shares with Super Bowl 21 when the Giants beat the Broncos." So it wasn't the highest-rated Super Bowl in history. Sorry, Brian. I hope you're not too devastated. That reminds me of two years ago when Brian spent countless minutes on Nightly News bragging about NBC's ratings for the Vancouver Olympics without ever mentioning that NBC lost $225 million on the Games. Brian is a deceptive weasel. I can only imagine all the things he withholds from his wife.
***At the risk of sounding repetitive, the night's final report was a pointless 2:20 story--with no news value--about veterans. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah--Monday and Thursday. And lots of other days. So this was the third story this week about veterans. This time, it was about some people in San Diego who pitched in and raised money to give a second wedding to a wounded vet. But I'll let Brian describe it: "We try, as you may know, to focus as much attention as possible on our returning veterans. Tonight we have a genuinely heart-warming story about how a community pulled together...to help a wounded hero and his bride to have the wedding of their dreams." Are you as sickened as I am? Isn't there anyone at NBC News with the guts to tell Brian that his job is to report news, not to warm our hearts? Brian doesn't care. Warm hearts equal high ratings. Another great week at Nightly News.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--1/28 Through 2/3 (Revised)

2012-02-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, Mitt Romney was endorsed by the most self-promoting egocentric narcissist on NBC. But enough about Brian Williams. This week, Nightly News featured clips from "Downton Abbey", "Seinfeld", "The Social Network", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "Celebrity Apprentice", "The Late Show with David Letterman", "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "The Tomorrow Show", "Soul Train", "Ellen", "American Bandstand" and of course "The Today Show". Surprisingly, they even managed to squeeze in a little bit of news around these clips. Here are the highlights:

Sat. Jan. 28--The lead story about Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich featured a segment about the Romney campaign ad that included a clip of Tom Brokaw from a 1997 Nightly News story. The segment also included a statement from NBC News requesting that NBC News material be removed from all political campaign ads and a statement from Brokaw saying that he is uncomfortable with his image being used in the ad because it compromises his role as an objective journalist. That was immediately followed by a statement from Brian Williams saying that he will gladly make his image available for use by all campaigns at no cost because he has no ethics or morals and just wants to appear on TV as much as possible. (Okay--that last part didn't really happen.) By the way, despite all their bitching and moaning, I'm guessing that NBC was happy to get the money that the Romney campaign paid them to air the Brokaw ad.
***We then saw a two-and-a-half minute story about people who use on-line coupons to get discounts on medical and dental services. The story was reported by Tom Llamas, a third-rate reporter and anchor for the local WNBC station in New York. So instead of reporting important national and international news stories, Nightly News is content to show us trite, frivolous stories that they re-ran from a local news station. Obviously, this story was cheap to produce, and that's always a consideration for the Nightly News producers. And let's not forget that "on-line coupons" is often a trending topic on Yahoo, Twitter and Google. The Nightly News producers like to pander to their viewers by reporting on topics that are trending on social media sites.
***Kate Snow spent 20 seconds telling us about the Northern Lights, the "spectacular light show that mesmerized a lot of folks around the world every night this week. Wow!" Actually, we know all about the Northern Lights because this is the fourth story Nightly News has done on them in the past five days.
***We saw an obituary for Ian Abercrombie, who played Mr. Pitt on "Seinfeld". Seriously? A guy who's known for one small role gets a 35-second obit on Nightly News? I guess it's not surprising. The producers prefer to show entertainment stories instead of news because they get higher ratings. And of course, the NBC Universal store sells "Seinfeld" DVDs, t-shirts, key chains, coffee mugs and other paraphernalia. So airing this story is just a way for NBC to capitalize on Abercrombie's death and earn a few quick bucks. Great job, guys.
***What a treat! We got to see another story about Samantha Garvey, the homeless high school student who was a semi-finalist for the Intel science prize. Thanks to a charitable organization, Garvey and her family now have a home! This is the fourth story Nightly News has done on Garvey in the past two weeks. Obviously, the producers would much rather waste our time on these sappy emotional stories with no news value because the viewers like them and they get better ratings than real news.
***The final story, titled "Heroes' Welcome", was about a couple of guys from St. Louis who decided to throw a ticker tape parade for soldiers who have returned from Iraq. This is the most sickening and most base type of pandering story in the Nightly News arsenal. It's just another one of many Nightly News stories designed to appeal to the viewers' eagle-soaring, flag waving, rah-rah, gung-ho, God-Bless-America sense of patriotism. It's not a news story--it's just an excuse for the producers to show waving flags and people talking about how much they love the good old U.S of A.. U.S. Flags appeared in almost every shot, and of course the obligatory waving animated flag appeared behind Kate Snow as she was introducing the story. The producers should be ashamed of themselves for showing this garbage. But, of course, they're not. Why would they be? Brian Williams and his producers have appointed themselves as the propaganda arm of the U.S. military. And they get great ratings by desperately trying to show that Nightly News loves this country more than any other network news broadcast. It is truly nauseating (but hardly surprising) that the producers stoop to this level of pandering.
Sun. Jan. 29--Lester Holt spent 25 seconds telling us that the NFL is allowing players to tweet live from the Pro Bowl. Naturally, the story ended with a promo informing us that the Pro Bowl would air on NBC later that night. This was just a 25-second commercial for an NBC sports program. Shameful.
***The final report of the night was a two-minute "news story" about fast food restaurants that are now staying open later to accommodate the schedules of their customers. First of all, there is no definition of "news" that could possibly include this ridiculous story. But, of course, the producers weren't interested in presenting a news story. Rather, their intent was to promote some of NBC's best fast food sponsors. The story began with ad clips from Taco Bell and Wendy's--both of which are regular advertisers on some of the many Comcast/NBC Universal networks. But the rest of the story focused on McDonald's. This story contained more than a minute's worth of gratuitous McDonald's footage--interiors, exteriors, franchise owners, customers, workers, food--and even included an extended shot of correspondent Mike Taibbi standing in front of a McDonald's in a way that clearly displayed the McDonald's name and logo. And just to make sure we didn't miss the point, Taibbi then told us that, "McDonald's now has 40% of its restaurants open 24 hours--up from 30% seven years ago." That statement--and the entire report--sounded suspiciously like a commercial. Obviously, the Nightly News producers' goal in running this story was to inform the viewers that McDonald's has new extended hours so we should rush out later and get some of those delicious Big Macs, Quarter Pounders and fries. As always, one of Nightly News's main jobs is promoting their major advertisers like McDonald's. Well done.
Mon. Jan. 30--The lead story was the Florida car crash pile-up. As part of the story, we heard some audio tapes of the 911 calls with on-screen transcripts provided. And as usual, the producers couldn't get them right. One woman is heard saying, "This is the third one now already." But the transcript omitted the word "now". Why is it so difficult for the producers to accurately transcribe phone calls? I guess it's because no one at Nightly News cares the slightest bit about accuracy.
***A story about the Republican candidates included a clip of Mitt Romney on "The Today Show" because Brian and his producers make a point of using Nightly News to promote other NBC shows.
***In the next segment, also about politics, Brian told us that Chuck Todd was "paying a rare visit to the mothership tonight." What is wrong with him? Why does he talk like that? He says more stupid things than Mitt Romney and Rick Perry put together.
***Here's how Brian promo'd an upcoming story about blood pressure: "Up next here on a Monday night, turning medical practice on its ear a bit--now there's a new way WE should all be getting OUR blood pressure measured." Once again, Brian used personal pronouns to turn a news story into a story about him. Because first and foremost, the news is always about Brian.
***We got to see a 1:25 story about the winter heat wave. Brian used the word "June-uary".
***Brian spent 40 seconds telling us about the death of John Baker, a Medal of Honor recipient. Brian reports the death of every MOH winner as if it's real news. Brian has a bizarre obsession with MOH winners and the military in general. In fact, he serves on the board of directors for the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. So Brian is reporting on an organization on whose board he serves. That sounds like a conflict of interest to me. And by repeatedly reporting on Medal of Honor recipients, he's keeping the MOH Foundation in the public eye and helping them to solicit contributions. That's unethical. But Brian doesn't care. He only cares about promoting the U.S. Military because it generates good ratings for his broadcast.
***Brian then spent 25 seconds telling us that Shirley MacLaine will join the cast of "Downton Abbey" next season. Most of the story consisted of clips from the show. This is the second "Downton Abbey" story that Nightly News has done in January. On Jan. 9, Stephanie Gosk spent a whopping 2:45 reporting on the popularity of the show. In her story, Gosk had the ethical integrity to disclose that "Downton Abbey" is produced by a company owned by NBC Universal. But in Brian's report, he never made that disclosure. I guess we can put it this way: Stephanie Gosk is ethical, Brian Williams is a sleazebag.
***The next story was about a UK study which concluded that women are better at parking than men. For some reason, Brian loves to report stories that pit men against women. A week earlier, we saw a story about how men may have a higher tolerance for pain than women. Why does he insist on reporting these stupid, divisive stories? I think he gets some sort of deviant satisfaction out of starting gender arguments. Or maybe it's an indication that something's not right at home with Mrs. Williams.
***The broadcast ended with a "Making A Difference" story reported by (sound the trumpet, please) Chelsea Clinton. What a shame. Chelsea could be doing so many good things with her life, and instead she's chosen to work for a hack news broadcast reporting silly stories with no news value. This was another one of those rah-rah gung-ho God-Bless-America stories about a decorated WWII war hero (and former prisoner of war) who raises money to provide service dogs for wounded veterans. The story featured plenty of shots of cavorting puppies and adorable adult dogs. A story featuring Chelsea Clinton, a WWII hero and cute puppies? I think Brian must have come in his pants.
Tues. Jan. 31--Here's how Brian began the lead story about the Florida primary: "For the good people of Florida it's all over as of tonight..." And last Friday, this was how Brian began his introduction to a story about a Kentucky town that has become infested with birds: "Finally tonight we're gonna take you to a town with a big problem. It's in northern Kentucky where good people live...." Good people? Is there any level to which Brian will not stoop in order to pander to the people of a particular state or region? That is just so desperate and pathetic.
***After discussing the Republican candidates with Tamron Hall, David Gregory and Chuck Todd, Brian said, "Our thanks to the firm of Hall, Gregory & Todd for their expertise this evening." Wow, he's funny. I mean idiotic.
***Next, we got another one of those awesome "Where's Winter" stories and again Brian used the word "June-uary". And for the next two minutes, the idiotic Anne Thompson told us that it was, like, really, really warm in January. (Has she ever reported a story on anything that actually matters?) At one point during the story, Thompson was shown walking in Central Park with a dog on a leash. Using a dog to get cutesy pander-points in a news story is just sad. I doubt the dog was even hers. It was probably a rental. What will she do in her next story? Walk through the park with a panda? A koala? A polar bear cub?
***Then Brian gave us another story on the JFK tapes. Apparently, it's a lot easier (and cheaper) for Brian to report 50-year-old news than to report current news. It's pretty funny that Brian actually thinks of himself as a historian. Just like Newt Gingrich.
***Brian took 25 seconds to tell us about an upcoming renovation in the White House's West Wing. I guess he'll be able to see it for himself the next time he goes there to do a fawning obsequious profile of the President. During this story, Brian referred to the White House as "the people's house". What is his problem? Why can't he just speak like a normal person.
***After that, Brian spent 25 seconds telling us that Peyton Manning is denying retirement rumors. He described Manning as, "The son of Archie Manning, the brother of YOUR New York Giants' starting Super Bowl quarterback Eli Manning...." Of course. If Brian likes the Giants, then obviously everyone else does. This was just a not-too-subtle way of reminding viewers that the Super Bowl is on NBC this Sunday.
***The last story was a "Making A Difference" piece about an orthopedic surgeon who (along with his fellow surgeons) performs pro bono surgeries on people who don't have health insurance. That's a nice thing to do. But why is it taking up 2:15 on a news broadcast? Isn't there any real news to report? There is, but Brian just isn't interested in being the one who reports it.
Wed. Feb. 1--The lead story was a ridiculously long 3:45 piece about Facebook going public. This is the third time this week that Nightly News has reported this same story. Okay, we get it. Tell us about it when it actually happens. Meanwhile, the story included clips from movie "The Social Network" because apparently the Nightly News producers can't report a story without using movie clips. It's not like there's a shortage of news footage of the actual Mark Zuckerberg, you know. At one point during this story, there's a seven-second clip of a Facebook detractor telling us that Facebook has just become annoying, but the producers failed to identify this person. If they didn't know his name, maybe they should have just identified him as "Some Guy Who Doesn't Like Facebook". And why is Kate Snow always smiling in every story she reports? Is there something funny about Facebook?
***Brian then spent two-and-a-half minutes on a retrospective of the life of Don Cornelius. Naturally, the story included clips from a "Today Show" interview that Cornelius did more than 15 years ago. Here's an excerpt from Brian's narration: "The featured spot was the 'Soul Train' line. Couples who made it to the line had a few seconds of airtime and the rest of US watched amazed. It was performance art before WE knew the term." Us. We. Again, the news is always about Brian. One of the people interviewed for the story was the vile Al Sharpton. As if a convicted liar, noted race-baiter and rabid self-promoter deserves to be part of a news broadcast. But Sharpton is now the host of his own show on MSNBC, so Brian is just doing his part to help out his sister network.
***Brian spent 25 seconds reporting that Pfizer recalled a million packets of birth control pills because a mix-up between active and inert pills could cause some women to get pregnant. The story broke on Tuesday, but Brian delayed reporting it (and probably tried to figure out a way to squash it) because Pfizer is a major advertiser on Nightly News and Brian doesn't like to report negative stories about his advertisers. Of course Brian is always happy to report positive stories about his sponsors. For Brian, it's more important to help his advertisers than to report news. Meanwhile, the Nightly News story barely lasted 20 seconds. If you blinked, you might have missed it. Brian may have been unable to avoid reporting the story, but he made sure to keep it as short as possible.
***Brian then spent nearly a minute doing a congratulatory story about David Letterman's 30th anniversary on late-night television--without ever once mentioning CBS--Letterman's home for the last 19 years! That is incredible. Brian began by saying, "A big anniversary is being celebrated at a rival network," before going on to tell us that Letterman, "started here at NBC". In fact, in this story about Letterman, NBC was mentioned three times and CBS was mentioned zero times. And the only clip in which we actually hear Letterman talking was from a 1978 appearance on Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow Show" where Letterman dryly says that, "My ultimate desire is to anchor the Nightly News on NBC." Sorry Dave, but you are way too intelligent for that job. And of course in order to counterbalance the Letterman story, Brian immediately followed it with a story about Jay Leno. Obviously Brian couldn't do a story about "a rival network" without also doing one about NBC. There was no legitimate reason for the Leno story, but then again most Nightly News stories lack any legitimate news value. Brian airs stories based on the ratings they bring him, not because the stories are newsworthy. On this particular "Tonight Show" clip, Michelle Obama was the guest, which is enough of a reason for Brian to make a story out of it. The clip featured Mrs. Obama talking about her husband's penchant for singing and, of course, included a clip of the President doing his Al Green impersonation at the Apollo (this was at least the third time Nightly News used the clip of the President singing). At one point, Brian says, "...and that's when we learned the President is evidently quite the singer around the people's house." That's the second time in two days that he has referred to the White House as "the people's house". It sounded stupid the first time and really stupid the second time. This story was like the trifecta for Brian. He got to show Michelle Obama (a Nightly News darling because she generates high ratings for Brian), he got to promote Jay Leno and "The Tonight Show" and he got to show the President singing. Awesome. I wonder if it ever bothers Brian that he is perceived as a joke because he wastes most of his broadcast promoting NBC shows and desperately chasing ratings by pandering to his audience. Probably not.
***The final story of the night was a 2:20 piece about how the Arctic Snowy Owl has been seen further south than usual, due to the warmer winter weather. Fascinating. So I guess there's nothing going on in Europe, Africa, Asia or South America. Nightly News is a joke.
Thurs. Feb. 2--Peter Alexander spent 2:40 reporting that Donald Trump has endorsed Mitt Romney. On every other news broadcast, this story was an afterthought and Trump was treated like the buffoon he is. But on Nightly News, Trump is treated like a serious kingmaker because he has a show on NBC. And this story was obviously created for the sole purpose of promoting that show. So cue the clip from "Celebrity Apprentice". At the end of this story, a caption below Alexander informed us that he was in "Washington D.C." before it was changed to read "Las Vegas", where he actually was.
***In the next story, Chuck Todd told us that, "President Obama...jabbed repeatedly and methodically at Republican front-runner Mitt Romney without ever mentioning his name." When I heard this, I laughed so hard that root beer shot out of my nose. That's exactly what Brian Williams does! He talks about TV shows without ever mentioning the other networks because he's scared that if he mentions CBS or ABC he'll lose viewers. Just one day earlier, he spent an entire minute talking about David Letterman without mentioning CBS. Obviously, Brian is very much like a politician. A politician panders to the voters and tells them what they want to hear in order to earn votes. Brian panders to the viewers and tells them what they want to hear in order to earn ratings. Brian is the Mitt Romney of network news.
***Kristen Dahlgren spent two-and-a-half minutes on a follow-up story about a mystery illness that is afflicting high school students in Le Roy, N.Y. As usual, there was no new information presented. At Nightly News, a "follow-up" story is just an excuse to waste a few minutes of valuable news time by using existing footage to rehash an old story. The most interesting thing about this story was that Dahlgren was wearing mittens with the thumbs cut off. I cannot for the life of me imagine why anyone would wear thumbless mittens. During this story, we saw a clip of a middle-aged man explaining the disorder on a TV talk show. The man was identified in a graphic as "Thera Sanchez High School Senior". Oh well, the producers were only off by about 30 years and one X chromosome. No big deal.
***Brian then spent 20 seconds showing us some police video of a meteor that shot across the sky in Texas and Oklahoma. Earlier, during the intro at the beginning of the broadcast, Brian showed a teaser clip of the meteor video and asked, "And what exactly was that streaking across the night sky last night?" But if he knew it was a meteor, why did he ask what it was? Why didn't he just tell us what it was? Obviously, Brian wanted us to think it was an alien spaceship or something of that nature so we would stay tuned to his broadcast to find out the horrible, horrible truth. This type of duplicitous reporting is vile. It would be like saying, "Was Leon Panetta killed today? Stay tuned for details," and then reporting that nothing of the sort happened. If something is a meteor, tell us it's a meteor right away instead of sleazily trying to imply that it was something else.
***After that, Brian reported the breaking news story that a lot of people lie about their height and weight at the doctor's office and that white women specifically are most likely to lie about their weight. There he goes again trying to start some shit. This time, it's between white people and black people. On Monday, with the story that women are better at parking than men, he was trying to start some shit between men and women. Brian is like Mike the Situation from "Jersey Shore". Always trying to initiate a conflict because somehow it makes him feel better about himself. Brian the Situation.
***Then came the piece de resistance. Brian spent 33 seconds on a story about Michelle Obama on the "Ellen" show doing push-ups with Ellen. It's truly sickening how frequently Brian panders to the viewers by showing garbage stories like this. "Ellen" airs mostly on NBC Universal stations, so he's plugging an NBC property. And of course Michelle Obama is very popular with viewers so his frequent use of the First Lady on Nightly News is simply a ratings-boosting gimmick. Let's see--how long had it been since Brian last showed footage of Mrs. Obama? Oh yeah--about 24 hours. On Wednesday, Brian spent a minute showing clips from Mrs.Obama's appearance on "The Tonight Show" as she told Jay Leno all about how her husband likes to sing. Does anyone see a pattern here? Michelle Obama on "Ellen", Michelle Obama on "The Tonight Show". Brian is shamelessly using the First Lady to plug NBC shows (in addition to boosting his own ratings). Unless she talks about invading North Korea, the First Lady appearing on an entertainment show is not a news event. But then again, Nightly News is not a news show. It's the first half-hour of "Access Hollywood". When is the FCC going to shut down Nightly News once and for all?
***Before the last commercial break, a promo for a story about a retired soldier who was erroneously declared dead by the government was accompanied by some instrumental music from "Uncle John's Band". Now I like the Grateful Dead as much as the next guy, but can someone explain why that song is playing during a news broadcast? Maybe the answer has someting to do with Kristen Dahlgren's thumbless gloves. And can someone explain why the story about a man erroneously declared dead is even a news story? Some producer at Nightly News thought this deserved two minutes of news time? Imagine the real news they could have covered in that time. Then again, imagine how much real news they could cover if they eliminated all the garbage non-news stories they report. It boggles the mind.
Fri. Feb. 3--We got more than an minute on the "Monster Storm" in Denver. Because snow in Colorado in February is such an anomaly.
***Then, Tom Costello spent 2:10 telling us about the heavy security at the Super Bowl. Obviously, this was just--big surprise--a promo for the game. At one point during the story, Costello interviewed Eric Rembold, Director of Aviation for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency. In a response to one of Costello's questions, Rembold used the word "purposely", but the Nightly News on-screen caption transcribed the word as "purposefully".
***The final story was a very important news report about Super Bowl ads. Obviously, it benefits NBC to generate interest in the ads so more people will tune in to the game to see them. This 2:20 piece included 30 seconds from a Honda ad, 34 seconds from a VW ad and 10 seconds from an Acura ad. It also featured clips from Chevy, Pepsi and Doritos ads. I wouldn't be surprised if NBC charged these companies to be featured in this story. If you add this story to the story about Super Bowl security, that's four-and-a-half minutes of news time that Nightly News used to plug the Super Bowl. Everyone should thank the unethical Nightly News producers.

A Few Words About Susan G. Komen For The Cure

2012-02-03T18:52:00.001-08:00

By pandering to the extreme right anti-abortion fanatics, the spineless wimps at Susan G. Komen for the Cure have demonstrated that they truly are committed to taking care of boobs.

Brian Williams: The Ultimate Hypocrite

2012-02-03T17:07:00.000-08:00

On Thursday Jan. 26, Brian Williams spent 2:20 upbraiding, reproving, chastising, castigating and admonishing (thanks to Roget) Arizona Governor Jan Brewer for pointing her finger at President Obama during their "tarmac" meeting that day. Here's what Brian said about it: "Who have you ever seen talking to the President like this and what was this all about?" "The governor of Arizona with her finger in the face of the President of the United States. You don't see that often or maybe ever." Apparently, Brian has a short and selective memory because he did the exact same thing to President George W. Bush during a 2006 interview in New Orleans (view the video at http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/01/29/flashbook-2007-nbcs-brian-williams-wags-finger-president-bush). So when Gov. Brewer points her finger at a president, she's being disrespectful. But when Brian points his finger at a president, he apparently sees himself as an advocate for the people. Hilariously, Brian has deluded himself into believing that he's a character in a Springsteen song who's searching for social justice and fighting for the rights of the disenfranchised. This may be Brian's most appalling display of hypocrisy ever. And that's saying an awful lot.

(Thanks to Twitter user @lcb998502 for alerting me to this situation.)

Brian Williams Loves Pink Slime and Jay Leno

2012-02-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, Pfizer announced that they are recalling a million packets of birth control pills because a mix-up between active and inert pills could cause some women to get pregnant. At CBS, Scott Pelley reported this story the day it broke. But Brian Williams did not report this story until Wednesday. He delayed the story (and probably tried to figure out a way to squash it) because Pfizer is a major advertiser on Nightly News and Brian does not like to report negative stories about his advertisers. Of course Brian is always happy to report positive stories about his sponsors. For Brian, it is more important to help his advertisers than to report news. Meanwhile, the Nightly News story barely lasted 20 seconds. If you blinked, you might have missed it. Brian may have been unable to avoid reporting the story, but he made sure to keep it as short as possible.

Recently, McDonald's announced that they would be discontinuing their use of the so-called "pink slime" food additive. "Pink slime" is made by treating otherwise inedible food scraps with ammonium hydroxide, a chemical that is found in fertilizers, household cleaners, floor strippers and explosives. And McDonald's was using this toxic gunk in their hamburgers. Yummy. Brian Williams refused to report this story because one of his main jobs as Nightly News anchor is to protect major NBC advertisers like McDonald's (for more information, see this previous Nightly Daily blog post: http://nightly-daily.blogspot.com/2012/01/surprise-nbc-nightly-news-promotes.html). I suppose Brian could have presented this as a positive story--McDonald's has stopped using a toxic chemical in their food--but that would be like reporting that someone has finally stopped beating his dog. More people would focus on the negative activity than on the cessation of that activity. So don't look for this story anytime soon (or anytime at all) on Nightly News.

Here's how Brian began his introduction to Tuesday's lead story about the Florida primary: "For the good people of Florida, it's all over as of tonight..." And last Friday, this was how Brian began his introduction to a story about a Kentucky town that has become infested with birds: "Finally tonight we're gonna take you to a town with a big problem. It's in northern Kentucky where good people live...." Good people? Is there any level to which Brian will not stoop in order to pander to the people of a particular state or region? That is just desperate and pathetic.

On Tuesday, the nincompoop Anne Thompson reported a story about the balmy weather in January. (Has she ever reported a story on anything that actually matters?) At one point during the story, Thompson is shown walking in Central Park with a dog on a leash. Using a dog to get cutesy pander-points in a news story is just sad. I doubt the dog was even hers. It was probably a rental. What will she do in her next story? Walk through the park with a panda? A koala? A polar bear cub?

On Wednesday, Brian did a story about David Letterman's 30th anniversary on late-night television--without ever once mentioning CBS--his home for the last 19 years! That is incredible. Brian began by saying, "A big anniversary is being celebrated at a rival network," before going on to tell us that Letterman, "started here at NBC". In fact, in this story about Letterman, NBC was mentioned three times and CBS was mentioned zero times. And the only clip in which we actually hear Letterman talking was from a 1978 appearance on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show where Letterman dryly says that, "My ultimate desire is to anchor the Nightly News on NBC." Sorry Dave, you are way too intelligent for that job.

But of course in order to counterbalance the Letterman story, Brian immediately followed it with a story about Jay Leno. Obviously Brian couldn't do a story about "a rival network" without also doing one about NBC. There was no legitimate reason for the Leno story, but then again most Nightly News stories lack legitimate news value. Brian airs stories based on the ratings they bring him, not because the stories are newsworthy. On this particular Tonight Show, Michelle Obama was a guest, which is enough of a reason for Brian to make a story out of it. The clip featured Mrs. Obama talking about her husband's penchant for singing and, of course, included a clip of the President doing his Al Green impersonation at the Apollo (this was at least the third time Nightly News used the clip of the President singing). This story was like the trifecta for Brian. He got to show Mrs. Obama (a Nightly News darling who generates high ratings for Brian), he got to promote Jay Leno and The Tonight Show and he got to show the President singing. Awesome. I wonder if it ever bothers Brian that he is perceived as a joke because he wastes most of his broadcast promoting NBC shows and desperately chasing ratings. Probably not.

NBC Nightly News Protects Yale QB Patrick Witt

2012-01-30T23:07:00.000-08:00

Last Nov. 7, Nightly News correspondent Anne Thompson reported a glowing story about Yale quarterback Patrick Witt and the difficult choice he had to make between attending the interview for a Rhodes Scholarship and playing in the Harvard-Yale game, both of which would take place on Nov. 19. This story was a fawning two-and-a-half minute puff piece that made Witt seem like a combination of Captain America and Tim Tebow. A week later, Nightly News did a follow-up story (oh, how they love follow-up stories) in which we were told that Witt was withdrawing his Rhodes Scholarship application so he could play in the game against Harvard. What a great guy! Let's be clear--the ONLY reason Nightly News reported these stories is because the Harvard-Yale game would be airing on NBC Universal's Versus network (now known as the NBC Sports Network). Neither Brian Williams nor Anne Thompson cared the slightest bit about Patrick Witt or the choice he had to make. They were simply promoting an NBC property. This "news story" was nothing more than a two-and-a-half minute commercial for the Harvard-Yale game on Versus. That's not surprising. Virtually every story that airs on Nightly News comes with some sort of hidden agenda.

Last Friday and Saturday, The New York Times ran stories about Patrick Witt. According to the stories (both written by Richard Perez-Pena), at the time Witt voluntarily withdrew his Rhodes application, he "was no longer a contender for the Rhodes." That is because, "Several days earlier, according to people involved on both sides of the process, the Rhodes Trust had learned through unofficial channels that a fellow student had accused Witt of sexual assault. The Rhodes trust informed Yale and Witt that his candidacy was suspended unless the University decided to re-endorse it." The Times also reported that Witt had been arrested twice, information that might have caused the Rhodes evaluation committee to reject Witt's candidacy if they had known about it. According to the Times, "On Feb. 28, 2010, after an altercation over his being denied entry to Toad's Place, a nightclub near campus, Witt was charged by the New Haven police with third-degree criminal trespass and later paid a $90 fine on a lesser charge, creating a public disturbance." He had also been arrested On Dec. 9, 2007 while enrolled at the University of Nebraska for signing in to a residence hall under a false name, going upstairs without waiting for an escort, pushing and threatening a student official who tried to stop him and then running away from a police officer. (That information was paraphrased from the Times article.) "He was charged with obstructing government operations, which was dismissed when he completed a diversion program, the Lancaster County, Neb. attorney said."

Did Nightly News report this new information about Patrick Witt? Of course not. One obvious reason is because the Harvard-Yale game has already been played so Nightly News has no reason to promote it. But another reason they did not report this new information is that Brian Williams does not like to admit that Nightly News was wrong about a story. If the article is true, Nightly News was wrong about Witt's character and about his reasons for withdrawing his Rhodes candidacy. Brian Williams or Anne Thompson would have to do a huge mea culpa and admit that they had completely misjudged Witt. And everyone knows that Brian Williams does not do mea culpas. Of course, it is certainly possible that Witt is completely innocent of the sexual assault charges against him. But nevertheless, Nightly News should have at least reported the charges.

But there is another question here: Did the Nightly News producers know about Witt's sexual assault accusation and arrests before they aired one or both of their stories? Unfortunately, that question cannot be answered. But there is precedent for Nightly News failing to report information until it after was revealed by another source. On Jan. 20, 2009, Nightly News reported extensively on Pres. Obama's inauguration, including the performance by Yo-Yo Ma's quartet. But three days later, the Times reported that because of the cold weather, the quartet had not actually been playing--instead, they pretended to play (or "finger-synched") to pre-recorded music. The Times article also reported that the NBC producers were informed at the time that Yo-Yo Ma and his musicians were not actually playing because of the cold weather. But on Friday, Jan. 23, after the Times article came out, Brian Williams reported the "finger-synching" story. Brian had obviously known three days earlier that Ma was not playing live, but his feigned on-air surprise over the incident was reminiscent of Capt. Renault's famous line from "Casablanca": "I am shocked--SHOCKED--to find that gambling is going on in here!"

So if Nightly News would cover up the Yo-Yo Ma "finger-synching" incident, there's every reason to suspect that they would also cover up the fact that Patrick Witt's Rhodes Scholarship candidacy had already been withdrawn by the Rhodes evaluation committee even as Witt claimed that he was voluntarily withdrawing in order to play against Harvard. Did Nightly News conceal information about Witt on the days they were reporting the story? We'll never know. But at the very least, they should have reported the new information when it came out in the Times last Friday. That would have been the ethical thing to do. But, of course, Brian Williams is motivated by ratings, not ethics.

Surprise! NBC Nightly News Promotes McDonald's. Again.

2012-01-29T22:20:00.000-08:00

The final report on Sunday's NBC Nightly News (1/29/12) was a two-minute "news story" about fast food restaurants that are now staying open later to accommodate the schedules of their customers. First of all, there is no definition of "news" that would include this ridiculous story. But, of course, the producers weren't interested in presenting a news story. Rather, their intent was to promote some of NBC's best fast food sponsors. The story began with ad clips from Taco Bell and Wendy's--both of which are regular advertisers on some of the many Comcast/NBC Universal networks. But the rest of the story focused on McDonald's. This story contained more than a minute's worth of gratuitous McDonald's footage--interiors, exteriors, franchise owners, customers, workers, food--and even included an extended shot of correspondent Mike Taibbi standing in front of a McDonald's in a way that clearly displayed the McDonald's name and logo. And just to make sure we didn't miss the point, Taibbi then told us that, "McDonald's now has 40% of its restaurants open 24 hours--up from 30% seven years ago." That statement--and the entire report--sounded suspiciously like a commercial. Obviously, the Nightly News producers' goal in running this story was to inform the viewers that McDonald's has new extended hours so we should rush out later and get some of those delicious Big Macs, Quarter Pounders and fries.

Without a doubt, one of the main jobs of Brian Williams, his producers and correspondents is to use Nightly News to plug NBC sponsors. This happens over and over and over again. GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Cheerios, Bayer, Walmart, Frito-Lay, Chrysler, Chevy...the list goes on and on. But no company gets more on-air plugs from Nightly News than McDonald's. Brian Williams and his producers and correspondents have a long track record of promoting and endorsing McDonald's on Nightly News. This isn't surprising. With the recent acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast, the new Comcast/NBC Universal mega-conglomerate controls more than twenty national or regional networks and cable channels. In addition to NBC, MSNBC and CNBC, they own Bravo, Chiller, Oxygen, Sleuth, Syfy, Telemundo, Mun2, The Weather Channel, USA, E!, SportsNet New York, Exercise TV, G4, The Golf Channel, PBS Kids Sprout, The Style Network, Versus and New England Cable News. And those are only the ones I know about. I can only imagine how much money McDonald's spends each year advertising on all these Comcast/NBC stations. Is it $50 million? $75 million? $100 million? Who knows. Let's just say it's a lot. So with McDonald's spending all this money with Comcast/NBC, it makes perfect sense that Brian Williams would act as an on-air spokesperson for McDonald's. It's obvious that Brian and the Nightly News producers work closely with the NBC News ad sales department and the McDonald's ad and promotions agencies to find the most advantageous ways to feature the Golden Arches on their broadcast. It's also obvious that the McDonald's press releases read by Brian, Lester Holt and the NBC correspondents on the air are actually part of paid commercial packages purchased by McDonald's. Instead of just buying commercials, McDonald's and other companies are encouraged by NBC to buy combination ad packages (not unlike McDonald's combination meals) that include commercials as well as glowing, fawning news stories about their products. After all, hearing Brian Williams enthusiastically plug McDonald's french fries carries a lot more weight than a plain old commercial.

On the 11/17/11 Nightly News, right in the middle of a story about Congress's decision to categorize pizza as a vegetable, correspondent/shill Anne Thompson took a ten-second break to read a McDonald's commercial. With a huge McDonald's logo next to her, Thompson told us that, "McDonald's got the message--reducing french fries and adding fruit to its happy meals." This had absolutely nothing to do with the story about pizza being a vegetable--it was just another opportunity for a Nightly News correspondent to toss in a plug the Golden Arches. It's also interesting to note that right before Thompson read her McDonald's commercial, she said, "First Lady Michelle Obama is on a mission to change that--urging America's kids to exercise and encouraging healthy eating." Thompson's statement was accompanied by video of Mrs. Obama. This is no accident. Showing Mrs. Obama right before a McDonald's product placement is actually a very calculated and crafty way for the Nightly News producers to imply that Mrs. Obama endorses McDonald's. This has happened before. On the 7/26/11 Nightly News, Brian Williams read this 30-second promo for McDonald's: "McDonald's said today that it's taking steps to make Happy Meals healthier. The company is cutting the size of the french fry portion in half for starters and adding apple slices to every meal. The new meals will have about 20% fewer calories--coming in at under 600 calories total. First Lady Michelle Obama, who campaigns, of course, for better nutrition, put out a statement today calling this a good step." Again--it was clearly the intent of Brian and his producers to imply that Mrs. Obama was endorsing McDonald's. (As Brian read this, the McDonald's logo was onscreen for the entire thirty seconds, along with the words "Healthy Choices" and a picture of a Happy Meal.)

Here are some other examples of how McDonald's has been aggressively promoted (or protected from negative publicity) on Nightly News:

5/18/11--Brian personally defended McDonald's against criticism from parenting organizations and nutritional advocacy groups that accused McDonald's of unfairly using the Ronald McDonald character to attract children to their high sodium, high cholesterol, high fat food. In the story, Brian said that this criticism "seems a little harsh". So much for anchor neutrality.
5/9/11--Brian took thirty seconds to tell us that McDonald's is spending more than $1 billion to upgrade their restaurants. "Look for wooden tables, muted colors and faux leather seats coming soon to a Mac's near you. And you can get fries with that." Is it just me, or is that a commercial?
3/8/11--During a story promoting Subway Sandwich Shops (you didn't think McDonald's was the only fast food restaurant Brian promoted, did you?) as now having more U.S. outlets than McDonald's, Brian was quick to tell us that McDonald's still makes more money annually--$24 billion to $15 billion.
12/7/10--A story about how San Francisco is banning toys that come with children's fast food meals began with a cute segment about a woman who collects Happy Meal toys. The rest of this 2:30 "news story" (which was really just a commercial for McDonald's) contained clips of actual McDonald's commercials and non-stop footage of the McDonald's logo, restaurants and food.
11/8/10--The lead story on The CBS Evening News was a study released by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity detailing the inappropriate ways that fast food chains market their unhealthy food to children. Nightly News did not report this story--obviously as a courtesy to their pals at McDonald's.
9/3/10--The CBS Evening News reported that Consumer Reports rated 53 different fast food and chain restaurant hamburgers on taste and attractiveness, and McDonald's came in dead last. Needless to say, Nightly News did not report this story, either.
7/2/10--A Nightly News profile of LeBron James included clips from his McDonald's commercials.
6/14/10--Lester Holt gave us the important news that McDonald's will now be offering free Wi-Fi at their restaurants.
2/4/10--While reading a 25 second promotional piece about Heinz Ketchup's exciting new packaging, Brian also threw in a gratuitous plug for McDonald's.
10/22/09--During a piece about women in the workplace, Nightly News spent 75 seconds profiling Jan Fields, the Chief Operating Officer of McDonald's USA. The story gave her ample time to talk about things like McDonald's "world famous fries". Ms. Fields is now the president of McDonald's USA--no doubt thanks in part to her ability to manipulate NBC News into allowing her to plug her greasy burgers and fries.
5/5/09--In what may be the most shameless and blatant plug ever, Nightly News did a two-minute story whose sole purpose was to announce the launch of McDonald's new gourmet coffees to compete with Starbucks. Ann Curry called McDonald's coffee a "delicious brew".

So if anyone thinks that all these plugs for McDonald's are just random and haphazard (as opposed to paid product placements) then there's a bridge across the East River that I'd like to sell you.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--1/21 Through 1/27 (Revised)

2012-01-27T16:54:00.000-08:00

Brian Williams spent an awful lot of time this week promoting the Rock Center Republican debate and NBC's coverage of the State of the Union address. We got our fill of Gabby Giffords and saw a rare triple flag. Two U.S. Presidents were misquoted on the same broadcast and Brian told us all about bird shit. Here are some of the great things that happened on Nightly News this week:

Sat. Jan. 21--At the beginning of his report about the Romney campaign, correspondent Peter Alexander said "good morning" to Lester Holt. At 6:35 PM. And he never even bothered to correct himself. I think Alexander should switch to a lower dose of medication.
***Brian Williams made a rare appearance on a Saturday edition of Nightly News. Was it because of a breaking news story? Was it because he had a special scoop? Was it because he wanted to help out the depleted Nightly News staff? Of course not. He appeared on the broadcast (from Orlando) for one selfish reason--to promote Monday's Republican debate in Tampa, which he would be moderating as part of Rock Center. Rock Center's ratings have been anemic so far, rarely drawing more than four million viewers. Last November, Hollywoodreporter.com even featured an article titled, "NBC's 'Rock Center' Ratings on Par With Canceled 'Playboy Club'." (An excerpt: "More jarring are comparisons to the former time slot occupant, which was ejected from the lineup on Oct. 3. In the 18-49 demo, Episode 2 of 'Rock Center' was down 23 percent from 'The Playboy Club’s' 1.3 rating [Sept. 26].") So folding Monday's debate into Rock Center is just a desperate attempt by Brian to boost his prime time show's sad ratings. It should be obvious to anyone watching that the only thing that could get Brian to give up part of his Saturday is the opportunity to promote one of his TV shows. Naturally, Brian's segment ended with a full-screen promo for Monday's Rock Center debate, accompanied by Brian's desperate plea for people to tune in. By the way, Nightly News devoted the entire first segment of Saturday's broadcast--12 full minutes--to the Republican candidates. Was this because the producers believed the candidates were a really important story? Don't be silly. The candidates were given that much air time solely as a way to promote Monday's NBC debate. As always, Nightly News allocates coverage based not on the news value of a story, but based on how much a story can help promote the network's other shows.
***Lester then spent a total of four minutes on two separate stories about the "Winter Blast hitting millions of Americans from Seattle all the way to Boston." He also told us that "much of the country is now covered in ice and snow." Really? In January? Who ever would have guessed? And the obligatory Weather Channel map showed these snow totals across the Northeast: Cleveland--2.1 inches, Binghamton--2.7 inches, Philadelphia--2.3 inches, New York--4.3 inches and Pittsburgh--4 inches. Two to four inches of snow? In the Northeast? Not exactly remarkable. But weather reporting is easy and cheap--just set up a camera and film the correspondent standing in snow--so Nightly News devotes a big chunk of its time to weather-related non-stories like this. And let's not forget that NBC Universal paid $3.5 billion for the Weather Channel, so they make damn sure to use it. Every single night.
Sun. Jan. 22--The lead story was about Gabby Giffords' decision to step down from Congress. Obviously, the NBC News research department has informed Brian and his producers that stories about Giffords deliver high ratings, so they put her on the broadcast as often as possible. This story included several quotes from Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner that were shown on-screen and enclosed in quotation marks (this will matter in a few moments).
***As part of Nightly News's rabid promotion for that night's debate, Chuck Todd did a 1:45 "debate preview". That's really just a weaselly code phrase for "debate promotion". I've never seen anyone at Nightly News do a "debate preview" for a debate that was airing on another network.
***We then saw nearly four minutes' worth of stories about Joe Paterno's death. One of those stories featured some quotes by Paterno that were shown on-screen but were not enclosed in quotation marks. So Nancy Pelosi's and John Boehner's earlier statements were given quotation marks, but Joe Paterno's statements were not. I guess the Nightly News producers were too busy promoting that night's debate to bother with anything as trivial as quotation marks.
***NBC News-shill Robert Bazell did a 2:10 story about the "hidden dangers" of osteoporosis. What hidden dangers? The story didn't mention anything of the sort. Get regular checkups and bone density tests when ordered by a doctor. That's the entire gist of this story. "Hidden dangers" is just an alarmist phrase the producers throw in to spice up a bland story and make it seem more urgent. So although there are no hidden dangers, there were some hidden promotions. Bazell's story included a gratuitous shot of a GE Lunar Prodigy Scanner. GE is a minority owner (and former majority owner) of NBC, so Bazell likes to include their equipment in his stories as often as possible. And at one point during the story, Bazell said, "But if the test finds thinning bones...many experts say the woman needs treatment with medication and frequent follow-up scans to reduce the risk of fractures...." As he said this, we were shown a close-up shot of bottles of Actonel, Fosamax and Boniva (bone-strengthening medications). Boniva was once a major Nightly News advertiser and I'm betting that all three medications are heavy advertisers on some (or all) of the 20 or so Comcast/NBC Universal networks. These drugs are manufactured by pharmaceutical heavyweights Warner Chilcott (Actonel), Merck (Fosamax) and GlaxoSmithKline (Boniva), and Bazell is always more than happy to use his reports to promote drugs made by regular NBC Universal advertisers. In fact, promoting NBC's pharmaceutical sponsors seems to be Bazell's main job at NBC News. There was really no point to this story other than to promote these drugs. Great job, Robert.
***CNBC's Brian Shactman presented a report (called "Package Wars") about the intense competition between UPS and FedEx. Great, but how on earth does this qualify as news? It doesn't. It was really just a 2:25 promo for a one-hour special (titled "Inside The Package Wars") that would be appearing the following night on CNBC. Wait a second--Shactman's CNBC special airs at 9:00 PM Monday--the exact same time as the Rock Center debate! OMG--what should I watch? I'll have to consult my Magic 8 Ball. By the way, "Package Wars" sounds like a title Brian Williams came up with. Whenever he appears with Letterman, Leno or Fallon, he inevitably brings the conversation back around to male genitalia. On David Letterman's 1/3/11 show, Brian felt compelled to tell us that his recent trip to California had included a pat-down by an airport security official who went "right after Dave and the twins." Then he twice used the word "shmegegge" as a euphemism for his genitals. And on Jimmy Fallon's 2/5/10 show, Brian described the luge bodysuit as "the most package-enhancing outfit...." Package wars, indeed. And I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict that Shactman's CNBC special is extremely flattering to both UPS and FedEx, since both are major NBC sponsors.
***The night's final story was "an incredible story" (according to Lester) about a nurse who donated a kidney to one of her patients. That's a really nice thing to do. But it isn't news. So why was it given two minutes on Nightly News? Because these types of sappy, emotional human interest stories test extremely well with focus groups and get very high ratings with viewers. And high ratings are without a doubt the most important thing to Brian and his producers. Maybe they should have called this story "Kidney Wars".
Mon. Jan. 23--Brian and his producers continued their full-court press to promote that night's Rock Center debate by devoting the broadcast's first eight-and-a-half minutes to the Republican candidates. This included another "debate preview" with Chuck Todd and David Gregory (see previous day's notes for a definition of "debate preview"). At one point, Andrea Mitchell reported on Newt Gingrich's super PAC, American Solutions. She told us that the super PAC's were not allowed to be used for self-promotion. That's pretty ironic considering that her report was actually part of Nightly News's self-promotion for that night's debate.
***After exhaustively promoting that night's debate, Brian handed the show over to Savannah Guthrie in New York so he could take time to prepare for his rigorous questioning of the candidates. Then we were treated to another Gabby Giffords story because...well, you know.
***Guthrie took 30 seconds to tell us that men may have a higher tolerance for pain than women but then suggested that men may actually be lying about their pain tolerance. Oh, okay. Thanks for that.
***Guthrie then spent 30 seconds on the first of many "Super Bowl previews" that we will see on Nightly News in the next two weeks. As is the case with the "debate previews", "Super Bowl previews" are just promotions for the game, which will be shown (of course) on NBC. Funny thing--I don't recall Nightly News doing any Super Bowl previews when the game was on CBS or Fox. Wonder why. This was followed by 38 seconds of the President doing his best Al Green impression at the Apollo Theater. Now we can get it as a ringtone! Awesome!
***The broadcast ended with a 1:50 story about a Texas family that was rescued from the water by good samaritans after their plane crashed off the coast of Honduras. The story featured a clip from "Today", which is the only reason I can come up with to explain why the Nightly News producers would devote nearly two minutes to this non-story.
***Meanwhile, also on Monday, the European Union imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran (including a ban on oil purchases) because of their concerns about Iran's nuclear program. Four Kenyan politicians (including two presidential candidates) were ordered to stand trial at the International Criminal Court at The Hague for crimes against humanity stemming from their involvement in violence that took place after the 2007 elections. And over the weekend in Nigeria, the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram was responsible for ethnic violence that resulted in the deaths of at least 184 people. But Nightly News did not report any of these stories because Brian and his producers don't care about what's going on in the rest of the world, especially in Africa. Brian desperately wants his viewers to believe that Nightly News reports the news in a color-blind manner, but his continued insistence on ignoring Africa paints a very different picture.
Tues. Jan. 24--Despite important news stories taking place around the world, Nightly News's lead story is about Mitt Romney's tax returns. Wow, it's tough being part of the 1%--and no one knows that better than Brian Williams. I wonder--when are we going to see Brian's tax returns? This story featured a clip from MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports", but the on-screen credit line did not enclose the show's title in quotes.
***The next story was a 2:40 recap of the previous night's debate which--surprise--took place on NBC. On Jan. 7, the candidates debated on ABC, but no one at Nightly News ever mentioned that debate even once. Meanwhile, Nightly News spent the equivalent time of an entire broadcast promoting and recapping the NBC debate. Without a doubt, Nightly News is the most shamelessly self-promoting news broadcast on the air. And like a petulant child, they refuse to even acknowledge events that take place on other networks. By the way, this story featured a clip of Newt Gingrich from "Fox & Friends" and the Nightly News producers used quotes around the show's title in the on-screen credit line. So "Andrea Mitchell Reports" doesn't get quotes, but "Fox & Friends" does. Go figure.
***Next, Chuck Todd, Kelly O'Donnell and David Gregory spent four minutes previewing the President's State of the Union address. It goes without saying that they were promoting NBC's broadcast of the speech. At one point during his story, Chuck Todd misquoted an excerpt from the speech the President would deliver later that night. Todd used the phrase "...skills for the American workers..." but the on-screen transcript read "...skills for American workers...." Apparently, Todd felt that he could improve upon the President's speech by adding a word to it. Maybe he should become the President's speechwriter.
***Brian then spent a minute-and-a-half raving about the Northern Lights. "If you live in the Northern U.S. or Canada, you're in for what could be a heck of a light show tonight...." Thanks for the heads-up, dude.
***This next story was quite a treat. Brian spent 2:15 personally narrating a report about some John F. Kennedy tapes that were just released. Brian fancies himself a historian, just like Newt Gingrich fancies himself a historian. Iguess there must be something about people with huge egos that makes them think of themselves as historians. Unfortunately, historian Brian allowed his producers to misquote Pres. Kennedy. During a clip in which Kennedy was talking about the advantages of filming the 1964 Democratic Convention in color, he said, "Probably a million people watching it in color and it would have an effect...be quite an effect on the convention." But the accompanying on-screen transcription omitted the word "people". So for the second time in the same broadcast, someone from Nightly News has misquoted a president. Chuck Todd added a word and Brian's producers removed a word. Everyone at Nightly News must be so proud of their attention to detail.
***The final story was a 2:20 "news report" about the Oscar nominations. The story featured two full minutes of movie clips from "The Artist", "Hugo", "The Descendants", "Moneyball", "The Iron Lady", "Bridesmaids" and "The Help". (Clips from "The Artist" alone totaled 51 seconds.) Naturally, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep were given plenty of air time because they're audience favorites, as well as Brian's favorites. This wasn't a news story, it was a pander-fest. It's like watching movie previews in a theater. Brian knows that his viewers like entertainment stories much more than news stories, so he's always eager to oblige with garbage like this. Nightly News airs these movie-clip-compilation stories often--this is the fourth such story they have done in just the past two months. On Nov. 25, it was a story about holiday movies for kids. On Dec. 18, it was a story about nostalgia in movies. And on Jan. 1, it was a story about how 2011 was a bad year at the box office. (Those are only the multiple-clip stories--I didn't include all the stories that feature just one or two movie clips since those would have taken too long to list). This is also the fourth Nightly News story in five weeks to include clips from "The Artist". Clearly, that is Brian's favorite movie of the season. Last year, Brian's favorite movie was "The King's Speech", as evidenced by the four times it appeared in Nightly News stories. While it's certainly the goal of Brian and his producers to boost their show's ratings by showing the viewers mindless entertainment, it is also their goal to appease the film studios by promoting their films. The film industry is a major advertiser on NBC Universal networks, and this is Brian's way of thanking them for all the advertising dollars they have spent with NBC over the years. But of course there could be another, more sinister motive here. What if NBC's advertising department is actually selling space in Nightly News stories to the film studios? Did the Weinstein Company pay for those four stories Nightly News did on "The Artist" or the three stories they did on "The Iron Lady"? Of course, we'll never know for sure. But you can probably guess what I think.
Wed. Jan. 25--Wow! Another Gabby Giffords story! The third one in four days. That makes nearly eight minutes worth of Giffords stories that we've seen this week. It would be an understatement to say that Brian is exploiting Giffords and milking her for all she's worth because her stories bring him good ratings. By the way, this was a rare triple flag story. Anyone who watches Nightly News knows that they show more U.S. flags than any other network news broadcast--including anything on the Fox News Channel. Animated flags are constantly waving behind Brian or Lester--often for the entire first half of the broadcast. Animated flags are also used as the background for political stories, military stories and any other stories in which the producers can get away with it. Nightly News correspondents always make a point of standing near a flag when reporting so that the flag is in the shot. Politicians are always filmed from the angle that shows off the most flags. And any time Nightly News covers a disaster--flood, hurricane, earthquake--the producers send the camera operators off to get as many gratuitous flag shots as possible. The crown jewel, of course, is a shot of a tattered American flag on top of a pile of rubble. That's the money shot. That's gold for the Nightly News producers. (Never mind that the flags are often planted there by those same producers.) Brian and his producers love flags because it's a way for them to disingenuously appeal to the viewers' sense of rah-rah gung-ho eagle-soaring God-Bless-America faux patriotism. Flags are merely part of Brian's calculated scheme to pander to the NASCAR demographic. Using flags as a ratings-generating prop is, of course, shameless, but since when does Brian ever care about shame? He only cares about his Nielsen numbers. Often, the producers show two flags on screen at the same time. Because apparently they love America twice as much as any of the other networks. But Wednesday's Gabby Giffords story contained a rare triple flag shot. As Brian introduced the story, there was, of course, the obligatory animated flag waving behind him. There was also a clip over his left shoulder of Giffords being greeted by John Boehner at the House Speaker's podium, with a huge flag as the background. And below the clip, there was a flag in the shape of Arizona. I guess that was in case anyone forgot what country Arizona was in. Triple flag! Awesome! Suck on that Scott Pelley and Diane Sawyer!
***In the Giffords story, we were shown clips of speeches made by the various congressional leaders. Eric Cantor was identified as the House Majority Leader. Nancy Pelosi was identified as the House Minority Leader. And Steny Hoyer--well, he was identified only as a Representative from Maryland. But Hoyer is the House Minority Whip--the second most powerful post in the minority party. So if the Nightly News producers identified Cantor and Pelosi by their leadership positions, why didn't they also identify Hoyer by his leadership position? The answer is because no one at Nightly News cares about consistency.
***Brian ended the Giffords story this way: "An incredible scene there today Kelly O'Donnell on the Hill lucky to witness it all...." Incredible? Really? Isn't that a little overblown? And why is Kelly O'Donnell lucky to have witnessed it? She has a press pass. She's NBC's congressional correspondent. It's her job to report stories like this. Luck has nothing to do with it, you idiot.
***Brian began the next story by saying, "And we must now report on politics once again...." Must? Why must he? Who's ordering him to? What a ridiculous thing to say.
***Next, Brian reported on the extreme weather. Again. Here's what he said to The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore: "Jim, when you and I meet up after a bad weather event it's the spring, it's the summer or fall, but it is rarely winter." As always, Brian used a personal pronoun to turn a news story into a story about himself. Because the news is always about Brian.
***The next story was a 2:15 waste of time about whether grief should be classified as a mental disorder and the possibility of a "grief pill" to relieve the symptoms. Really. This was a news story on a network news broadcast. I can't believe it either. Another idiotic story from the idiotic Anne Thompson. Has she ever reported a story that actually mattered? This "news report" was padded with ridiculous stock videos and photos of grieving, crying people. The final shot was a black and white photo of a sad elderly woman with her head in her hands. She must have been watching Nightly News.
***We were treated to a atory about school lunches becoming healthier. The story began, of course, with Michelle Obama. The Nightly News producers insert Mrs. Obama into as many stories as possible because she's very popular and stories featuring her get high ratings.
***Brian then read an obituary for actor James Farentino. Seriously? James Farentino? No disrespect, but his death is not exactly network news material. But it gave Brian an opportunity to show some of his old TV clips and that's what really matters. Entertainment is always more important than news on Nightly News.
***After that, Brian reported the breaking news story of the Australian Transport Minister who gave a speech that he had plagiarized from the movie "The American President". I think you know what came next. That's right--a clip of Michael Douglas reciting the speech in the movie. Brian has a huge man-crush on Douglas and he makes a point of including Douglas's movie and TV clips on Nightly News as often as possible. It had already been two long weeks since Brian had last showed a Michael Douglas clip (Jan. 11--"Wall Street") so obviously it was time for another one. There is no doubt that the only reason Brian chose to report this story was because it allowed him to show the Douglas clip.
***Brian the treated us to some photos of the Northern Lights. Thanks.
***The final story was a testimonial to correspondent George Lewis, who had just retired. Here's how Brian began the story: "Finally here tonight, as you know, we like to run a family operation around here and tonight we have news about a member of our family--long time NBC News correspondent George Lewis is retiring today after 42 years with NBC News." A family operation? What a load of crap. NBC News is a conglomerate within a conglomerate within a conglomerate. They hire and fire people based on business decisions, nothing else. Except for Brian, of course. He gets to hire incompetent people like Luke Russert because of who his dad was. I guess that's what Brian meant by "a family operation". And of course, NBC News will hire any child of a former president as long as they can read and write.
***This night, Nightly News did not even mention the tumultuous events going on in Syria or Nigeria. But we learned all about extreme weather, grief as a mental disorder and Michael Douglas's "American President" speech. Thanks, Brian.
Thurs. Jan. 26--This is how Brian introduced a story about new rules governing airfares: "New rules for airlines to take effect today and what's in it for all those of US who fly." Those of us who fly. Once again, Brian has changed a news story into a story about him.
***A story about the Republican presidential candidates featured a clip of Newt Gingrich on "The Today Show". Because, as always, promoting "Today" is one of Brian's most important jobs.
***During a story on the Costa Concordia, Brian said, "They may never find the 19 souls still missing...." Souls? What is wrong with him? Why doesn't he just say "bodies"?
***Brian then spent nearly a minute reporting the important story that Vanna White and Pat Sajak used to appear on "Wheel of Fortune" while drunk. Because Brian is a professional journalist. He began the story this way: "Game show fans are reacting in mock-horror after WE all learned this week the dirty little secret behind the 'Wheel of Fortune' in the early days...." We. Again, it's about Brian. Always.
***This next story is difficult for me to write about. Brian took a minute to tell us about two brothers-in-law whose boat sank off the coast of Nantucket three years ago and eventually drifted all the way to Spain. Here's how Brian ended the story: "There once was a boat from Nantucket/That bobbed across the sea like a bucket/Hit by winds and heavy rain/It drifted clear to Spain/Now they must decide whether to chuck it." Sorry, but there's no other way to say this: Brian Williams is a fucking moron. Obviously, Brian chose to report this story for only one reason--because it gave him an opportunity to show off what he sadly believes passes for a sense of humor. Now, even if Brian actually was funny, that still wouldn't be an excuse to ignore real news in order to report these types of idiotic garbage stories. His pathetic attempts at humor are just painful to watch. It is truly shameful that a network anchor would stoop this low just to satisfy his desperate need to be liked.
***Brian took thirty seconds to show us some new high definition photos from space. He referred to Earth as "our big blue marble". He told us that, "There are no blue or red states visible from space." Gosh, he's a deep thinker.
***The broadcast ended with a story about Samantha Garvey. I mean another story about Samantha Garvey. She's the homeless high school student who was a semi-finalist for the Intel Science prize. This is the third Samantha Garvey story that Nightly News has reported in two weeks. She's the new Mary Thornberry. Garvey seems like a nice kid, but there is absolutely nothing about her that qualifies as news. It's just another in an endless line of sappy, feel-good stories that Nightly News reports over and over and over again. These stories test well in focus groups and get high ratings, so the producers pack the broadcast with them. And then they do follow-ups and more follow-ups and follow-ups to the follow-ups. Last February, Nightly News did seven stories (totaling 14 minutes) on Mary Thornberry--the American woman who was trapped in her Cairo apartment during the Tahrir Square uprising. So Cairo was erupting in violence and Nightly News was reporting on Mary Thornberry. Unbelievable. I'm guessing that Samantha Garvey will get at least as many stories as Mary Thornberry. Maybe more. By the way, the story featured a clip of Garvey on "The Today Show"--the second time on the broadcast that a "Today" clip was used.
Fri. Jan. 27--In a story about hard times in Pontiac, Michigan, one of the residents interviewed was identified in a graphic as "Charles Mason Ritired Auto Worker". What exactly was he "ritired" from?
***Brian showed us some nifty time-lapse video of construction at a London Olympics site and informed us that the Olympics begin in six months. Let the Games begin! Not the Olympic Games--I mean the promotional games. Nightly News will be bombarding us with Olympics-related promotions over the next six months. During the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Nightly News aired an incredible 160 minutes of Olympics-related stories whose only purpose was to coerce us to watch the Games on the various NBC networks.
***Brian then narrated a 20 second obituary for Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein on "Welcome Back, Kotter". Again, no offense intended, but if James Farentino doesn't deserve an obituary on Nightly News, then Robert Hegyes certainly doesn't deserve one, either. But what really matters is that Brian got to show some "Kotter" clips. More entertainment + less news = better ratings.
***Brian spent another 20 seconds showing us a photo of an infant sleeping on his father's military uniform--taken a month after the father had died. So? Are we supposed to cry? Brian should be fined by the FCC for wasting our time with this garbage.
***Then Brian told us about the first all-female crew to fly a Navy combat mission. I really wish he would keep his sexual fantasies to himself. Brian will report any story about the U.S. Military because he is the propaganda minister for the U.S. Armed Forces.
***After that, Brian treated us to yet another story about the Northern Lights. This is the third story this week about the Northern Lights. He called them "The Greatest Show on Earth". I'm pretty certain that no one would ever use that phrase to describe Nightly News.
***The final story of the night was about bird shit. I'm not kidding. Here's how Brian introduced the story: "Finally tonight we're gonna take you to a town with a big problem. It's in northern Kentucky where good people live and these days they live with a lot of birds. They weren't looking for birds--they like birds enough--but there's birds and there's the birds that have moved into this town along with everything birds bring with them--the stuff that comes out the back and the noise that comes out the front." Really? The stuff that comes out the back? Brian is clearly obsessed with animal shit. On Dec. 8, he reported a "news story" about a squirrel that had set off a fire alarm in a Florida elementary school. He ended the story by saying, "The good news--pest control has been notified. The bad news--those weren't raisins on the rice pudding." With all his talk about male genitalia and animal shit, I can only imagine what kind of stuff is on Brian's computer search engine. On second thought, I don't want to know. It would probably be really, really creepy. Anyway, the bird story featured a lovely shot of a car covered with bird droppings and several clips from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". That movie was produced by Universal, so this story is a great way to drum up some free publicity for a Universal movie and sell some DVDs. By the way, Brian showed three previews for this story, including one that was accompanied by the Beatles' "Blackbird". Brian often makes a point of playing popular music on Nightly News because it boosts the ratings and keeps viewers tuning in. Of course, Blackbirds are members of the thrush family while it was actually Starlings that invaded the Kentucky town. Somehow I don't think Brian really cares.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes 1/14 Through 1/20 (Revised)

2012-01-20T23:51:00.000-08:00

The big story on Nightly News this week was cold weather and snow. In January. Here's what happened on Nightly News this week:

Sat. Jan. 14--Obviously at no loss for worn-out cliches, Lester Holt told us about the "Deep Freeze" and the "Arctic Blast" taking place in much of the Northeast. Then The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel gave us the details: 32 degrees in New York; 33 in St. Louis; 32 in Lexington, KY; 35 in Washington, D.C. and 50 in Atlanta. These temperatures are all within the normal range for these cities in January, so why is this news? Seidel then told us that Sunday's temperature in New York would be a "numbing 27 degrees". Numbing? Five degrees below freezing? This is absolutely absurd. Normal weather is not news. When is Nightly News going to stop wasting our time with weather garbage and cover real news?
***A story about Joe Paterno's first major interview since he got fired featured audio clips from the interview, along with on-screen transcripts of his statements. Some of his printed statements were enclosed in quotes, some were not. Quotes, no quotes--whatever.
***Later, Lester spent 25 seconds telling us that in 2010 the TSA collected more than $409,000 in loose change left behind by passengers at security checkpoints. The first thing I thought was: Wow, that's two weeks' salary for Brian Williams. During this story, we were shown an animated flight board (created by the Nightly News graphics department) with imaginary departures listed for various cities. The city at the top of the board was "Ankorage". The correct spelling is Anchorage. The producers really should know this. After all, the first six letters are A-N-C-H-O-R. You know, like Brian Williams. And what do the Nightly News producers have against Alaska? On Dec. 25, 2010, the producers spelled Juneau as "Juno". Like the Ellen Page movie title. And twice in the past two years (4/26/11 and 4/23/10) the producers abbreviated Arkansas as "AK" instead of "AR". AK is actually the abbreviation for Alaska. Obviously, no one at Nightly News cares the slightest bit about accuracy. Is it too harsh to say the Nightly News producers are morons?
***The final story of the night was a 2:10 piece about injured and orphaned seals that are cared for and rehabbed in an Amsterdam marine life facility. Well, I guess this story was long overdue--it had been a whole month since Nightly News last did a story on seals (12/14/11). That's what I love about the Nightly News producers--they're all about the hard news. Always.
Sun. Jan. 15--Lester read this news flash: "Tonight millions of Americans are dealing with a deep freeze--a blast of Arctic air stretching from Boston to Chicago...." Cold weather in New England! In winter! 31 in Chicago! 26 in Detroit! Below freezing in Canada! OMG! I've never heard of such low temperatures in January! Thanks, Lester!
***A story about Pres. Obama's re-election campaign identified David Axelrod as an "Obama Campaign Strategist". After years of arbitrarily alternating between calling Axelrod an "adviser" and an "advisor", the Nightly News producers finally settled on "strategist" to avoid looking stupid as a result of their constantly changing spellings. And it took them five years to figure this out?
***In that same story, the producers showed October, November and December calendar pages on-screen to illustrate that the President raised $68 million in the last quarter of 2011. On each of these calendars, the week began with Monday and ended with Sunday. Funny thing--every calendar I've ever seen begins the week with Sunday and ends with Saturday. Why are the Nightly News producers using factory-second calendars? Or maybe they're using Mayan or lunar calendars.
***Correspondent Craig Melvin then spent 2:15 on a story about people who share, swap or trade instead of buying and selling. Fascinating--not. This story had a familiar feel to it. I wonder why. Oh yeah--just a few weeks ago (12/27/11) Nightly News did a 2:20 story about how the people of Portland, Maine barter services in lieu of buying and selling. Another rerun on Nightly News.
***The final story was Duncan Golestani's 2:15 piece about Margaret Thatcher. Or more specifically, about Meryl Streep's portrayal of Thatcher in "The Iron Lady". Not surprisingly, as the last story of the night, this story led right into the Red Carpet special that preceded the Golden Globe Awards. So the Streep/Thatcher story was, of course, just a promo for the Golden Globes. The story contained clips from the movie and interviews with Streep. And it also contained 30 seconds of gratuitous Golden Globe clips--mostly featuring George Clooney. Because viewers like to see him and it boosts the ratings.
Mon. Jan. 16--Nightly News devoted the first nine minutes of the broadcast to three reports about the capsized cruise ship off the coast of Italy. First of all, the story could have been fully reported in three minutes. Six people dead, 29 people missing (at that time). There really wasn't much more to say. The other six minutes was just the Nightly News producers milking the story for ratings. In general, the way in which Brian Williams and the Nightly News correspondents covered the story was really very sloppy.
***In his intro to the lead story, Brian referred to the ship as the "Casa" Concordia, rather than the Costa Concordia.
***Also in his intro, Brian said that, "Of the 4200 souls on board, six are dead, 29 still missing...." Souls? Why does Brian always insist on speaking as if he was narrating a trailer for a really bad horror film? Why can't he just say "people"?
***In the second segment about the Costa Concordia, Harry Smith rode out to Giglio Island in a chartered boat to get a closer look at the submerged liner. Here's his bizarre description of the trip: "We went out there with an American boat captain--a yacht captain--who has plied these waters around here and around the world for more than 30 years and what he has to say about the captain and the captain's actions in regard to sailing so close to this tiny island in waters that have been charted for hundreds of years, all the way back to beyond the birth of Christ is something you're gonna want to hear and we'll have that on a report tonight on Rock Center." Wow. That's a long way to go just to promote Rock Center. But Smith should read up on his religious history. If the waters have been charted for "hundreds of years", that wouldn't come close to going back to "beyond the birth of Christ", since Christ was (as legend has it) born more than 2,000 years ago. Smith was off by about 1,500 years. And why is he even mentioning Christ in the first place? It's such an out-of-left-field reference it just leaves us scratching our heads.
***During Tom Costello's segment about rules and regulations of cruise ship evacuations, we were shown a clip of an interview with a Coast Guard officer who is a liaison to the cruise ship industry and who was identified in a Nightly News graphic as "Lt. Commander Dan Brehm US Coast Guard". But in a clip of Brehm that was used on Sunday's Nightly News, he was identified as "Lieutenant Commander Dan Brehm U.S. Coast Guard". Why was he called a "Lieutenant Commander" on Sunday and a "Lt. Commander" on Monday? Why was it "U.S. Coast Guard" on Sunday, but "US Coast Guard" on Monday? Where were the periods? At Nightly News, no one cares about consistency. In fact, no one seems to care the slightest bit about spelling, grammar or syntax. Nightly News is certainly not a professional news organization.
***A story about a change in the inscription on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was identical to a story that had been reported on Saturday. If Lester Holt already told us about it, why did Brian need to tell us about it again? Did this really need to be reported twice? Apparently, a story isn't news unless Brian himself reports it.
***Mike Taibbi spent more than two minutes telling us about a woman and her two kids that were rescued (by Navy Seabees with a heavy-duty forklift) from their car as it teetered precipitously above an overpass after being rear-ended by a truck. We're all glad that they're safe. But two minutes? Come on, now.
***Brian spent 30 seconds on a story that he began with, "There's interesting new research out tonight about how infants learn to talk." The entire video portion of the story consisted of a YouTube clip of two infant twins seemingly having an animated baby-talk conversation with each other. Obviously, the story was concocted solely as an excuse to show the video (this is at least the third time Nightly News has shown this video). If there was any doubt about that, during the story Brian said, "This is just one of our favorite videos." Well, Brian gets to do whatever he wants, so if he wants to show the video, the producers show the video.
***On the previous Thursday (1/12), Brian spent nearly a minute irresponsibly and alarmistly scaring us into thinking that a falling Russian space probe was going to crash into Madagascar and annihilate that island in a fiery explosion. Brian must have been bitterly disappointed on Monday when he had to meekly report that the probe fell harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean. Yet another example of Brian massively hyping a non-story for maximum shock value for the sole purpose of generating sensationalist ratings. (See also the eight ridiculous stories on the Carmageddon non-event that Nightly News reported in July.)
***This is one of those stories that makes me wonder why the FCC hasn't shut down Nightly News for good. It's also one of those stories that makes me want to vomit. It was an idiotic, pandering 90-second recap of the previous night's Golden Globe Awards, which (of course) had been shown on NBC. The story was formatted like a silent movie (like "The Artist") with no audio dialogue. Instead, the words were written on cards, also like in a silent movie, and the color footage was changed to black and white. Along with footage of George Clooney (naturally) and Meryl Streep, the cards contained inane descriptions like, "It was also a big night for Best Actor George Clooney!" "His movie 'The Descendants' won Best Drama!" "Clooney plays a guy whose wife was cheating on him!" "Meryl Streep won Best Actress for 'The Iron Lady'!" "It was her fifth Best Actress award, but she forgot her glasses!" "But the real star of the night was the dog from 'The Artist'!" "He did tricks on stage!" "Who's a good dog?" Honestly. I mean it. This was an actual story on a network evening newscast. I'm not kidding. And Brian began the story by bragging that, "About 17 million of you watched the Golden Globes last night...." Yes, it's very dignified and professional for a news anchor to brag about his network's ratings. Funny thing--I never hear Brian bragging about the appallingly low ratings for most of the rest of NBC's prime time schedule (including his own Rock Center, which draws an anemic 4 million people each week on average). By the way, other sources (including The New York Times) reported that the show was actually watched by 16.8 million people. Brian certainly knew that when he made his claim of 17 million viewers, but clearly he thought that 17 million sounded much more impressive than 16.8 million. And here's something Brian "neglected" to mention: The Golden Globes' viewership was down from 2011, including a slip of 4% in the important 18-49 demographic. Of course, Brian never reports bad news about NBC so he didn't mention this. (I'm still waiting for Brian to report that NBC lost $225 million on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. I won't hold my breath.)
***The final story of the night was about a six-year-old boy with Down Syndrome who is also a model and actor in commercials. Apparently, the whole point of the story was that children with Down Syndrome are not as different as some might think. That's nice, but why is this news? Meanwhile, the idiotic Anne Thompson talked to this little boy like she was talking to a goldfish. If you're going to do a story meant to show that Down Syndrome children are not so different, don't use a correspondent who's going to talk to the story's subject in such a condescending manner.
***Meanwhile, here are a few of the stories Brian and his producers chose NOT to report on Monday: 1) A building collapsed in Beirut killing at least 26 people. Brian didn't care about this story because most of the people killed were poor or immigrants. And also because they didn't die in a luxury ocean liner. 2) The Pakistani Supreme Court initiated "contempt-of-court proceedings against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for failing to pursue corruption charges against his boss, President Asif Ali Zardari." (According to Tuesday's New York Times.) 3) Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan finally backed down from his decision to cut fuel subsidies for the Nigerian people. Riots and strikes over the fuel subsidy cuts had been raging for weeks. 4) Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of the Eurozone bailout fund (the European Financial Stability Facility) from AAA to AA+, potentially making it more difficult for the fund's managers to borrow money. Last week, S & P similarly downgraded the credit rating of France and eight other Eurozone countries--Nightly News still has not reported this. But at least we know all about the Russian space probe, the twin infants who talk to each other and George Clooney and Meryl Streep's great night at the Golden Globe Awards. Great job, Brian. You should be so proud of what you're doing at Nightly News.
Tues. Jan. 17--Brian again told us about the "Winter Blast" in the Pacific Northwest. I wish I had a dollar for every time Brian or Lester said "Winter Blast".
***Mike Taibbi did a 2:10 follow-up story to Monday's report about the woman and her two kids that were rescued from their car as it dangled above a highway overpass. A brief definition: At Nightly News, a "follow-up story" is a way to waste time by showing existing footage (either used or unused) of a story in order to create a second story that is virtually identical to the original story. Follow-up stories are very inexpensive to produce because most or all of the footage has already been filmed. The producers just need to do some editing and record a voice-over and ta-da...instant story. In this case, Taibbi and his producers basically repeated the original story with some added footage of the Seabees who rescued the car's passengers. So over two days, Nightly News spent 4:15 on this one story, rather than reporting on important news going on around the world. Thanks, Nightly News.
***Brian spent a minute telling us about Paula Deen's diabetes. This story had been circulating for days, but Brian reported it on Tuesday because Deen had appeared on that morning's Today Show. Remember, it isn't news unless it happens on NBC. The video that accompanied the segment consisted of Deen talking to Al Roker and doing a cooking demonstration on The Today Show set. As usual, Brian's number one job is to promote other NBC shows. But promoting The Today Show takes on a greater urgency now because the revamping of CBS This Morning makes it a potential threat to The Today Show's ratings. We all recall that in the months before and after Conan O'Brien replaced Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, Brian made it his personal mission to use his broadcast to rabidly promote Leno, Conan and The Tonight Show (as well as Leno's prime-time show). Perhaps the most shameless manifestation of Brian's fawning promotional efforts was on the 4/8/09 Nightly News, when he did a ridiculously gratuitous "Making A Difference" segment on Leno--less than two months before Leno ceded The Tonight Show to Conan! Is it ethical for a news anchor to use his broadcast to promote his network's other shows? I'll leave it to you to decide.
***Because sports and entertainment are a huge part of Nightly News (meaning they boost the broadcast's ratings), Brian did a segment on the birthdays of Muhammad Ali and Betty White. Brian called White an "American icon". Not coincidentally, NBC had aired a birthday tribute to White the previous night. But White's birthday tribute was scheduled to be rebroadcast the following Saturday, so of course Brian's goal was to promote the second airing of the special and increase its ratings. Does anyone believe for a second that Brian would have mentioned White's birthday if her special was airing on another network?
***Brian then spent a combined 75 seconds to tell us about a mistaken water-landing announcement that was broadcast on a British Airways plane and that the average age of Americans' cars is 10.8 years. Fascinating.
***The final story was about the wacky curve ball questions being asked on today's college applications. Some colleges are asking applicants who their favorite superhero is or about their favorite ride in an amusement park. Honestly, it's not nearly as important to find out why colleges are asking silly questions of their applicants as it is to find out why Nightly News is wasting 2:20 telling us about it. Isn't there any real news to report?
Wed. Jan. 18--During a story about the Italian Cruise Ship disaster, a Nightly News graphic identified Adam Smallman as the "Lloyds Head of Content". Actually, it's "Lloyd's". But when have the Nightly News producers ever cared about an apostrophe?
***We were treated to yet another story about the snowstorm in Seattle. Isn't there a better way to allocate two minutes of important Nightly News air time?
***In a story about the world's best and worst airport terminals, Brian told us that, "LaGuardia terminal 5 is the seventh worst in the world...." But on-screen, the graphic read "LaGuardia Terminal C". Kennedy Airport has a terminal 5, LaGuardia doesn't. Brian was wrong, the graphic was right. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the producers used the same animated graphic representation of an airport departure flight board as they did on Saturday--and like Saturday, Anchorage was misspelled as "Ankorage". Making this mistake once was awful. But twice is inexcusable.
***Brian then spent 30 seconds telling us that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was named a Global Cultural Ambassador by the State Department. Thanks, Brian. Good to know.
Thurs. Jan. 19--In a story about the Costa Concordia, Brian said, "Divers are back at work searching that giant wreck...for the 21 souls who are still missing...." Again he said "souls". What the hell is wrong with him?
***In a story about the political revolt in Syria, Brian pronounced the city of Daraa as "Daria". You know, like the late 90's animated MTV series.
***In his story about South Carolina politics, Tom Brokaw told us that Jim DeMint is South Carolina's "most popular senator". Really, Tom? So he's the most popular out of the state's two senators? Wow, what an honor.
***Brian and his producers used the death of freestyle skier Sarah Burke as a shameless promotion for the Olympics. Both Brian and newsidiot Anne Thompson made sure to tell us that Burke was a gold medal hopeful for the 2014 Sochi Games. Real classy move, Brian. But it's certainly not surprising. Nightly News will report any story that's even tangentially related to the Olympics because they're desperate for any opportunity to promote NBC's Olympic coverage (just wait until this summer. Nightly News will become a promotional video for the London Games.). Brian also made a point of saying that Burke "was beautiful". How is that relevant? Does Nightly News cover women differently depending on how attractive they are? Clearly, the answer is "yes". This is typical of Nightly News. On the 2/7/10 broadcast (five days before the Vancouver Olympics began), NBC sports producer Alan Abrahamson said this of Lindsey Vonn: "She's blond, she's pretty...." Apparently, the way in which the Nightly News producers choose to cover women in the news really does depend on what they look like.
***The broadcast ended with a 2:15 story about David Rubenstein, a wealthy philanthropist who donated money to help restore the Washington Monument after it was damaged in last August's earthquake. Brian is clearly obsessed with the Washington Monument. This is the seventh story he has reported about the damage it incurred. And like the other six stories, this one began with a ridiculous animated flag waving behind Brian. Obviously, his goal is to boost his ratings by crassly appealing to his viewers' sense of rah-rah gung-ho God-Bless-America patriotism. But with out a doubt, my favorite part of this report was when the producers gratuitously inserted panda footage into the story as Tom Costello was telling us that Rubenstein had donated $4.5 million to the National Zoo. Boom--cue the pandas! Is there no level to which the Nightly News producers will not stoop in order to pander to the viewers? Why not graphically insert pandas into every news story? Look--there's a panda on the deck of the Costa Concordia! Look--there's Gabby Giffords holding a panda! Look--there's a panda on stage during the Republican debate! The Nightly News producers are absolutely shameless.
Fri. Jan. 20--Brian began the broadcast reporting from Orlando because it's never too early to begin promoting Monday's Republican debate on NBC. The lead story, ostensibly about the Republican candidates (but which was really just a promo for the debate) featured 15 seconds of Stephen Colbert video. Obviously, the producers realize that viewers are bored by politics but love entertainment news. After seven minutes of promoting Monday's debate, Brian told us we could see it "On your NBC station on the NBC television network". Um, Brian, the 1950's called--they want their promotional announcement back. At that point, Brian mercifully turned the remainder of the broadcast over to Lester Holt so he could go enjoy Disney World with his family. Excuse me--I mean Universal Studios. Brian ignores ABC when he reports the news, so he certainly would never patronize a theme park owned by ABC's parent company.
***Lester's first story was the "Winter Blast" which dumped 6-8 inches of snow in Chicago. Give me a break. In Chicago, that's a dusting. The accompanying Weather Channel map forecast one inch of snow in Syracuse, 2-4 inches in Detroit and 3-5 inches in New York, Pittsburgh and Boston. Wow. It's like a new ice age has hit the Northeast. This meager snowfall is a complete non-event, but the Nightly News producers nevertheless saw fit to waste 2:40 of valuable news time on it. Thanks.
***We were shown 35 seconds of video of the President singing an Al Green song. Maybe the producers should have attached a "Breaking News" banner to this story.
***We then saw a 1:35 obituary for Etta James. It felt like deja vu. I wonder why? Oh yeah--it's because Brian already read her obituary on Dec. 16--before she died! That's right--Brian has invented the pre-obituary. It's a way to report twice on the same person's death. Of course, that never seems to be a problem. Brian has also perfected the two-day obituary, in which he reports someone's death a second time on Monday after Lester has already reported it on Sunday. Recently, he has done this with Cardinal John Foley and Tony Blankley. But as we all know, a story isn't really news unless Brian himself reports it.
***The final story of the night was a 2:40 piece about the Tuskegee Airmen and the movie about them, "Red Tails". Why did I also get deja vu from this story. I guess it was because Nightly News already reported the exact same story last Oct. 5. The Tuskegee Airmen and the "Red Tails" movie. The Tuskegee Airmen were great heroes, but do we really need to see this story twice in less than four months? No we don't. But Nightly News is the unofficial propaganda arm of the U.S. Military, and their job is to promote the armed services with stories like this. Twice, if necessary. And let's not forget that this was also an entertainment story (it included 55 seconds of clips from "Red Tails") so that's like the daily double for the Nightly News producers. Make-believe patriotism and movie clips together in one story. Sounds like Nightly News heaven. Meanwhile, on Friday, France suspended training operations in Afghanistan after an Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers and wounded 16 in response to the video of U.S. Marines urinating on Afghan corpses. Nightly News didn't bother to report this story. But at least we know all about the Winter Blast and the President's Al Green moment. Great job, Nightly News producers.

NBC Nightly News's Bizarre Coverage Of The Italian Cruise Ship Disaster

2012-01-17T02:03:00.001-08:00

On Monday, Nightly News devoted the first nine minutes of the broadcast to three reports about the capsized cruise ship off the coast of Italy. First of all, the story could have been fully reported in three minutes. Six people dead, 29 people missing. There's really not much more to say. The other six minutes was just the Nightly News producers milking the story for ratings. But the way in which Brian Williams and the Nightly News correspondents covered the story was really very bizarre.

***In his intro to the lead story, Brian referred to the ship as the "Casa" Concordia, rather than the Costa Concordia.
***Also in his intro, Brian said that, "Of the 4200 souls on board, six are dead, 29 still missing...." Souls? Why does Brian always insist on speaking as if he was narrating a trailer for a really bad horror film? Why can't he just say "people"?
***In the second segment about the Costa Concordia, Harry Smith rode out to Giglio Island in a chartered boat to get a closer look at the submerged liner. Here's his bizarre description of the trip: "We went out there with an American boat captain--a yacht captain--who has plied these waters around here and around the world for more than 30 years and what he has to say about the captain and the captain's actions in regard to sailing so close to this tiny island in waters that have been charted for hundreds of years, all the way back to beyond the birth of Christ is something you're gonna want to hear and we'll have that on a report tonight on Rock Center." Wow. That's a long way to go just to promote Rock Center. But Smith should read up on his religious history. If the waters have been charted for "hundreds of years", that wouldn't come close to going back to "beyond the birth of Christ", since Christ was (as legend has it) born more than 2,000 years ago. Smith was off by about 1,500 years. And why is he even mentioning Christ in the first place? It's such an out-of-left-field reference it just leaves us scratching our heads.
***During Tom Costello's segment about rules and regulations of cruise ship evacuations, we were shown a clip of an interview with a Coast Guard officer who is a liaison to the cruise industry and who was identified in a Nightly News graphic as "Lt. Commander Dan Brehm US Coast Guard". But in a clip of Brehm that was used on Sunday's Nightly News, he was identified as "Lieutenant Commander Dan Brehm U.S. Coast Guard". Why was he called a "Lieutenant Commander" on Sunday and a "Lt. Commander" on Monday? Why was it "U.S. Coast Guard" on Sunday, but "US Coast Guard" on Monday? Where were the periods? At Nightly News, no one cares about consistency. In fact, no one seems to care the slightest bit about spelling, grammar or syntax. Nightly News is certainly not a professional news organization.

Here are a few other things that happened on Monday's Nightly News:
***A story about a change in the inscription on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was identical to Saturday's story. If Lester Holt already told us about it, why did Brian need to tell us about it again? Did this really need to be reported twice? Apparently, a story is not news until Brian himself reports it.
***Brian spent 30 seconds on a story that he began with, "There's interesting new research out tonight about how infants learn to talk." The entire video portion of the story consisted of a YouTube clip of two infant twins seemingly having an animated baby-talk conversation with each other. Obviously, the story was concocted solely as an excuse to show the video (this is at least the third time Nightly News has shown this video). If there is any doubt about that, during the story Brian said, "This is just one of our favorite videos." Well, Brian gets to do whatever he wants, so if he wants to show the video, the producers show the video.
***On Thursday, Brian spent nearly a minute irresponsibly and alarmistly scaring us into thinking that a falling Russian space probe was going to crash into Madagascar and annihilate that island in a fiery explosion. Brian must have been bitterly disappointed on Monday when he had to meekly report that the probe fell harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean. Yet another example of Brian massively hyping a non-story for maximum shock value for the sole purpose of generating sensationalist ratings. (See also the eight ridiculous stories on the Carmageddon non-event that Nightly News reported in July.)
***This is one of those stories that makes me wonder why the FCC hasn't shut down Nightly News for good. It's also one of those stories that makes me want to vomit. It was an idiotic, pandering 90-second recap of the previous night's Golden Globe Awards, which (naturally) had been shown on NBC. The story was formatted like a silent movie (like "The Artist") with no audio dialogue. Instead, the words were written on cards, also like in a silent movie, and the color footage was changed to black and white. Along with footage of George Clooney (naturally) and Meryl Streep, the cards contained inane descriptions like, "It was also a big night for Best Actor George Clooney!" "His movie 'The Descendants' won Best Drama!" "Clooney plays a guy whose wife was cheating on him!" "Meryl Streep won Best Actress for 'The Iron Lady'!" "It was her fifth Best Actress award, but she forgot her glasses!" "But the real star of the night was the dog from 'The Artist'!" "He did tricks on stage!" "Who's a good dog?" Honestly. I mean it. This was an actual story on a network evening newscast. I'm not kidding. And Brian began the story by bragging that, "About 17 million of you watched the Golden Globes last night...." Yes, it's very dignified and professional for a news anchor to brag about his network's ratings. Funny thing--I never hear Brian bragging about the appallingly low ratings for most of the rest of NBC's prime time schedule (including his own Rock Center, which draws an anemic 4 million people each week on average).
***The final story of the night was about a six-year-old boy with Down Syndrome who is also a model and actor in commercials. Apparently, the whole point of the story was that children with Down Syndrome are not as different as some might think. That's nice, but why is this news? Meanwhile, the idiotic Anne Thompson talked to this little boy like she was talking to a goldfish. If you're going to do a story meant to show that Down Syndrome children are not so different, don't use a correspondent who's going to talk to the story's subject in such a condescending manner.

Meanwhile, here are a few of the stories Brian and his producers chose NOT to report on Monday:
***A building collapsed in Beirut killing at least 26 people. Brian didn't care about this story because most of the people killed were poor or immigrants. And also because they didn't die in a luxury ocean liner.
***The Pakistani Supreme Court initiated "contempt-of-court proceedings against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for failing to pursue corruption charges against his boss, President Asif Ali Zardari." (According to Tuesday's New York Times.)
***Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan finally backed down from his decision to cut fuel subsidies for the Nigerian people. Riots and strikes over the fuel subsidy cuts had been raging for weeks.
***Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of the Eurozone bailout fund (the European Financial Stability Facility) from AAA to AA+, potentially making it more difficult for the fund's managers to borrow money. Last week, S & P similarly downgraded the credit rating of France and eight other Eurozone countries--Nightly News still has not reported this. But at least we know all about the Russian space probe, the twin infants who talk to each other and George Clooney and Meryl Streep's great night at the Golden Globe Awards. Great job, Brian. You should be so proud of what you're doing at Nightly News.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--1/7 Through 1/13

2012-01-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

Here's what you may have missed on NBC Nightly News this past week:

Saturday Jan. 7--There was no Nightly News Saturday because obviously NFL football is much more important than news to the NBC weasels.
Sunday Jan. 8--Nightly News spent nearly eight minutes reporting on the Republican Presidential candidates. Much of that time was devoted to rehashing Sunday's Republican Presidential debate that took place on "Meet The Press" that morning, but they barely acknowledged Saturday night's debate on ABC. (Lester Holt mentioned Saturday's debate once in passing, but never mentioned ABC.) Meanwhile, on ABC's World News Sunday, anchor David Muir not only mentioned the "Meet The Press" debate, but also showed clips from it. Obviously, ABC's main priority is reporting the news while NBC's main priority is self-promotion and playing childish "you-don't-really-exist" games with the other networks.
***We got a 30-second story about an Australian bungee jumper who plunged into an African river when her cable broke. Breaking news if I've ever seen it.
***The final story was a ridiculous two-and-a-half minute piece about law students using dogs to help them relax while studying. The producers played three promos for this story, including two that featured the Osmond's 1972 song "Puppy Love". You're probably thinking that I got confused and I actually saw this piece on Animal Planet, but no, trust me--it was on NBC Nightly News--a supposedly professional news broadcast. Stories on dogs mean good ratings for Nightly News, which is why they've done 14 stories about dogs in the past 5 months. Of course it's not just dogs that help the Nightly News ratings. In the past 10 months, Nightly News has done at least 56 stories about animals, including cats, whales, bears, pandas, penguins, polar bears, koalas and lions. Obviously, ratings matter much more than news to Brian Williams and his producers. And by the way, using pop songs as promos for silly animal stories is a cheap ploy and not something a professional news organization would do. Then again, no one has ever accused NBC Nightly News of being a professional news organization.
Monday Jan. 9--This was clearly a day of reruns at Nightly News. Brian Williams spent 1:45 talking with David Gregory about Sunday's "Meet the Press" Republican Presidential debate. But on Sunday, Lester Holt already had a 1:35 discussion with David Gregory about the debate. There wasn't anything new to report--they just went over yesterday's news. And like Lester on Sunday, Brian refused to mention Saturday's ABC debate because he has a strict policy of not mentioning the other networks.
***We saw a two-minute story about Gabby Giffords' public appearance Sunday to acknowledge the one-year anniversary of the Tucson shootings. The event took place on Sunday and it was covered that night on Nightly News. Monday's story on Giffords was virtually identical to Sunday's story--there was no new information so we mostly saw the same footage that had been shown Sunday. The only real difference was that Miguel Almaguer recorded a new voice-over for Monday's story in a silly attempt to make the stories seem different.
***We also saw a 25-second story about the Australian bungee jumper who plunged into an African river when her bungee cord snapped. Why does that seem familiar? Oh yeah--now I remember. Nightly News reported the exact same story on Sunday. But it must have been really hard to trim those five seconds off of Sunday's story.
***We were shown a 40-second obituary for Tony Blankley. We had already seen a 20-second obit for Blankley on the previous night's broadcast. Was Blankley really so important that he merited obits on two consecutive Nightly News broadcasts? But there was one important difference in the two obituaries. Sunday's obit showed the years "1948-2012" on-screen below Blankley's photo. Monday's obit showed the years "1949-2012" on-screen below Blankley's photo. It's laughable that the Nightly News producers could give Blankley two different years of birth on two different days. But that's how things are at Nightly News. No one cares.
***Luckily, not every story on Monday's broadcast was a rerun from Sunday. We were treated to a marvelous story about how Kate Middleton celebrated her 30th birthday. She went to see "War Horse"! She cried! OMG! By the way, this is only the 22nd Kate Middleton story Nightly News has run in the past seven months, so we're not even close to the saturation point. I'm surprised that Brian didn't lead with this story, considering his obsession with all things Kate.
***Then we saw some mesmerizing footage of George Romney from 1967. I'm not sure why this was relevant, other than to allow Brian to plug a longer version of the Romney story that would be airing later on "Rock Center". Is it really ethical for Brian to take more than a minute from Nightly News in order to plug his prime-time show? Oh well, what do I know. Ethics doesn't matter; plugging "Rock Center" matters.
***Next, Brian spent 30 seconds telling us about recalls of Bufferin and Excedrin. Those brands compete directly with Bayer, which is by far the most frequent advertiser on Nightly News (its pain-relief products include Bayer aspirin, Alka-Seltzer and Aleve). So bad news for Excedrin and Bufferin is very helpful to Bayer. But I'm sure that had absolutely nothing to do with Brian's decision to air the Bufferin/Excedrin recall story. Because Brian doesn't use his broadcast to help his sponsors. Never ever. And if you believe that, there's a bridge over the East River I'd like to sell you.
***The final story of the night was a 2:45 piece about the popularity of the PBS series "Downton Abbey". Wow, 2:45--that's really long. They could have aired two actual news stories in that time. But I'll say this--at least Stephanie Gosk had the ethical integrity to disclose that "Downton Abbey" is produced by a company owned by NBC Universal. So the piece was shown for the sole purpose of promoting an NBC property, but at least Gosk told us the truth. I'm not sure how Brian allowed that disclosure into the story--I'm guessing he wasn't aware of it until it actually aired. Meanwhile, on Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Berlin to discuss ways to salvage the economic future of Europe. Brian didn't report this story because obviously it wasn't important enough. But at least we know all about Kate's 30th birthday and "Downton Abbey". Great job, Brian. Keep up the good work.
Tuesday Jan. 10--While talking to Brian about Jon Huntsman, Andrea Mitchell mentioned that Huntsman's father made a fortune by inventing the fast food clamshell package. Brian immediately chimed in with "the Big Mac container" because he's incapable of passing up a chance to plug McDonald's. How much does McDonald's pay Brian to plug their products, anyway?
***A story about the Supreme Court case involving censorship on network television contained a 15-second clip of Bono cursing during the 2003 Golden Globe Awards. Certainly there was no shortage of clips the producers could have used for this story (remember Janet Jackson at the 2004 Super Bowl?). But obviously Brian ordered his producers to use the Bono clip because Brian makes a point of including Bono (and Springsteen and Bon Jovi) on as many of his broadcasts as possible each year. Brian gets to do whatever the hell he wants. And don't you forget it.
***During a story about snow in Alaska, the Nightly News producers correctly spelled "Juneau" on a map. On the 12/25/11 Nightly News, the producers spelled the state capital as "Juno". You know--like the movie. So I congratulate the producers for getting it right. See--not everything I write about Nightly News is harsh and critical.
***The final story was Brian's two-and-a-half minute overly-long profile of Dorothy Robie, co-owner of Robie's Country Store in Hooksett, New Hampshire. The store is a regular stop for politicians campaigning in the New Hampshire primary. Note to Brian: It might have been more informative to spend that time reporting on the actual candidates, rather than on someone who has only briefly met the candidates. At the end of the story, Brian's closing comment was, "How 'bout that--a picture of Mitt Romney's fathah," using his best fake New England accent. Wherever he goes, Brian loves to make fun of the local yokels.
Wednesday Jan. 11--The lead story was outgoing Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's pardon of 214 prisoners before leaving office. Brian ended the report by calling it an "amazing story". Five seconds later, introducing a story about the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, he said, "Americans woke up to an amazing story this morning from overseas...." I guess "amazing" was the Sesame Street Word of the Day. Here's an idea for Brian: Just report the news. We'll decide what's amazing.
***A story about Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and the other Republican candidates included a clip of Michael Douglas from "Wall Street". This isn't surprising--Brian has a huge man-crush on Douglas and shows his clips frequently on Nightly News (in addition to being introduced by Douglas each night at the beginning of the broadcast).
***We got a 2:15 story on Michelle Obama because the NBC News research department has informed Brian and his producers that stories on Mrs. Obama are very popular and generate high ratings.
***Pete Williams continues to be my hero. Once again, when Brian introduced him with a treacly "Good evening, Pete", he held his ground and refused to say "Good evening, Brian". At least there is one person at Nightly News who understands that news is about reporting important events, rather than feeding the ego of an anchor who is desperate to convince the viewers that the correspondents really, really like him.
***Brian began a story on Hostess's filing for bankruptcy by saying, "A lot of us like their products a lot more than we'd be willing to admit in public...." A lot of us. Because the news is always first and foremost about Brian.
***Brian then took thirty seconds to report the breaking news story of a little girl at the Wellington Zoo who was watching a snarling lion through the glass partition. Brian then told us that the Wellington Zoo was in New England. Actually, it's in New Zealand. He was only off by around 9,000 miles. Seriously, someone needs to buy Brian an atlas. By the way, last June 17, Brian reported a breaking news story about...a little boy at a Colorado zoo who was watching a snarling lion through the glass partition. I think it's fair to say that Brian has the little-kid-watches-snarling-lion-behind-glass-partition stories totally covered. Because Brian is all about the hard news.
***The crack investigative team at Nightly News brought us a 2:10 story about the dangers of yoga. Imagine--people can get injured doing yoga. Who knew? Why wasn't this the night's lead story? Why aren't the "occupy" people making this their lead message?
Thursday Jan. 12--Here's how Brian began the night's lead story about the U.S. Marines who urinated on Taliban corpses: "If you have a combat veteran in your household or your family perhaps they can tell you what happens over there--what happens to young men who volunteer for duty at 18 years of age and find themselves in withering daily combat fighting an insurgency in an unforgiving place sometimes over multiple combat tours." Not surprisingly, Brian is making excuses for the Marines' actions. Because Brian is the Chief Propagandist for the U.S. Military. I'm surprised he didn't stand up and scream "Ooh-rah!"
***We saw a 2:40 story about snow in the Midwest, New England and Alaska. In January. As if this is some sort of breaking news. Within this story, there was a fifteen-second clip of Al Roker, Ann Curry and Matt Lauer battling the elements outside on The Today Show. By contrast, The CBS Evening News spent a total of 20 seconds reporting on the winter weather. Because that's all the story deserved. The Nightly News clip from The Today Show was almost as long as CBS's entire weather story! We can only wonder if Nightly News is going to waste as much time reporting on snow in January as they did reporting on hot weather in August.
***A story on the second anniversary of the Haiti earthquake showed old footage of--surprise--Brian Williams in Haiti. Whenever Nightly News does a follow-up story like this, Brian orders his producers to include old footage of him because the news is always about Brian. By the way, in a few weeks it will be the second anniversary of the day Brian completely dropped the Haiti earthquake story to start covering the Vancouver Olympics. I wonder if he'll mention this anniversary on the air.
***Brian then spent 50 seconds reporting on the Russian space probe that will fall to earth on Sunday. Brian spends an awful lot of time reporting on space junk falling to earth. But, as we all know, Brian gets to do whatever he wants. Brian ended the story by telling us that the probe may hit Madagascar. "If so they'll have to move it, move it," he said. Brian is apparently so desperate to appear hip and cool that he has now taken to incorporating Black Eyed Peas lyrics into his news stories. I can't wait to hear Brian say, "You can go hard or you can go home" to describe the next Republican candidate to drop out of the presidential race.
***Brian spent more than a minute telling us about a ringing cell phone that disrupted a performance of the New York Philharmonic. I'll say this: A ringing cell phone at a Philharmonic concert is almost as annoying and incompetent as a fire alarm blaring continuously through an evening newscast. If you don't get the reference, watch a rebroadcast of the 11/29/11 Nightly News (or search Google or Youtube for key words like "NBC Nightly News fire alarm Brian Williams").
***The broadcast ended with a 2:05 story about Samantha Garvey, a high school senior who is a semi-finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search despite being homeless. We all wish her well, but in what alternate universe is this considered news?
Friday Jan. 13--Leading into a story about the Republican Presidential candidates, Brian told us that Peter Alexander was in "Columbia, South Carolina", although the caption below Alexander clearly read "Hilton Head, SC". Oh well, Brian was only off by 160 miles. That's much less than he was off by when he told us that Wellington was in New England.
***Brian and his pals at The Weather Channel needed more than a minute-and-a-half to tell us about a few inches of snow in Cleveland. In January! Well I never heard of such a thing!
***In another pointless piece from the "Duh, really?" file, dimwit Anne Thompson took nearly three minutes to tell us that we should start saving for our retirement. But this piece wasn't on Nightly News because it was an important news story. It was just a marketing magnet. In the commercial break immediately before this story, a Charles Schwab commercial aired with the tag line "Let's Talk About Retirement." Obviously, Nightly News only included this "news story" as a way of attracting sponsors like Charles Schwab. It's called a tie-in. So it doesn't matter that the story had no actual information to offer. That wasn't the point of the story. Bringing in new sponsors was the point of the story. The Nightly News ad sales reps, rather than the news producers, probably came up with the story concept. And it worked. Well done.
***Next, we saw another story about Samantha Garvey, the high school senior who was profiled on Thursday's broadcast. She won't be homeless much longer because Suffolk County officials gave her family a home! So now we've spent nearly four minutes over two days learning all about Samantha Garvey. Because obviously, there was no real news to report. Brian ended the story by saying, "We'll stay on this story." Gee, ya think? Obviously, Samantha Garvey is the new Mary Thornberry. Viewers may recall that last February, during the uprising in Cairo, Nightly News spent an astonishing 14 minutes reporting seven stories about Thornberry, an American who was temporarily trapped in her Cairo apartment. They shamelessly milked the story and made it into a running soap opera, culminating with Brian's three-and-a-half minute interview with Thornberry on the 2/7/11 Nightly News. Considering that Brian and his producers have only 22 minutes each night to report all the important news going on across the country and around the world, it's journalistic malpractice to include pointless stories about Mary Thornberry and Samantha Garvey. But Brian knows that human interest stories (no matter how irrelevant) garner higher ratings than actual news, so he's not about to abandon this practice anytime soon.
***The final three minutes of Nightly News (obviously, the word "News" in the show's title is only a suggestion) was devoted to the 60th anniversary of The Today Show. To put it bluntly, this sickening story was just NBC masturbating itself. Look--there's Barbara Walters! And Katie! And Meredith and Bryant! Awesome! So let's recap Friday's broadcast. After the 10-minute mark, the "news stories" we saw were about snowy weather in January, how to prepare for retirement, Samantha Garvey's life story and The Today Show's 60th anniversary (there was also a 50-second obituary for news correspondent Richard Threlkeld thrown in). Meanwhile, on Friday Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of France and eight other Eurozone countries, but Brian never mentioned this because obviously it wasn't important enough. But at least we know all about Samantha Garvey and The Today Show's 60th anniversary. And that's what's really important.

Brian Williams Reports From Wellington, New England

2012-01-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams reported the breaking news story of a little girl at the Wellington Zoo who was watching a snarling lion through the glass partition. Brian then told us that the Wellington Zoo was in New England. Actually, it's in New Zealand. He was only off by around 9,000 miles. Seriously, someone needs to buy Brian an atlas. By the way, last June 17, Brian reported a breaking news story about...a little boy watching a snarling lion behind the glass partition at a Colorado zoo. I think it's fair to say that Brian Williams has the little-kid-watches-snarling-lion-behind-glass stories totally covered. Because Brian is all about the hard news. Also on Wednesday, Nightly News brought us a riveting two-minute report about the dangers of yoga. Meanwhile, Brian did not mention the riots in Nigeria over fuel prices because obviously they weren't important enough. But at least we know all about the little girl and the lion. And the dangers of yoga. Great job, Brian! Keep up the good work.

Not-Really-Nightly News

2012-01-10T01:30:00.000-08:00

Of the 105 weekend days in 2011, NBC did not air Nightly News on 18 of them (on the east coast, and possibly nationally). So 17% of 2011's weekend days were without an evening newscast on NBC. Obviously football, golf, hockey and horse racing were much more important than the urgent news events happening across the country and around the world. By more important, of course, I mean more profitable. The NBC weasels care so little for their weekend newscast that they're willing to forego it just for the sake of money. Unfortunately, in 2012, NBC will be pre-empting many more than 18 Nightly News broadcasts. An NBC source tells me that in the coming months, NBC will be pre-empting weekend newscasts in order to bring us the U.S. Indoor Tiddlywinks Championships, the National Collegiate Thumb Wrestling Finals, the PBA Underwater Bowling Tour, World Cup Uphill Skiing, the Ironman Backwards Triathlon, Ice Dancing With the Stars, the Sarah Palin Invitational Alaskan Trout Fishing Championships, Beer League Softball, the Kickball World Cup Finals, the Masters Miniature Golf Tournament, Canadian Junior Curling, Beach Hockey, Minor League Newcomb and Penultimate Frisbee. And of course, in a few months, it will be March Madness, so NBC will be airing the sweet sixteen and final four of NCAA Tetherball. I can't help wondering--why does NBC bother with Nightly News at all? If money is so important to the NBC suits, why don't they just cancel Nightly News altogether and air a more profitable show in its place? How about Celebrity Horseshoes?

Meanwhile, Monday's Nightly News included reruns of four stories that had already aired on Sunday's broadcast:
***On Monday, Brian Williams spent 1:45 talking with David Gregory about Sunday's Republican Presidential debate that took place on "Meet the Press". But on Sunday, Lester Holt already had a 1:35 discussion with David Gregory about the debate. By the way, Nightly News did not show any clips from Saturday's ABC debate; in fact they barely acknowledged it. Lester and Brian each made a single passing reference to Saturday's debate, without ever mentioning ABC. By contrast, on Sunday's ABC World News, anchor David Muir made multiple references to the NBC debate and even showed clips from it. I think it's obvious which network is interested in news, and which network is only interested in rabid self-promotion and childish behavior like, "If I ignore ABC, then they don't exist".
***Monday's two-minute story about Gabby Giffords' public appearance Sunday (to acknowledge the one-year anniversary of her shooting) was virtually identical to Sunday night's story. Monday's story used most of the same footage that had been shown Sunday; the only real difference was that Miguel Almaguer recorded a different voice-over for Monday's story in a silly attempt to make the stories seem different.
***Sunday's Nightly News featured a 30-second story about the Australian bungee jumper who plunged into an African river when her bungee cord snapped. Monday's Nightly News...featured a 25-second story about the Australian bungee jumper who plunged into an African river when her bungee cord snapped. Wow--it must have been really hard to trim those five seconds off of Sunday's story.
***Sunday's broadcast included a 20-second obituary for Tony Blankley. Monday's broadcast included a 40-second obituary for Tony Blankley. Was Blankley really so important that he merited obits on two consecutive broadcasts? But there was one important difference in the two obituaries. Sunday's obit showed the years "1948-2012" on-screen below Blankley's photo. Monday's obit showed the years "1949-2012" on-screen below Blankley's photo. It's laughable that the Nightly News producers could give Blankley two different years of birth on two different days. But that's how things are at Nightly News. No one cares.

Luckily, not every story on Monday's broadcast was a rerun from Sunday. We were treated to a marvelous story about how Kate Middleton celebrated her 30th birthday. She went to see "War Horse"! She cried! OMG! By the way, this is only the 22nd Kate Middleton story Nightly News has run in the past seven months, so we're not even close to the saturation point. I'm surprised that Brian didn't lead with this story, considering his obsession with all things Kate. Then we saw some mesmerizing footage of George Romney from 1967. I'm not sure why this is relevant, other than to allow Brian to plug a longer version of the Romney story that would be airing later on "Rock Center". Is it really ethical for Brian to take more than a minute from Nightly News to plug his prime-time show? Oh well, what do I know. Ethics doesn't matter; plugging "Rock Center" matters. Next, Brian spent 30 seconds telling us about recalls of Bufferin and Excedrin. I'm sure Brian's decision to report this story had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that these brands compete directly with Bayer. Absolutely nothing. (With its pain-relief products like Bayer aspirin, Alka-Seltzer and Aleve, Bayer is by far the most frequent advertiser on Nightly News. So bad news for Excedrin and Bufferin is very helpful to Bayer.) And the final story of the night was a 2:45 piece about the popularity of the PBS series "Downton Abbey". Wow, 2:45--that's really long. They could have aired two actual news stories in that time. But I'll say this--at least Stephanie Gosk had the ethical courtesy to disclose that "Downton Abbey" is produced by a company owned by NBC Universal. So while the piece was shown for the sole purpose of promoting an NBC property, at least Gosk told us the truth. I'm not sure how Brian allowed that disclosure into the story--I'm guessing he wasn't aware of it until it actually aired.

Meanwhile, on Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Berlin to discuss ways to salvage the economic future of Europe. Brian didn't report this story because obviously it wasn't important enough. But at least we know all about Kate's 30th birthday and "Downton Abbey". Great job, Brian. Keep up the good work.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--12/24 Through 1/6

2012-01-06T23:59:00.000-08:00

It may be a new year, but it's business as usual for Brian Williams and his Nightly News producers. This week, both McDonald's and Starbucks announced that they will be raising prices on some items in some regions. Of course, Brian did not report this because he does not like to report bad news for NBC's best advertisers. However, when McDonald's announced that they would be spending over $1 billion to renovate their restaurants, Brian eagerly reported it (5/9/11). And when McDonald's announced that they would be making their Happy Meals more healthy (is "more healthy" the same thing as "less unhealthy"?), Brian also reported it (7/26/11). (In both these cases, it sounded as if Brian was reading the McDonald's press releases verbatim.) When Starbucks changed their logo, Brian couldn't wait to report it (1/5/11). And when Starbucks announced that they would be coming out with a new larger size Trenta coffee, Brian also made sure to tell us about it (1/17/11). On the 5/5/09 broadcast, we were treated to a two-minute story about McDonald's exciting new gourmet coffees. Of course, to avoid excluding Starbucks, the story also contained plenty of Starbucks plugs. And when both McDonald's and Starbucks announced that they would be offering free Wi-Fi to their customers, Lester Holt told us all about it (6/14/10). But a price increase for McDonald's and Starbucks? It seems the cat has got Brian's tongue.

Many other exciting things happened this week on Nightly News. Lots of stories about the weather. Promotions abounded for NBC Sports. The American flag flew almost non-stop behind Brian. The Upper Peninsula seceded from Michigan (apparently). Here are the details:

Sunday Jan. 1--The lead story was 1:40 on the "Winter Blast" headed for the eastern part of the country, because cold weather and snow in January is obviously a major story at Nightly News.
***We were treated to a 2:20 "news story" about how 2011 was a bad year at the movie box office. Of course, this was just an excuse to show clips from popular movies like "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", "Moneyball" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2". The NBC News research department has determined that viewers like seeing movie clips on news broadcasts, and these clips help to boost the ratings. Showing movie clips is also a great way to give some free advertising to the movie studios as a way of thanking them for all their advertising dollars over the years.
***The final story was, not surprisingly, a three-minute "Making A Difference" piece about the Dallas Cowboys' Jason Witten and his SCORE Foundation, which helps victims of domestic violence. This was just a shameless way to promote the Cowboys-Giants game that was following the broadcast. Few things are more important to the Nightly News producers than plugging NBC's Sunday Night Football. Kate Snow introduced the story by saying, "Big game tonight here on NBC as the Dallas Cowboys take on the New York Giants. It's a do-or-die game for both teams." Let's be clear: No one at Nightly News gives a damn about Jason Witten's charitable activities. Their only concern was promoting the game.
Monday Jan. 2--Here's how Brian introduced a story about the murder of a park ranger in Washington's Mount Rainier National Park: "If you've ever vacationed in a National Park, then you know the park rangers are true public servants. They're not in it to get rich. For them, their job is a calling to serve the public and work in a beautiful place." So I guess it's also now Brian's job to promote the National Parks, in addition to his regular jobs of promoting the U.S. military. Brian is a fawning, obsequious sycophant for anyone in a uniform.
***Brian spent 30 seconds telling us all about the Winter Classic hockey game between the Flyers and the Rangers, which had just been televised on NBC. Is there one person on the planet who believes that Brian would have mentioned this game if it had been on CBS or ABC? I didn't think so. Just another example of something that isn't news unless it's on NBC.
***We saw another 1:40 story on the Winter Blast because people across the country really need to know about all the snow in Sherman, NY.
***Brian devoted the final three-and-a-half minutes of the broadcast to stories we may have missed over the past week. Here's how he introduced the story: "Finally tonight, with thanks to my friends Lester and Harry and Kate for filling in here and allowing me to sneak away and enjoy the holidays with my family"--remember, the news is always about Brian and his family--"as we hope you got to do as well, it's a tough time of year to follow the news closely. But of course that's why we're here. We thought we'd take a moment now to bring you up to speed on a few things that either somehow got by or went by too fast." First of all, I love how Brian uses the word "we". Clearly, this is his doing. These idiotic news recaps are his and his alone. They're just an opportunity for Brian to show everyone how funny he thinks he is. The first 35 seconds was comprised of previously-shown footage of Kim Jong-il's funeral. Brian thought it was so amusing that Kim's body was carried in a Lincoln Continental hearse. "He might have been the repressive leader of a dark sinister regime and a mortal enemy of the U.S. but for that final smooth ride, Kim Jong-il chose Detroit's best. Talk about kickin' it old school." This is a supposedly professional news anchor, by the way. I wasn't aware that "kickin' it old school" was a news term. I guess it is when you're desperate to show the viewers how hip and cool you are. Next we saw 20 seconds on China's planned moon mission followed by 30 seconds about a reporter for the Russia Today network who did some person-on-the-street interviews. Brian made a point of telling us how similar her report was to Jay Leno's Jaywalking routine. This is news? Here's a news flash for Brian: Jay Leno did not invent the person-on-the-street interview. But it gave Brian an opportunity to plug "The Tonight Show" and show some footage of Leno, and that's really all that mattered. Next we saw a 20-second bit about the cleanup after New year's Eve in Times Square. Of course, this was just a plug for a longer piece on that subject that would be appearing later on "Rock Center". Plug, plug, plug. That's Brian's mantra. After that, it was 20 seconds on how Cee Lo Green changed some of John Lennon's "Imagine" lyrics during his New Year's Eve performance and ten seconds about some Denver Marriott guests that had been locked out of their rooms on New Year's Eve. Kate Snow had already reported this story on the previous night's Nightly News, but I guess a story doesn't count unless Brian himself reports it. Then Brian told us about the closing of the Jaws ride at the Universal Orlando theme park, because it's always a great idea to use Nightly News to plug an NBC Universal property. Next he said, "If we covered celebrities, we'd mention the divorce of Katy Perry and Russell Brand, but sadly we don't". Gosh, that's clever--not. What a cheap and crass way to throw in some celebrity news. The final 30 seconds of this shameful piece was devoted to a YouTube video of a dog that likes listening to guitar music. It was worth it because it gave Brian the opportunity to mention Bud Light. Twice. And that was the final three-and-a-half minutes of the broadcast. Keep in mind that this was the first weekday broadcast after the slow Christmas and New Year's news cycle. So we might have expected Brian to end the broadcast with three-and-a-half minutes of real news instead of wasting that time by showing us how clever he thinks he is. Not a chance.
Tuesday Jan. 3--The first thirteen minutes of the broadcast was devoted to covering the Iowa caucus. And for the entire time Brian was on-screen, he had a ridiculous animated flag waving behind him in the background. Obviously, the NBC News research department has informed Brian and his producers that viewers like to see the U.S. flag. So Brian makes a point of exploiting the flag as part of Nightly News's rah-rah, gung-ho, eagle-soaring, God-Bless-America faux patriotism. Part of the Iowa coverage included Tom Brokaw's tediously overlong 4:15 story about the people of Perry, Iowa. Honestly, does anyone really care what the people of Perry, Iowa think? Isn't there any real news to report? At the end of Brokaw's piece, Brian said, "And Tom, a quick word on behalf of the good people of Iowa...." Is there any group that Brian will not pander to? Apparently not.
***A 1:40 story about the murder at Queen Elizabeth's Sandringham estate was just an excuse to show video of the Royal Family, including, of course, Kate Middleton and her late mother-in-law, Diana. In the second half of 2011, Nightly News showed more than 35 minutes worth of Will & Kate stories, so there's no reason to expect 2012 to be any different. (Of course, that 35 minutes was in addition to all the Will & Kate stories Nightly News showed in the first half of the year, before and after the wedding.)
***Brian ended the broadcast with a plug for NBC's caucus coverage, but he made sure to tell us, "You'll be able to see your shows tonight, as we'll be coming on with periodic updates as the results come in...." Because God forbid anyone should miss one of NBC's anemic entertainment shows.
Wednesday Jan. 4--Brian mentioned the NFL twice while talking about the previous night's Iowa caucus (talking about Rick Santorum's leap to the front of the pack, he said, "As they say in the big leagues, 'Welcome to the NFL.'"). Because at all times, Brian's job is to remind viewers about NBC's NFL games. And naturally, Brian had his animated flag background behind him during the caucus stories.
***While telling us about Tuesday's meteor shower, Brian inadvertently described it as a "media shower".
***Next, we saw thirty seconds each on the President playing beach football, Natalie Wood's death and some killer whales off the California coast. This was the eighth story on whales that Nightly News has shown in less than four months. That's a bit much, don't you think? But the whale stories get good ratings, so of course we can expect to see many more.
***The final story was a pointless "Making A Difference" piece by the equally pointless Anne Thompson. Has she ever reported a story that actually matters? This story was about a woman who makes tutus and capes to give to sick kids in the hospital. That's nice, but it's not news. Brian and his producers absolutely LOVE doing stories about kids with cancer because the viewers connect emotionally with those stories, and they get high ratings. The MAD piece was sponsored by Aleve, so Nightly News actually got paid for exploiting kids with cancer. Nice.
Thursday Jan. 5--In a story about the downsizing of the U.S. Military, Brian said, "It will affect all the American sons and daughters who raise their hands to fight our wars." Where's my barf bag? As usual, Brian continues to act as the chief propaganda minister for the U.S. Military. Later, Brian said this to Col. Jack Jacobs: "Jack, you and I have both been to the battlefields in both of these dual wars overseas..." Let's see--between Jack Jacobs and Brian Williams, which one is the Medal of Honor combat veteran and which one is the sycophantic wannabe who dresses up in combat attire and plays soldier?
***We saw a story about an 18-year-old single mother in Oklahoma who shot and killed an intruder in her home. During the story, we were shown a map of states that allow residents to use deadly force to defend themselves in their homes. Michigan was one of the states highlighted, but only the lower part of the state. The Upper Peninsula was not highlighted. Maybe the U.P. seceded from the state. Or maybe the stupid Nightly News producers are really in need of an atlas.
***We were treated to a two-minute story about the mild weather across the country. So when there's freezing temperatures and snow, Nightly News reports it. And when there's mild weather, Nightly News reports it. That's ridiculous. Weather is a local story. People watch their local news to get the weather. People in Florida don't really care what the weather is in Maine. The only reason Nightly News spends so much time reporting the weather is because NBC Universal paid $3.5 billion for The Weather Channel.
***The final story of the night was a two-and-a-half-minute piece on snowboarder Kevin Pearce's recovery from a head injury he sustained two years ago. We all wish him well. But this isn't news and it doesn't belong on a network news broadcast.
Friday Jan. 6--In the lead story, Tom Costello reported on the job market from Vienna, VA. However, a Nightly News graphic informed us that he was in "Manchester, NH". Oh well--the producers were only off by 400 miles.
***In a story about the New Hampshire primary, we were shown a clip of Richard Land's appearance on "Andrea Mitchell Reports". But the on-screen credit line did not place the show's title in quotes. On Tuesday, a clip from Mitchell's show did use quotes in the credit line. So I guess the Nightly News producers place titles in quotes when they feel like it. There are no rules at Nightly News. Quotes, no quotes. Advisor, adviser. Traveling, travelling. Every day is an adventure.
***Brian spent over a minute discussing the Republican candidates with David Gregory. The sole purpose of this exchange was to plug the candidates' debate on Sunday's "Meet the Press". But Brian never once mentioned the debate taking place on ABC Saturday night. I thought it was the job of a news anchor to report news--like a debate. But apparently Brian's job to plug his network's shows, not inform the viewers. It is appalling that Brian intentionally ignores news because it happens on another network.
***Surprise--we got a 2:15 story on the mild weather across the country. What did Nightly News report on before NBC acquired The Weather Channel? Actual news? By the way, at the beginning of this story, it had a "Decision 2012" banner at the bottom of the screen. Really? The mild weather is related to the election?
***We then saw a ridiculous "Road to Retirement" piece. As usual, Anne Thompson spent two-and-a-half minutes telling us what she could have said in 20 seconds. Lots of people don't have enough money to retire. Really--you don't say, Anne. Thanks so much. By the way, I wonder how Brian's retirement fund looks. Pretty healthy, I'm guessing.
***Brian spent 30 seconds on an obituary for pro bowler Don Carter. Because Brian is first and foremost about reporting important news.
***The final story was a 2:15 piece about a wolf from Oregon that wandered down to California looking for a mate. Wow--they should have put a "breaking news" banner on that one. Will Brian ever stop pandering to viewers with silly stories about animals? Of course not. He ended the story by saying, "What a good wolf." Brian is an idiot.

Here are a few of the Nightly News stories we saw during Christmas week:
Saturday Dec. 24--A two-minute story on Prince Philip's health scare (naturally) included footage of Will & Kate.
***Kevin Tibbles wasted 2:45 of our time on a story about a family that dresses up for its annual Christmas card each year. At the end of the story, Tibbles dressed up as a reindeer to be in their 2011 card. Great reporting. I hope the Peabody evaluation committee was watching.
***The final story was about returning soldiers who surprise their kids, spouses and parents by showing up unannounced and doing things like jumping out of big Christmas boxes to their kids' amazement. It's hard to imagine a bigger waste of two minutes of news time. Just shameful.
Sunday Dec. 25--We were treated to a 2:15 story about Kate Middleton's first Christmas as the future Queen of England. Because that's important news.
***The "Making A Difference" story was about a North Carolina man who repairs bikes for needy kids. Another important story.
Monday Dec. 26--An Australian woman woke her fiance from a coma by giving him Ambien. This is what merits two-and-a-half minutes on Nightly News.
***In the "Far From Home" series, we met a soldier who enlisted at age 33. Fascinating. Please tell us more.
***The "Making A Difference" story was a 2:30 piece about an organization that donates wedding dresses to military brides. I guess there was no real news this day.
Tuesday Dec. 27--We were treated to a 2:30 story about people returning items after Christmas. Oh joy.
***A 2:20 story about the wealth gap between members of Congress and the rest of America made me wonder about the wealth gap between Brian Williams and the rest of America. In this story, a professor named Alan Ziobrowski was identified in a Nightly News graphic as being from "Georgia State Univeristy [sic]".
***A 2:30 story titled "Trading Places" informed us that the people of Portland, Maine often barter services in lieu of cash. Really? I had no idea.
***The final story was a two-and-a-half minute piece on Siku, the polar bear cub. Yes, folks, Nightly News is a serious broadcast.
Wednesday Dec. 28--Where is winter? Why is there no snow? The producers took 2:20 to tell us.
***A story about films selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry was just an excuse to show clips from "Forrest Gump", "Silence of the Lambs" and "Bambi".
***In an obituary for Cheetah the chimp, Lester Holt told us that Cheetah died at 80. But below Cheetah's photo were the years "1929-2011" which would have made him 82. But I guess any chimps watching the broadcast would not have noticed the error.
***Anne Thompson brought us the fascinating story of an Air Force cook who retired after 37 years. What a waste of two minutes. If I could get back all the time Anne Thompson has wasted on Nightly News over the years, I could take a vacation. To Saturn.
Thursday Dec. 29--A 2:40 story on capacity crowds at Florida theme parks was a thinly-disguised plug for Universal Orlando, owned by NBC's parent company.
Friday Dec. 30--Harry Smith took 30 seconds to tell us about the death of a Medal of Honor recipient. Obviously, Brian made him report this story.
Saturday Dec. 31--We got an important story about the origins of "Auld Lang Syne". It included clips from "When Harry Met Sally" and "It's A Wonderful Life". Thanks, Nightly News producers. Not just for this story, but for all the great stories you brought us in 2011!

NBC Nightly News: The Year In Mistakes (Part II)

2012-01-02T23:55:00.000-08:00

It was a great second half of the year for Brian Williams and the Nightly News producers. They actually managed to misspell the names of half of the Republican presidential candidates. And that's no easy task. They also somehow managed to misspell some pretty easy words: consultant, university, television, dialing and disapprove. Other words (labor/labour, adviser/advisor) were indiscriminately spelled different ways on different broadcasts (or sometimes even on the same broadcast). And then there were the usual assortment of math, grammar and factual errors. So without further ado, here it is--Part II of the 2011 Nightly News Year In Mistakes. I can't wait to see what 2012 brings. (Of course, these are only the mistakes I happened to notice. Feel free to add other mistakes to the list in the comments section below):

July 7--In a story about the News of the World phone hacking scandal, this line was shown on-screen: "Allegations of hacking the voicemails of soldier's families". It should have read "soldiers' families" since "soldiers'" is plural and possessive. Also that night, in an obituary for baseball manager Dick Williams, Brian informed us that Williams was the only major league manager ever to win pennants with three different teams. Not true. Bill McKechnie did it between 1925 and 1940. That's not exactly ancient history.
July 13--In a story about airport security, Rafi Ron was identified in a Nightly News graphic as an "Airport Security Cunsultant [sic]". Moments later, a story about unnecessary phone charges was titled "Dailing [sic] For Dollars".
July 14--During his intro to a story about the drought in the South, Brian informed us that the drought "now covers just about the entire lower third of this country." Seconds later, correspondent Thanh Truong told us that, "Almost 12% of the country is now enduring a brutal combination of high temperatures and too little rain." A third, 12%...whatever. Oh well, Brian was only off by a little.
July 18--On the July 17 broadcast, Ed Miliband was identified in an on-screen graphic as the UK "Labour Party Leader". A day later, Miliband was identified as the "Labor Party Leader".
July 27--In a story on the congressional debt talks, Rep. Mike Pence was identified as Rep. Eric Cantor.
July 28--In his obituary for America singer/songwriter Dan Peek, Brian told us that Peek, "...gave us 'A Horse With No Name', 'Ventura Highway', 'Lonely People', 'Sister Golden Hair', 'Don't Cross the River' and a lot more songs." Actually, "A Horse With No Name" and "Ventura Highway" were written by Dewey Bunnell and "Sister Golden Hair" was written by Gerry Beckley. So Brian was wrong on the authorship of three of the five songs he mentioned. Batting .400 is great if you're a baseball player. It's not so great if you're a news anchor.
Aug. 5--In a story about the 100th anniversary of Lucille Ball's birth, Donelle Dadigan, president of the Hollywood Museum, was identified in a Nightly News graphic as "Danelle Dadigan".
Aug. 6--In a story about 22 Navy SEALs (and other U.S. military personnel) that were killed in a helicopter attack in Afghanistan, a Nightly News graphic identified them as "U.S Navy SEALs" (The second period in "U.S." was omitted.) This happened again on the following day's broadcast before the error was finally corrected.
Aug. 8--While talking about Diana Nyad's attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida, Brian described the event as "life infirming" instead of "life affirming".
Aug. 9--A video clip of Rick Perry was captioned "Yesterday" and "Gilbert, Arizona". Actually, the clip was from three days earlier in Houston.
Aug. 10--During a Nightly News promo for "Meet the Press", Michele Bachmann's first name was spelled as "Michelle". Also, in a story about a pair of brother & sister bank robbers, FBI Special Agent Phil Niedringhaus was identified in a graphic as "Phil Niedringhausm".
Aug. 11--Brian introduced Chuck Todd as being in Ames, Iowa, but the caption below Todd read "Des Moines".
Aug. 20--At the top of the broadcast, a promo for a story about the two American Hikers still detained in Iran was titled "Judgement [sic] Day". The correct American spelling is "Judgment". Also, in a "Meet the Press" promo, Robert Gibbs was identified as an "Advisor" to President Obama. The previous day, a MTP promo had identified Gibbs as an "Adviser" to the President.
Aug. 23--In an obituary for Nick Ashford, Brian told us that Ashford died at age 70, but below Ashford's photo were the years "1942-2011". That would have made him 69.
Aug. 26--During a clip in which NYU Visiting Professor of Civil Engineering Mohammad Karamouz discussed how New York City's tunnels are vulnerable to flooding in the event of a major hurricane, a Nightly News graphic misspelled Prof. Karamouz's first name as "Mohammed".
Aug. 31--During a story about infant mortality rates, the producers listed several countries on-screen, along with each country's flag. But next to "Singapore", the producers actually displayed the flag of Poland.
Sept. 6--During a story about a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Michele Bachmann's last name was spelled as "Bachman". This is the third time the Nightly News producers have misspelled Ms. Bachmann's name in less than three months.
Sept. 8--In a story about flooding in Pennsylvania, a caption below Anne Thompson read "Forty Fort, PA". A moment later, as part of a split screen, the caption below Thompson read "Wilkes-Barre, PA". Also that night, we heard some tapes of air traffic controllers and pilots from 9/11/01, accompanied by Nightly News's on-screen transcripts. One transcript read, "It looks like that aircraft crashed into the Penatagon [sic], sir." What's a "Penatagon"? How many sides does a "Penatagon" have?
Sept. 9--During a story on some recently-released audio tapes of Jackie Kennedy, a Nightly News on-screen transcript of the tapes used a quote (") inside a quote ("). A quote-inside-a-quote is supposed to use a single mark ('), not a double mark (").
Sept. 24--A promo for the following day's "Meet the Press" boasted that Benjamin Netanyahu's appearance on the program would be "exclusive". However, Netanyahu was also interviewed that day on ABC World News Sunday.
Sept. 26--During an "Education Nation" story, an on-screen graphic informed us that U.S. students ranked 25th in math among the world's countries. To illustrate this, the flags of all the nations ranking higher in math were placed above a U.S. flag. However, there were 25 flags above the U.S. flag, so that means that the U.S. actually ranked 26th. If the Nightly News producers can't even count to 25, it's no wonder that U.S. students rank so poorly in math. Later in the broadcast, during a story about parent trigger laws, Lee Cowan told us that, "California, Texas and Mississippi all have trigger laws on the books and at least 22 other states are considering it." But the accompanying map only showed a total of 22 states highlighted (including California, Texas and Mississippi) whereas it should have shown 25 states highlighted.
Oct. 1--During a story about the Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton, Kate Snow told us that Hamilton was "this season's MVP". Actually, he was last season's MVP.
Oct. 2--A story about the candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president featured a clip of Mariann Hedstrom, who was identified in a Nightly News graphic as being from the "National Federation of Republicn [sic] Women". What are "Republicn" women? Are they anything like Republican women?
Oct. 7--While showing a clip from "Andrea Mitchell Reports", the credit line did not include quotes around the show's title. When showing credit lines from TV show titles, the producers sometimes use quotes and sometimes they don't. I guess it depends on what kind of mood they're in on any particular day.
Oct. 12--An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll informed us that 51% of Americans "Dissaprove [sic]" of Pres. Obama. Later in the broadcast, some comments made by Herman Cain on his radio show were attributed to the "Hermain [sic] Cain Show". And in a story about domestic violence laws in Topeka, Kansas, a domestic violence victim named Claudine Dumbrowski was identified on-screen as "Rita Smith".
Oct. 13--U.S. Rep John Larson (D-CT) was identified on-screen as "Jon" Larson.
Oct. 18--Brian informed us that, "...Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas and held captive for five years was exchanged today for a thousand Palestinian prisoners..." That's not accurate. On that day, Shalit was exchanged for 477 Palestinian prisoners. The other 550 prisoners were to be released in approximately two months. I thought accuracy was supposed to be important in news reporting. And by the way, the total comes to 1,027 prisoners, not "a thousand". Someone should buy Brian a calculator.
Nov. 2--A clip from "Mad Men" (yet another one) was attributed to "Lionsgate Televison [sic]". Nightly News is in the television business, and their producers can't even correctly spell "television". A clip from "Andrea Mitchell Reports" again did not include quotes around the show's title.
Nov. 10--A Nightly News graphic identified correspondent Ron Mott as "Ron Allen".
Nov. 13--An on-screen graphic during a story on women and heart disease spelled "Triglycerides" as "Tryiglycerides".
Nov. 17--In a story about a pilot who got locked in his plane's restroom mid-flight, a transcript of a second pilot's conversation with the control tower spelled the word "oughtta" as "outta"(it read "you guys outta declare an emergency and just get on the ground.").
Nov. 23--Savannah Guthrie told us that, "Today in Washington, the President did what presidents have done for the last 64 years now--pardoned the national Thanksgiving turkey." Actually, every other news source credits Pres. George H.W. Bush (in 1989) as being the first president to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey. Even MSNBC's own "First Read" blog states that, "President Harry Truman is often cited, incorrectly, as the first president to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey." Maybe Guthrie should have perused the "First Read" blog. Oh well, she was only off by 42 years. No big deal.
Nov. 27--Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman was identified in a Nightly News graphic as "John" Huntsman. Also, during a story about on-line schooling, Rehema Ellis told us that, "Thirty states offer a full-time on-line education to at least some students." But the accompanying on-screen map showed only 28 states highlighted.
Nov. 29--Brian referred to Andrea Mitchell as "Our Chief Foreign Correspondent". Actually, Mitchell is the NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
Nov. 30--A Mitt Romney campaign ad carried a credit line identifying it as a "Mit [sic] Romney Campaign Ad".
Dec. 1--A story about the Massachusetts Attorney General suing some banks that do business in the state was titled "Bankers Suits". It should have been "Bankers' Suits".
Dec. 5--David Axelrod was identified as an "Advisor" to Pres. Obama. On the previous day's broadcast, he was identified as an "Adviser" to the President.
Dec. 15--A video clip of Mitt Romney answering questions from New York Times reporters was attributed to "NE York Times".
Dec. 16--A Nightly News graphic identified Rep. Virginia Foxx as a Republican from Virginia. Actually, she represents North Carolina's fifth district. But I understand how confusing it must be to the Nightly News producers when a person's name is the same as a state name. Also, during a story on Christmas shopping, a December calendar page displayed on-screen began the week on Monday and ended on Sunday. I have never seen a calendar like that before.
Dec. 20--Yet again, Brian introduced Andrea Mitchell as NBC News's "Chief Foreign Correspondent".
Dec. 22--Brian told us that they're having "Sporty weather in the South." I think he meant to say "spotty". I guess Brian's favorite Spice Girl is Spotty Spice.
Dec. 27--In a story about the net worth of the average American, a Nightly News graphic identified Prof. Alan Ziobrowski as being from "Georgia State Univeristy [sic]".
Dec. 28--In a story about the death of Cheetah the chimp, Lester Holt told us he died at 80. But moments earlier, we were shown a photo of Cheetah above the years "1929-2011". That would have made Cheetah 82, not 80.
Dec. 29--In a story about Ron Paul, a Nightly News graphic informed us that a Paul supporter named Mark Edwards was from "Port. St. Lucie, Florida". I guess "Port." must be an abbreviation for a larger word.

NBC Nightly News: The Year In Mistakes (Part I)

2011-12-30T23:14:00.000-08:00

As the year winds down, I thought it would be nice to take a look back at the spelling, math, grammar and factual errors made by the Nightly News producers, anchors and correspondents in 2011. So as a year-end tribute to the stupidest producers on television, The Nightly Daily proudly presents the 2011 Nightly News Year In Mistakes (these are only the ones I happened to notice--feel free to add others in the comments section below):

Jan. 2--The Nightly News producers start the year off with a bang by misspelling Pennsylvania as "Pennslyvania". I bet Chris Matthews and Gov. Ed Rendell (who took a position as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC shortly after leaving office) were not amused.
Jan. 4--In a story about Cornelius DuPree (who was released after 30 years in prison before being vindicated by DNA evidence), Lee Cowan never revealed that DuPree had actually been paroled six months before the DNA evidence cleared him. Cowan intentionally withheld that information to make the story appear more dramatic.
Jan. 5--In a story about Ted Williams, the homeless man with the golden voice, a video clip of Williams was attributed to the "Columbus-Post Dispatch [sic]". There is no such paper (there is, however a Columbus Dispatch). And if such a paper did exist, it would be the "Columbus Post-Dispatch", not the "Columbus-Post Dispatch".
Jan. 10--During a transcript of comments by Glenn Beck, a Nightly News graphic spelled his name as "Glen" Beck.
Jan. 14--During a story about the shooting of Gabby Giffords, Mike Taibbi told us that Jared Loughner had purchased his bullets at a Walgreens, when he had actually bought them at a Walmart.
Jan. 23--In another story about Gabby Giffords, Professor Geoffrey Manley was identified in a Nightly News graphic as "San Francisco General Hospital Chif [sic] of Neurosurgery". Also on this broadcast, Lester Holt pronounced the word "larynx" as "larnyx".
Jan. 24--Brian Williams introduced Andrea Mitchell as the NBC News "Chief Foreign Correspondent". She is actually the NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent. Richard Engel is NBC News's Chief Foreign Correspondent.
Jan. 30--In two Nightly News graphics that appeared only a minute apart, we were shown two different spellings for the Arabic-language news network: "Aljazeera" and "Al-Jazeera".
Feb. 2--Brian told us that 30 states were affected by a huge ice storm, while an accompanying map highlighted 31 states. Also, the city of Sana'a was spelled as "Sanaa". Whenever Nightly News covers Sana'a, they indiscriminately alternate from "Sana'a" to "Sanaa" (once they even spelled it as "Saana"), sometimes in the same broadcast.
Feb. 4--During a story about the Super Bowl in Dallas, an Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau spokesperson was identified as "Decmia" Cooper. Her name is actually Decima Cooper.
Feb. 16--Brian introduced Richard Engel as NBC's "Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent". (See Jan. 24)
Mar. 6--In a "Making A Difference" story about people who volunteer to hold sick infants in hospitals, Dr. Philippe Friedlich of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles was identified as Dr. "Phillippe" Friedlich.
Mar. 7--In an "Education Nation" report, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel was identified as Dennis "Von" Roekel. Does anyone else see the irony of misspelling a name in a story about education?
Mar. 17--In two separate stories that aired ten minutes apart, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko was alternately identified as "Gregory Jaczko" and then "Gregory B. Jaczko".
Apr. 3--In a story about sex slavery in the U.S., correspondent Richard Lui told us that sex slave brothels existed in at least 25 states, but an accompanying map only highlighted 24 states.
Apr. 19--In a story about Alzheimer's disease, the phrase "Mild Cognative [sic] Impairment" appeared on screen. The correct spelling is "cognitive".
Apr. 26--Twice on this broadcast, the Nightly News producers used AK as the abbreviation for Arkansas. AK is the abbreviation for Alaska. AR is the correct abbreviation for Arkansas.
Apr. 27--In a story about identity theft and the hacking of Sony Playstations, Brian said "relevations" instead of "revelations".
Apr. 28--In a story about the tornadoes that hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Thanh Truong told us about Jessie Strickland, who lost three friends that day. However, a graphic spelled the name as Jessie "Stickland".
Apr. 29--Lester Holt told us that 230 tornadoes hit seven states, while an on-screen graphic said the number was 320.
Apr. 30--In a story about the Republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney was identified as the former governor of "Massachussetts".
May 3--In a story about the killing of Osama bin Laden, Abbottabad was spelled as "Abbotabad".
May 5--A Nightly News graphic identified a Pakistani man as "Daniel Markey--Council on Foreign Relations". Markey had actually appeared a minute earlier.
May 20--Randy Pausina of the Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries was identified as Randy "Pausinn".
May 22--Martin Indyk was identified as a "Former U.S. Anbassador".
June 1--Alameda (CA) Fire Chief Michael D'Orazi was identified in a graphic as "Michal" D'Orazi.
June 3--A Nightly News graphic informed us that former President Clinton was in "Toldeo" Ohio.
June 8--A "Making A Difference" story about a New Orleans chef cooking a meal for Joplin residents identified the chef, Greg Reggio, as a "Chef and Restauranteur [sic]". There is no "n" in "restaurateur".
June 26--William C. Thompson was identified as the New York City Comptroller although he had already been out of office for 18 months. In a story about a Des Moines Register poll, a Nightly News graphic spelled Michele Bachmann's last name as "Bachman".
June 30--In a story about a man with fake airline boarding passes, a Nightly News graphic informed us that his luggage "contained over 10 boarding passes in various individual's [sic] names." As a plural and a possessive, it should have read "individuals'".

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--12/17 Through 12/23

2011-12-24T00:06:00.000-08:00

On Nightly News this week, we got stories about pandas, polar bears and (of course) dogs. We saw lots of really cool Christmas tree displays. Richard Engel wore his blue shirt a lot. And it was a whole week of "Making A Difference" follow-ups (that's another word for "reruns"). Here are the great highlights:

Sat. 12/17--The lead story was Christmas shopping on "Super Saturday" because obviously the producers thought this was the most important story of the night. In reality, it was just an excuse for Michelle Franzen to promote the great sales being held by some of NBC's best advertisers. Target was giving a $10 gift cards with a $75 purchase! J.C. Penney was slashing prices by 70%! Sears was staying open until midnight! Some of the stories that were deemed less important than "Super Saturday" shopping: The payroll tax cut extension, the continuing protests in Cairo, the flooding in the Philippines and the 2012 Republican presidential race. But at Nightly News, promoting NBC's advertisers is always more important than news.
***Richard Engel wore his blue shirt again while reporting from Kuwait. Engel is a good correspondent, but someone at NBC News should buy him a new shirt. I nominate Brian Williams. With his $10 million-plus salary, Brian can afford to buy Richard a new shirt. Or two.
***Lester Holt spent 20 seconds narrating a story about pandas. He said, "We all agree the hands-down winner for cutest pictures of the day has to be these two giant pandas at a park in China thoroughly enjoying a snow day complete with somersaults and snow cones in between plenty of rest and relaxation." Because Nightly News is always about the hard news.
***We were treated to a 2:40 story about dogs who were diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after serving in military combat. The NBC News research department has obviously informed the producers that viewers like seeing stories about dogs (and they help boost the ratings), so the producers use any excuse to put dogs on the broadcast. As if these poor dogs haven't been through enough, now they get to be exploited for ratings by Nightly News. Good thing they're dogs--they don't know they're being exploited by the Nightly News producers.
***The "Making A Difference" report was "Be A Santa To A Senior"--about school kids who give presents and sing Christmas carols to senior citizens. Two minutes and twenty seconds of more hard news. And by the way, why not be a Santa to a dog with PTSD? Dogs need Santa, too.
Sun. 12/18--The Nightly News producers constantly bombard the viewers with images of the U.S. flag. It's just another way for them to boost the ratings by appealing to our sense of rah-rah, gung-ho, God-Bless-America patriotism. On this broadcast, we were shown eight images of the U.S. flag in the first forty-five seconds of the broadcast. That may be a new Nightly News record. But then again, maybe not.
***Richard Engel wore his blue shirt again. I hope it doesn't dissolve into gossamer and blow right off his back some night in the middle of a live report.
***George Lewis spent two minutes reporting a story about California college students who get to live cheaply in mansions because of the depressed housing market. Awesome. Any real news going on?
***The final story was a 2:15 piece ostensibly about the nostalgia trend in current movies. This story consisted of two full minutes of movie clips from "My Week With Marilyn", "The Tree of Life", "The Artist", "Midnight in Paris", "War Horse" and "Hugo". As many as half the Nightly News broadcasts in any given month contain movie or TV clips. Again, the NBC News research department has informed the producers that people love to see movie and TV clips on the news and that they boost the ratings. So Brian Williams and NBC News president Steve Capus have made a conscious decision to turn Nightly News into the first half-hour of "Access Hollywood". And a little free advertising is a great way to thank the movie studios for all the ad dollars they've spent with NBC Universal over the years. Who knows--maybe the movie studios pay NBC to run these sham newsfomercials about their films.
Mon. 12/19--In a story about Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, Chuck Todd informed us that, "Romney spent most of today in TV studios". As he said this, we saw a clip of Romney entering the Ed Sullivan Theater to tape a segment with David Letterman. But there was absolutely no mention of Letterman or any shots identifying the theater as the Ed Sullivan Theater. This is part of NBC News's calculated policy to always avoid showing any of NBC Entertainment's competitors. If Romney was taping a segment for "The Tonight Show" or "Late Night", you know the producers would have shown a 15-second promotional clip of Romney with Jay Leno or Jimmy Fallon. But they're actually scared to show David Letterman. How petty can the Nightly News producers be?
***Brian then took 1:30 to tell us about the snowstorm in the Southwest and middle plains states. By contrast, CBS Evening News spent less than 20 seconds on this story, because that's what it deserved. Snow in the west. Okay, we got it after the first 20 seconds.
***Brian then spent 22 seconds showing us a National Geographic photo of a dragonfly. I guess he didn't want to forget to pander to the entomologist segment of the audience.
***The "Making A Difference" story was Chelsea Clinton's report on Annette Dove, who founded the TOPPS charity for children in Arkansas. For some reason, this story seemed familiar. Oh yeah--that's because Chelsea reported the exact same story a week earlier. This was just an excuse to put Chelsea back on Nightly News under the guise of a "follow-up report". Obviously, Chelsea is ratings gold so Brian will put her on the air as often as possible. The story ended with Brian creepily and fawningly telling Chelsea what great work she's doing. "Job well done!" Kiss ass much, Brian? When Chelsea said that Ms. Dove has received almost $200,000 from Nightly News viewers, Brian audibly gasped--as if this is the first time he's hearing that. He's a joke. There are NBC correspondents who have been reporting for years without ever hearing Brian praise their work. But after one week, Chelsea is clearly the teacher's pet. She's doing a credible job of presenting her stories, but it's just a shame that she would allow herself to be exploited by a news organization that only cares about her for her ratings value. She could do so much more in the private sector. I noticed that during the story, Ms. Dove used the phrase "Making A Difference", because she was obviously coached to do so by the segment producer.
Tues. 12/20--Tonight we got a 2:10 report on the snowstorm in the Southwest, because obviously Monday's 1:30 just wasn't enough. I guess NBC figures that since they paid $3.5 billion for The Weather Channel, they better use it every night on Nightly News.
***In a story about the death of Kim Jong-il, Brian introduced Andrea Mitchell as "Our Chief Foreign Correspondent". Actually, she's the NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent. Richard Engel is NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent. Apparently Brian is just too important to bother getting these things right.
***Robert Bazell spent 1:50 telling us about a scientist who created a hyper-contagious version of the bird flu. Sounds familiar. Oh yeah--now I remember--Bazell did this same story on 12/15. I guess tonight's story was for the benefit of anyone who missed the original story.
***Brian reported on some newly discovered Earth-sized planets because it gave him an opportunity to hone his comedy routine. "Daytime highs averaging 800 degrees and 1400 degrees, but it's a dry 800 and 1400." Stop, you're killing us.
***Brian then told us about a power outage at Candlestick Park that took place during Monday Night Football. Promoting Monday Night Football helps generate interest in NBC's Sunday Night Football. All part of the master plan to relentlessly promote NBC Sports. Think the NBC Sports promotions are shameless now? This is nothing. Wait until the Summer Olympics.
***After that, Brian spent 20 seconds telling us about a Florida family with a mega-Christmas light display. Something tells me this won't be the last time this week that we hear a story like this.
***The "Making A Difference" report was a follow-up to last year's story about a woman who started a charity that provides Malawian girls with dresses. That's nice, but it's not news. It wasn't news a year ago, and it still isn't news today. Instead of reporting this trite story, Nightly News could have reported some actual news from Africa. But why would they? Actual news doesn't get high ratings like these non-news "Making A Difference" stories do. Again, the story's subject, Rachel O'Neill, used the phrase "Make a Difference" because obviously she was told to do so by the producers. This MAD segment was sponsored by Alka-Seltzer Plus because it's always good to exploit African children in order to sell cold medication.
Wed. 12/21--The lead story was about fatigue in airline pilots. Here's how Brian introduced the story: "...(N)ow the FAA has stepped in to change some old rules governing pilots and affecting the safety of every one of US." He used "us" because Brian always has to turn news stories into stories about HIM. The news is always about Brian. And Brian twice called this an "important story". Aren't all stories on a network news broadcast supposed to be important? Not at Nightly News. I guess Brian felt the need to differentiate this story from all the unimportant garbage he wastes time on every night--whales, pandas, dogs, Will & Kate, returning soldiers who surprise their kids and people who are "Making A Difference".
***Brian spent 40 seconds narrating an obituary for Ralph MacDonald, who wrote "Just The Two Of Us" and co-wrote "Where Is The Love". No disrespect to Mr. MacDonald, but this is not a resume that merits an obituary on a network news broadcast. But Brian gets to do whatever he wants. End of story.
***We got a 45 second story about a Russian student who bought an $88 million apartment in New York City. The producers should have attached a "Breaking News" banner to that one. I think Brian's just jealous because his offer of $86 million was rejected.
***Brian then spent 30 seconds telling us about a Baltimore street with a mega-Christmas light display. And people say Nightly News isn't a serious news broadcast.
***The final story was a "Making A Difference" piece about Fairy DogParents, an organization that helps needy people with their dog-related expenses. We already saw a MAD piece about them on the 12/28/10 Nightly News. Apparently, Brian and his producers felt we needed to see another story about this organization. The story was reported by Anne Thompson. An idiotic story from an idiotic correspondent. Makes sense. This is what Nightly News is wasting our time on.
Thurs. 12/21--On The CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley told us that an infant had died after ingesting tainted baby formula purchased at a Lebanon, Missouri Walmart, causing Walmart to pull that product from all 3000+ of their U.S. stores. Brian did not report this story because he does not like to report negative stories about Walmart, a major advertiser on NBC Universal stations and networks.
***Richard Engel reported from the Nightly News New York studios wearing a different blue shirt than the one he has been wearing in his recent reports from Afghanistan and Kuwait (today's shirt was a lighter shade of blue). I'm guessing it was one of his Hanukkah gifts.
***Brian told us that "83.6 million of US are projected to be on the roads at some point this holiday season...." Again he used "us" to make the news about him.
***In yet another unnecessary story about the weather, Brian said, "Sporty weather in the South...." I think he meant to say "spotty". I'm guessing that Brian's favorite Spice Girl is Spotty Spice.
***Kerry Sanders reported an absolutely pointless 2: 20 story about the increasing popularity of pawn shops. Clearly, this story was meant to capitalize on all the pawn shop reality series currently on the air. The story featured a clip from the History Channel's "Pawn Stars", in addition to gratuitous clips from "Trading Places" and "Just Go With It". This just reinforces the fact that the Nightly News producers create "news stories" based on what's trending on Google, Twitter, Yahoo, etc., as a way to pander to popular tastes and preferences. Shameless.
***Brian took 25 seconds to report the breaking news story about a woman who won a Ford pickup truck at an upstate New York hockey game when she shot a puck into a small goal. Obviously, Brian considers this important news. And, of course, it gave him an opportunity to plug the Ford F150 pickup truck (twice) as well as the local Ford dealership.
***Brian then took 25 seconds to tell us about Siku the baby polar bear who was born last month at a wildlife park in Denmark. I guess there were no panda stories to report on this day.
***Brian also spent 30 seconds telling us about the TSA Singers (a chorus of actual TSA employees), who serenade travelers at LAX airport. He said, "...(B)ecause my family and I will be passing through a TSA checkpoint in the next few days, thank you TSA for your holiday spirit." So now the news isn't only about Brian, it's also about his family. This is a professional network news anchor?
***As if he hasn't already wasted enough valuable news time, Brian took another 20 seconds to show us a Christmas light display from the Thompson family in Virginia. Because to Brian, the news is a fucking joke.
***Finally, it was time for another ridiculous "Making A Difference" story. Here's how Brian introduced it: "Tonight, the heartwarming story of a family that had fallen on hard times...and the strangers who saw the story of their plight." Someone should inform Brian that his job is to report news, not to warm the viewers' hearts. This was actually the third Nightly News story on the Hidalgo family. Earlier this year, we were first told about their hard times: Dad's out of work, not enough money to send the kids to college, no Christmas presents, house being foreclosed on. Then on 9/20/11, we got a follow-up after a family saw the original story and offered money to help the Hidalgos--and Nightly News covered this story like a tarp on a rainy baseball field. Now, we get yet another update--as if anyone was asking. You see, there's nothing Nightly News loves reporting on more than itself. None of these three stories had a scintilla of news value, but of course that never matters to Brian and his producers. They know that tear-jerker feel-good stories like these get higher ratings than actual news stories. And when Nightly News has an opportunity to report on itself, they shift into high gear. This follow-up to a follow-up was just absolutely ridiculous. Seeing one of John Vann's employees (on the 9/20 story) present a check to the Hidalgos was like watching a reality/game show. "Hidalgo family, you've just won thousands of dollars! Now smile and look happy for the cameras!" And if John Vann (the donor) hadn't seen the original Nightly News report, he would have donated his money to some other deserving family instead of the Hidalgos. So the Hidalgos got money that could have gone to another family--maybe a family that needed the money even more than they did. So there's really no net benefit here. But the Nightly News producers don't care about that. All they care about is pandering to the viewers to get high ratings. Note to the Nightly News producers: Instead of reporting three stories about the Hidalgo family, how about using that time to report one actual news story?
Fri. 12/23--A story about riots and injuries that occurred as shoppers tried to buy the newly re-released Air Jordan sneakers included ad clips for the sneakers. Of course it did, since Nike is a regular NBC advertiser. What a great way to say "thank you" to one of your sponsors.
***We were treated to a two-minute story about "Layaway Angels" who pay off other people's layaway purchases. This was a story on an evening network newscast. Really.
***Kate Snow (filling in for Brian) spent 20 seconds telling us about a Christmas light display on a street in San Antonio that honors each branch of the U.S. armed services. How heartwarming.
***We then got a 50-second story about the "Seinfeld" holiday Festivus--including 25 seconds of "Seinfeld" clips. This story was included for one reason and one reason only--to sell "Seinfeld" DVDs and make more money for NBC Universal. That's truly in the Christmas spirit.
***Finally, it was time for yet another "Making A Difference" story. It was about the Barnes & Noble CEO who built and gave away homes to needy people in New Orleans. As usual, this story was not in any way, shape or form newsworthy. As usual, the Nightly News producers don't care.

Earnest Scott Pelley, Creepy Brian Williams

2011-12-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday's CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley took thirty seconds to apologize for an error that had been made on the previous night's broadcast. On Monday, while we were being told about a North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean ship back in March of 2010, we were instead shown footage of a ship being destroyed during an Australian naval exercise. Pelley seemed genuinely upset that the error had occurred. Here's how he finished his apology: "We work all day to prevent mistakes on this broadcast, but when we make a mistake, we want you to hear it from us first." That sounds sincere. Can you imagine Brian Williams ever apologizing for any of the multiple errors that occur on every Nightly News broadcast? The spelling errors, the factual errors, the shameless promotion of NBC sponsors and TV shows? That will never happen. Brian's ego is simply too big to allow him to acknowledge any mistakes, either his own or someone else's at Nightly News. The closest he came was on Nov. 30, when he apologized for the fire alarm that kept interrupting the previous night's broadcast. And as part of that "apology", Brian told us that he, "looked for the guy responsible" just to make sure that we knew Brian wasn't to blame for the screw-up. Note to Brian: The captain of the ship isn't supposed to blame the crew when something goes wrong.

Most Grotesque Moment of the Week So Far: On Monday's Nightly News, Brian spent more than a minute obsequiously kissing Chelsea Clinton's ass. It was grotesque and creepy. It was almost as creepy as last Thursday, when Brian referred to Sasha and Malia Obama as "those beautiful girls". I think it's fair to say that Brian is obsessed with presidential daughters. Watch out, Amy Carter.

Nightly News Helps Its Advertisers. Again.

2011-12-20T00:05:00.000-08:00

Every Nightly News viewer knows that one of the main responsibilities of Brian Williams and his producers is to use their broadcast to promote NBC's advertisers. This happens over and over and over again. Cheerios, McDonald's, Bayer, Chrysler, Campbell's, GlaxoSmithKline, Walmart...the list goes on and on. Saturday's lead Nightly News story was about Christmas shopping on "Super Saturday". Since a newscast's lead story is traditionally the most important news story of the day, it's clear that the producers felt that Christmas shopping was a much more important story than some of the stories that followed: The payroll tax cut extension, the continuing protests in Cairo, the flooding in the Philippines and the 2012 Republican presidential race. During this all-important lead story, correspondent Michelle Franzen enthusiastically informed us of the following breaking news: "Target offering a $10 gift card with every $75 purchase until noon. J.C. Penney slashing up to 70% off clothing, jewelry and electronics. And Sears not only offering discounts but staying open until midnight through next week." Is it just me, or does that sound a lot like a commercial? And just in case her message wasn't clear enough, the accompanying on-screen graphics drove home the point. As Franzen spoke, we were shown huge logos of each retailer with a written explanation of the discounts and holiday hours she was describing. A cynical person might think that Nightly News included these retailers in the story as a way of giving a great big "thank you" (a holiday present, so to speak) to some of NBC Universal's best advertisers. And a very cynical person might conclude that these retailers actually paid NBC to be included in a contrived Nightly News "news story" about holiday shopping that was especially created just to showcase these particular advertisers. Good thing I'm not a cynical person.

On Sunday's broadcast, the final story was a ridiculous piece about the supposed nostalgia trend in current movies. This 2:15 story featured two full minutes of movie clips. I wish that one of the Nightly News producers would explain to me how a story about movies--made up almost entirely of movie clips--qualifies as news. Clearly, it doesn't. But the NBC News research department has obviously informed Brian and his producers that viewers love to see movie (and TV) clips on news broadcasts and that these clips drive up the ratings. And ratings are the most important thing for Brian and his producers. Sunday's story featured clips from "My Week With Marilyn", "The Tree of Life", "The Artist", "Midnight in Paris", "War Horse" and "Hugo". But this is nothing new for Nightly News viewers. Since Nov. 1, Nightly News has also featured clips from the following movies or television shows: "Mad Men", "9 to 5", "Animal House", "Field of Dreams", "A Prairie Home Companion", "60 Minutes", "The Biggest Loser", "Tower Heist", "Taking Chance", "Spinal Tap", "11-11-11", "Saturday Night Live" (on four separate broadcasts), "The Wizard of Oz", "West Side Story", "Gypsy", "Miracle on 34th Street", "Live with Regis and Kelly", "The Muppets", "Puss in Boots", "Happy Feet Two", "We Bought a Zoo", "Golden Girls", "A Hard Day's Night", "Late Show with David Letterman", "The Dr. Oz Show", "Today", "Cleopatra", "National Velvet", "The Perfect Storm", "Celebrity Apprentice", "M*A*S*H" (TV show), "Dragnet" (TV show), "Batman" (TV show), "30 Rock", "A Christmas Story", "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" and "The Ides of March". That's quite an impressive list. On average, Nightly News shows movie or TV clips on half of its broadcasts (and many broadcasts feature more than one movie or TV clip). Some of these clips ("30 Rock", "Today", "Celebrity Apprentice", "The Biggest Loser", SNL) are of course meant to promote NBC Universal TV shows or movies. What's the point of having a newscast if you can't use it to rabidly promote your entertainment (and sports) shows? But another reason Nightly News shows so many movie and TV clips is because they are a way to maintain viewer interest. With viewers' attention spans declining sharply, these clips are a crafty way to keep us tuned in. Who doesn't want to see George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep or Tina Fey on the news? Brian and NBC News president Steve Capus are desperate to attract more of those valuable 18- to 35-year-old viewers that advertisers so dearly covet (and pay for). And showing movie and TV clips is a good way to attract them. Turning Nightly News into "Access Hollywood" or "Extra" is a great way to boost the ratings and drive up the price of commercials.

So Sunday's "news story" about nostalgia in movies was a ratings gimmick. But like the previous night's story about great bargains on "Super Saturday", it was also a way to thank some regular NBC advertisers. Movie studios spend a tremendous amount of money advertising their films on all of the NBC Universal stations (between NBC Universal and Comcast, the mega-conglomerate owns almost two dozen network and cable TV stations). So these Nightly News stories about movies are one way for the NBC executives to thank the movie studios for all their advertising dollars over the years (just like Nightly News frequently airs glowing "news stories" about cars as a way to thank all their sponsors in the auto industry). Again, a cynical person might conclude that these "news stories" featuring movie clips are part of a paid advertising package that the studios purchase. But I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions on that subject. I wouldn't want it to seem like I'm trying to unduly influencing anyone.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--12/10 Through 12/16

2011-12-17T00:10:00.000-08:00

It was a busy week at Nightly News. They promoted their sponsors and NBC television shows. They brought us more stories about Alec Baldwin and Liz Taylor's jewelry. They aired plenty of repeat stories and stories that were more than a half-century old. And there was no shortage of garbage stories about things like sequoias, seals and returning soldiers. Here are the highlights:

Sat. 12/10--Lester Holt, David Gregory and Mike Viqueira discussed the upcoming Republican presidential debate without ever mentioning that it would be airing on ABC. Then Lester mentioned a "new network news poll" without saying that CBS conducted the poll. That's consistent with the NBC News policy of never mentioning the rival networks.
***A story about "Wreaths Across America" made sure to show a truck with a huge Walmart logo on it. At Nightly News, it's ABP--Always Be Promoting.
***The final story was a ridiculous two-and-a-half minute piece about on-line Christmas tree sales. How does this qualify as news? The story prominently featured logos for Sears, Target and Home Depot. I guess the producers couldn't show the Walmart logo without also showing logos of its competitors. The story also featured clips from "A Christmas Story" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" because research shows that viewers like to see movie clips during news stories. It helps boost the ratings.
Sun. 12/11--Again, Lester Holt, Mike Viqueira and John Harwood spent more than four minutes discussing Saturday's Republican presidential debate without ever mentioning that it aired on ABC. I guess they figured that if they don't mention ABC, then no one will know about it.
***An obituary for Cardinal John Foley included a clip of Cardinal Foley talking to Brian Williams, because every story has to ultimately be about Brian--even other people's obituaries.
***We saw a 40-second story about Alec Baldwin's appearance on "Saturday Night Live". As if there was any doubt that the producers would miss an opportunity to promote an NBC entertainment show.
***The final story was a two-minute piece about deployed military personnel who record DVDs of themselves reading stories which are then sent home to their kids. First of all, this has absolutely no news value and doesn't belong on a network newscast. It's just another example of Nightly News acting as the propaganda arm of the U.S. Military. But even worse, Nightly News reported this exact same story twice before (on 3/22/10 and 10/11/11). How many stories do we need to see about military personnel reading to their kids via DVD? Apparently, three (so far). Naturally, Lester ended the broadcast with a plug for the Giants-Cowboys game airing later on NBC.
Mon. 12/12--Richard Engel's lead story about the U.S. troops leaving Iraq was virtually the same as the story he reported on Sunday. He even wore the same blue shirt on both days. One difference was that tonight's story included a gratuitous shot of a Burger King restaurant at Baghdad's Camp Liberty. Just another product placement on Nightly News.
***Brian and Chuck Todd again refused to mention ABC when discussing Saturday's Republican debate.
***Brian spent 40 seconds telling us about some female fire fighters at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack in 1941. Apparently, 70 year-old news is more important to Brian than current news.
***We saw a second obituary for Cardinal Foley which was just a condensed version of Sunday's obit (and again included the footage of Brian talking to the Cardinal). Really? Two obits for Cardinal Foley? He must have been one hell of a Cardinal. (Note: It was a bad week for the Cardinals. First they lost Albert Pujols, then they lost John Foley. The good news: They're both with the Angels now.)
***This broadcast also marked the Nightly News debuts of Chelsea Clinton and Ted Koppel. Chelsea was poised, personable and photogenic, but she has absolutely no aptitude as a news correspondent. And there's no reason she should--she's never worked as a reporter before. She was hired for one reason and one reason only--because of her name. Obviously, the name "Chelsea Clinton" will cause people to tune in to Nightly News and Rock Center and increase those shows' ratings. And that's all that matters to Brian and NBC News President Steve Capus--ratings. NBC News collects children of former presidents like Brian collects his silly little military challenge coins. Jenna Bush Hager is a correspondent for "Today" (and occasionally Nightly News) and Ron Reagan Jr. is a paid contributor at MSNBC. Maria Shriver (alas, only the niece of a president) was a long-time NBC News correspondent (and likely will become one again). And now add Chelsea to the list. Of course, I don't blame her. She was looking for an on-air network news gig, and Steve Capus was all too willing to jump in and snatch her up so he could add her to his stable of presidential progeny. There are scores (maybe hundreds) of seasoned, professional news correspondents out there looking for on-air jobs, and Brian and Steve Capus are just handing them out to inexperienced amateurs like Chelsea Clinton, Jenna Bush Hager and Luke Russert. That's just shameful. Prediction: Twenty years from now, the new NBC News Special Correspondent will be Sasha Obama. Or perhaps Malia. And seeing Ted Koppel talking to Brian was just a reminder that with his intelligence, insight, gravitas and experience, Koppel should be the one anchoring Nightly News. Koppel is a hardy journalist-anchor; Brian is a cuddly house cat who reads the words off the teleprompter. Koppel is a direct link to Murrow, Rather, Brokaw and Jennings, while Brian's contemporaries are John Tesh, Ryan Seacrest and Jeff Probst. But unfortunately Koppel's ratings as an anchor would today skew way past the age that is attractive to advertisers and news executives. Brian Williams is a lightweight compared to Ted Koppel, but because of Brian's desperate need to be liked (and his unctuous talent for pandering to the viewers), his ratings are high.
Tues. 12/13--The lead story was about distracted driving (people who use their cell phones while driving). Here are some of the things Brian had to say on this subject: "An agency of the Federal government has decided that texting, e-mailing or talking on a cellphone while driving a car is simply too dangerous and should be outlawed (for) all of US...The millions of US who drive distracted on occasion--especially those of US who think WE'RE fine, it's the other drivers who present the greatest danger on the road." As usual, Brian uses personal pronouns to turn a news story into a story about HIM. Because the news is always about Brian.
***Brian then moderated an interminably long six-minute-and-forty-second round table discussion on the Republican presidential candidates with Chuck Todd, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell and pollster Peter Hart. Wow. It was like watching a stage production of "War and Peace". In Russian. All the information they gave us could have been presented in under a minute. But instead, Brian dragged this segment out to take up more than a quarter of the broadcast. Ridiculous.
***Here are some of the other important stories Brian told us about: The loud volume of commercials (30 seconds); A recently re-discovered Alexander Graham Bell recording from the 1880's (40 seconds); And a giant sequoia tree that had fallen at Sequoia National Park (35 seconds). Breaking news if ever I've seen it. By the way, this was the third Nightly News story on the fallen sequoia tree in the past six weeks. I'm surprised Brian didn't refer to it as a "fallen hero".
***The final story was a 2:10 waste of time about military personnel returning from Iraq. It wasn't a news story, it was just another rah-rah, gung-ho, flag-waving, feel-good patriotic story meant to resonate emotionally with the viewers (I mean that literally--as Brian introduced this story, there was an animated flag waving behind him and he ended by saying, "Our thanks to all of our veterans for their service." Wow, he's sickening. I'm surprised he didn't stand and salute.). Among the scenes of husbands and wives reuniting, it also included the obligatory footage of a father surprising his two daughters who were not told that he was coming home that day. This is de rigueur at Nightly News. They have aired this same story (with different people, of course) dozens of times over the past few years. These stories have absolutely no news value, but the NBC News research department has informed Brian that viewers love to see these sappy, tearful reunions and they get high ratings. And we all know how important ratings are to Brian. By the way, this Nightly News broadcast did not feature a single story from outside the U.S. But at least we know all about the giant sequoia tree and the soldier that surprised his kids. Here's a suggestion for Brian and his producers: Instead of boring us with six minutes of redundant political talk, how about covering some of the actual news that's happening in the rest of the world?
Wed. 12/14--We saw the third story in two months about the risk of using electronic devices on planes. Tom Costello originally reported this story on Oct. 10. And on Dec. 8, after Alec Baldwin was kicked off a plane for refusing to turn off his cell phone game, the Nightly News producers basically reran Costello's previous story with some new footage of Baldwin (including, of course, a clip from "30 Rock"). And tonight, Costello did yet another story about electronic devices on planes, also with more Baldwin footage added (this time, it was from his recent "Saturday Night Live" appearance). How many more times are the Nightly News producers going to milk this story just so they can promote "30 Rock" and SNL? Nightly News spent more time on this story than "Access Hollywood". Shameful.
***Brian spent 30 seconds reporting the important story of a baby seal that crawled into a house in New Zealand. Because Brian is always about the hard news.
***We then got another story about the Liz Taylor jewelry auction--the fourth story Nightly News has done on the auction. Of course, these stories are just excuses to show Taylor's old movie clips. Viewers like seeing the clips and they get good ratings.
***Brian took 30 seconds to tell us that people are having buyers' remorse and returning more merchandise to stores than they did last year. Thanks for the scoop.
***The final story was another sappy piece about a dad who's taking care of his kids while his wife is serving in Afghanistan. Naturally, it included footage of the tearful reunion when mom gets off the plane and greets her kids. Nightly News just keeps showing the same crap over and over and over again. This isn't a news broadcast, it's the Lifetime Movie Network.
Thurs. 12/15--The lead story was Richard Engel's piece about the U.S. military pullout from Iraq (Engel was wearing his blue shirt again). Here's part of Brian's introduction to the story: "And please remember every American who served there volunteered for duty while their families sacrificed greatly here at home." Oh, please. Where's my barf bag? I thought news anchors were supposed to be neutral and objective. I thought they were supposed to report facts, not their opinions. Well, apparently objectivity and facts don't get high ratings.
***We saw a story about Mitt Romney that included a video clip of Romney being interview by The New York Times. The credit at the bottom of the screen read "Ne York Times". What's the Ne York Times? Is it a newspaper published by the R & B singer Ne-Yo?
***We were treated to a two-and-a-half minute story about buyers' remorse--apparently people are returning more merchandise to stores than they did last year. Hmmm...that sounds familiar. Where did I hear it before? Oh yeah--on last night's broadcast. Once again, Nightly News reported the same story two nights in a row. Who says reruns are only for entertainment shows?
***Next, we saw Robert Bazell's story about the dangers of a highly contagious bird flu virus created in a lab for research purposes. The story was titled "Full Disclosure". That's hilarious because Bazell often presents glowing reports about Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline or Pfizer products without disclosing that he's really doing product placements for some of Nightly News's best advertisers. That's what I call irony.
***Brian then took 45 seconds to tell us about the new Obama family portrait. He said, "It sure looks like both parents are hanging on to those beautiful girls for dear life." That's creepy and sickening. Is there any level to which Brian will not stoop in order to pander to the President? And what about his vow not to report on Sasha and Malia? That vow went out the window when he realized that they bring good ratings.
***Next, Brian reported on rumors that Vladimir Putin has had some cosmetic face work done. That's responsible--reporting on rumors about world leaders' plastic surgery. This is another story that's rife with irony because Brian has obviously had a nose job. I guess it's up to Russian TV to report on Brian's cosmetic procedures.
***Brian spent 30 seconds telling us all about the Golden Globe nominations. Much of the story consisted of video of George Clooney. People like George Clooney. That's why Brian puts him on Nightly News so often. The story ended with Brian's shameless plug for the Golden Globes on NBC in January. Big surprise. As if he would have even bothered with the story if the Golden Globes weren't going to be televised on NBC.
***The broadcast ended with a "Making A Difference" story called "Random Acts of Kindness". A California woman returns a man's lost wallet. A California town puts up a Snoopy display when the man who usually does it can't afford it this year. A South Carolina jewelry store hides pearl necklaces around town for people to find. A Michigan woman secretly pays for people's lay-away purchases. And in South Carolina, a Santa asks three little children what they want for Christmas. When they say they want their daddy to come home from his tour of duty in the military, he steps out from behind a curtain. Yes--this was an actual story on a network news broadcast. I know--I can't believe it either.
Fri. 12/16--In a story about fraud at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a Nightly News graphic informed us that Virginia Foxx is a Congresswoman representing Virginia. Actually, she represents North Carolina. But I understand how confusing it must be to the Nightly News producers when people's names are the same as state names. Maybe Ms. Foxx should change her first name to Carolina to make it easier for the Nightly News producers.
***NBC News justice correspondent Pete Williams continues to be my hero. Once again, Brian tried to bait him with a treacly "Good evening, Pete". But Pete refused to take the bait. Instead of responding to Brian's syrupy greeting, he just launched right into his story. You go, Pete! Why does Brian feel the need to exchange ebullient greetings with every Nightly News correspondent as if they're actually his friends?
***During yet another tedious story about pre-Christmas shopping (how does this qualify as news?), we were shown a December calendar page on screen. For some inexplicable reason, this calendar showed the week as beginning with Monday and running through Sunday. Every calendar I've ever seen shows the week beginning with Sunday and running through Saturday. Note to the Nightly News producers: It's okay to buy irregular socks and underwear. It's not okay to buy irregular calendars.
***Here's something new: The not-quite-obituary. Brian spent 30 seconds telling us that Etta James was--almost dead. Can't he wait for her to actually pass away before eulogizing her? I guess Brian figured she wouldn't last the weekend and Monday would be too late. Not very sensitive.
***Brian also read an obituary for Christopher Hitchens. More irony on Nightly News. Hitchens was an intellectual heavyweight. Brian is...well, let's just say he's not exactly an intellectual heavyweight.
***We also got a 30-second story about Michelle Obama being asked on a date by a Marine. The NBC News research department has obviously informed Brian that when it comes to popularity, Mrs. Obama is American royalty--like Will & Kate. So that's why we get so many Michelle Obama stories every week.
***The final story was a two-minute "Making A Difference" piece about the Marines who help organize the Toys for Tots program. Like every MAD piece, this one did not have a shred of news value. How many hundreds of minutes do Brian and his producers waste every year with these inane MAD stories? It's appalling that a network newscast would actually stoop to this kind of shameless pandering. But not surprising. The MAD stories get good ratings. And ratings are more important than news to Brian and his producers. Brian ended the broadcast by telling us that next week, we will see a new MAD piece every day. I can't wait.

Some Stories You Won't See On NBC Nightly News

2011-12-16T23:16:00.000-08:00

Friday's New York Times (12/16/11) reported that executives at MSNBC were forced to issue an apology to Mitt Romney after an MSNBC anchor reported Wednesday that Romney had used a phrase ("Keep America American") that had been used by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's. (Romney actually said "Keep America America".) MSNBC reported this story after one of their producers read it on a liberal blog (AMERICAblog.com) but apparently never bothered to research it or contact the Romney campaign for clarification. What a surprise--an NBC News producer that didn't bother to research a story. I would call that business as usual for NBC News. And for some reason, Brian Williams neglected to report this story on Nightly News. I guess there was no time left after all the important Nightly News stories about whales, pandas, Alec Baldwin's airline adventure, Will & Kate and returning soldiers who surprise their kids by showing up at their schools unannounced.

On Thursday (12/15/11), the New York Times reported that Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King, commandant of the Army's school for drill sergeants, has been suspended and is under investigation after allegations of misconduct. (The Army has not revealed the specific nature of the allegations.) You will not hear Brian Williams report this story on Nightly News because it would contradict his policy of acting as the chief propagandist for the U.S. Military. Brian only reports rah-rah, gung-ho, eagle-soaring, flag-waving stories about the military. Another reason he won't report this story: On 2/1/10, Nightly News aired a fawning, obsequious profile of Sgt. Maj. King. Reporting on her suspension would reflect negatively on Nightly News's (and Brian Williams's) choice of profile subjects.

Brian Williams: Panderer-In-Chief

2011-12-16T01:24:00.000-08:00

While wasting 45 seconds of valuable time telling us about the new Obama family portrait on Thursday's Nightly News, Brian Williams said, "It sure looks like both parents are hanging on to those beautiful girls for dear life." That's creepy and sickening. Is there any level to which Brian will not stoop in order to pander to the President?

More Reruns At Nightly News

2011-12-13T01:14:00.001-08:00

I understand that NBC shows reruns of entertainment shows. That's to be expected. But why is Nightly News showing reruns of news stories? Here are just a few recent examples:

Thursday 12/8--Tom Costello reported a 2:25 story about how airline passengers' personal electronic devices may interfere with a jet's navigation system. This story was virtually identical to an Oct. 10 story Costello did about...how airline passengers' personal electronic devices may interfere with a jet's navigation system. That's right--the exact same story two months later. The later story used many of the interviews and much of the video that had been seen in the earlier story. The only difference was that the 12/8 story included lots of footage of Alec Baldwin after he got kicked off a plane for refusing to turn off his cell phone game. So Costello and his producers dusted off an old story and reran it just so they could give lots of free publicity to NBC's "30 Rock" star. And in case there was any doubt, the story even featured a clip from "30 Rock". Rerunning an old Nightly News story to promote an NBC entertainment show is shameless.
Sunday 12/11--The final story of the night was a two-minute piece about Operation Record-A-Story, an organization that provides Navy personnel aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln with the production facilities and equipment to record DVDs of themselves reading stories that are then mailed home to their kids. Two months ago (on Oct. 11) Nightly News did a "Making A Difference" story about Reach Out and Read--an organization that encourages and helps military personnel read to their kids, either in person or on DVD. And on 3/22/10, Nightly News did a "Making A Difference" story about an organization called "Staying United Through Reading", that produces DVD recordings of deployed military parents reading to their kids. So the 12/11 story was the third Nightly News story in less than two years about organizations that produce DVD recordings of military parents reading to their kids. And none of these stories even belong on a news broadcast because they don't contain any news. When is Nightly News going to stop being the propaganda arm of the U.S. Military? How many more of these rah-rah, gung-ho, flag-waving, eagle-soaring, Uncle Sam stories is Nightly News going to force us to watch? Sadly, many more.
Monday 12/12--Brian Williams read a 30-second obituary for Cardinal John Foley (which, of course, included footage of Brian himself interviewing Cardinal Foley). One day earlier, Lester Holt read a 45-second obituary for Cardinal Foley. Monday's obit was just an edited version of Sunday's obit--no new footage had been added. Regardless of his accomplishments, Cardinal Foley does not merit identical obituaries on two consecutive Nightly News broadcasts. Also on Monday, Richard Engel reported from Iraq. His report was virtually identical to his Sunday report from Iraq. Much of the Monday footage had already been shown on Sunday. More reruns.

Here's a thought: If they didn't show the same tired old stories over and over and over again, Brian Williams and his producers would have time to show more actual news. More news--what a concept. But that will never happen. It's cheaper to recycle old news than to show new news. Perfect example: On Monday, Brian spent 40 seconds narrating a story about female fire fighters during the Pearl Harbor attack. How about showing some current news instead of seventy-year-old news? NBC News shows more reruns than NBC Entertainment. How proud Brian and his producers must be.

Ted Koppel Is Right--Nightly News Is A Joke

2011-12-12T23:44:00.000-08:00

On Monday's Nightly News, Brian Williams introduced two new NBC News Special Correspondents: Chelsea Clinton and Ted Koppel. Chelsea is personable and photogenic, but she has absolutely no aptitude as a news correspondent. And there's no reason she should--she's never worked as a reporter before. She was hired for one reason and one reason only--because of her name. Obviously, the name "Chelsea Clinton" will cause people to tune in to Nightly News and Rock Center and increase those shows' ratings. And that's all that matters to Brian and NBC News President Steve Capus--ratings. NBC News collects children of former presidents like Brian collects his silly little military challenge coins. Jenna Bush Hager is a correspondent for "Today" (and occasionally Nightly News) and Ron Reagan Jr. is a paid contributor at MSNBC. Maria Shriver (alas, only the niece of a president) was a long-time NBC News correspondent (and likely will become one again). And now add Chelsea to the list. Of course, I don't blame her. She was looking for an on-air network news gig, and Steve Capus was all too willing to jump in and snatch her up so he could add her to his stable of presidential progeny. This is what Nightly News is all about. Personalities rather than news. Wannabe actress (and "Access Hollywood" celebrity-stalker) Maria Menounos is a Nightly News contributor. Michael Douglas introduces Brian every night. Bono, Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen are featured so often on Nightly News that they're like Brian's sidekicks--his own personal Ed McMahons. Luke Russert (son of Tim) is an MSNBC (and Nightly News) correspondent. Brian set Luke Russert up as a correspondent after his father died because he wants to take care of the kid. It's the same thing Tony Soprano did for Christopher Moltisanti. Obviously, Brian is the Godfather of NBC News. He does what he wants, and he hires who he wants. There are scores (maybe hundreds) of seasoned, professional news correspondents out there looking for on-air jobs, and Brian and Steve Capus are just handing them out to inexperienced amateurs like Chelsea Clinton, Jenna Bush Hager and Luke Russert. That's just shameful. Prediction: Twenty years from now, the new NBC News Special Correspondent will be Sasha Obama. Or perhaps Malia.

Speaking of seasoned professional news correspondents, I was shocked that Ted Koppel would lower his professional journalistic standards to work at NBC News. But I guess that when you get into your 70's, network news jobs become harder and harder to find. Obviously, with his intelligence, insight, gravitas and experience, Koppel should be anchoring Nightly News. He's one of the last of his breed--a hardy journalist-anchor who earned his stripes in the 1960's and 1970's flying around the world covering important, breaking news. Brian is a cuddly house cat. He sits in his comfy studio chair and reads the words off the teleprompter each night. And if Brian ever leaves the studio to go on location--especially if it's out of the country--he flies first class and stays in four-star hotels (while his production crew flies coach and stays in local fleabag motels). Koppel is a direct link to Murrow, Rather, Brokaw and Jennings. Brian's contemporaries are John Tesh, Ryan Seacrest and Jeff Probst. But unfortunately Koppel's ratings as an anchor would today skew way past the age that is attractive to advertisers and news executives. Brian Williams is a lightweight compared to Ted Koppel, but because of Brian's desperate need to be liked (and his unctuous talent for pandering to the viewers), his ratings are high. So what does Ted Koppel really think of network news? Here are some excerpts from an Op-Ed piece Koppel contributed to the 11/12/10 Washington Post (the entire piece can be read at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/12/AR2010111202857_2.html):

"The commercial success of both Fox News and MSNBC is a source of nonpartisan sadness for me. While I can appreciate the financial logic of drowning television viewers in a flood of opinions designed to confirm their own biases, the trend is not good for the republic. It is, though, the natural outcome of a growing sense of national entitlement. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's oft-quoted observation that 'everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts,' seems almost quaint in an environment that flaunts opinions as though they were facts.

And so, among the many benefits we have come to believe the founding fathers intended for us, the latest is news we can choose. Beginning, perhaps, from the reasonable perspective that absolute objectivity is unattainable, Fox News and MSNBC no longer even attempt it. They show us the world not as it is, but as partisans (and loyal viewers) at either end of the political spectrum would like it to be. This is to journalism what Bernie Madoff was to investment: He told his customers what they wanted to hear, and by the time they learned the truth, their money was gone.

Much of the American public used to gather before the electronic hearth every evening, separate but together, while Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Frank Reynolds and Howard K. Smith offered relatively unbiased accounts of information that their respective news organizations believed the public needed to know. The ritual permitted, and perhaps encouraged, shared perceptions and even the possibility of compromise among those who disagreed.

It was an imperfect, untidy little Eden of journalism where reporters were motivated to gather facts about important issues. We didn't know that we could become profit centers. No one had bitten into that apple yet.

The transition of news from a public service to a profitable commodity is irreversible. Legions of new media present a vista of unrelenting competition. Advertisers crave young viewers, and these young viewers are deemed to be uninterested in hard news, especially hard news from abroad. This is felicitous, since covering overseas news is very expensive. On the other hand, the appetite for strongly held, if unsubstantiated, opinion is demonstrably high. And such talk, as they say, is cheap.

Broadcast news has been outflanked and will soon be overtaken by scores of other media options. The need for clear, objective reporting in a world of rising religious fundamentalism, economic interdependence and global ecological problems is probably greater than it has ever been. But we are no longer a national audience receiving news from a handful of trusted gatekeepers; we're now a million or more clusters of consumers, harvesting information from like-minded providers. "

Wow. Ted Koppel really laid it on the line. MSNBC doesn't even attempt to be objective. MSNBC is like Bernie Madoff. Those are strong words. It's obvious that Koppel doesn't think much of cable or network news these days--and that obviously includes NBC News and Brian Williams. I only hope that Koppel will have an opportunity to make his opinion heard at NBC News--and about NBC News.

Postscript (Dec. 14)--As if we need any more proof that Koppel was talking specifically about NBC Nightly News when he lamented the reluctance of network newscasts to present international news: On Tuesday (Dec. 13), Nightly News did not report one single story from outside the U.S. Instead, Brian gave us filler stories about a snowstorm in California, the closing of some post offices, an old recording by Alexander Graham Bell, the volume of commercials, a tree that had fallen in Sequoia National Park (the third Nightly News story about the fallen sequoia) and a ridiculous story with no news value about military personnel returning home (Nightly News has done dozens of identical stories over the past few years). Brian also moderated an interminably long six-and-a-half minute "round table discussion" about the Republican presidential candidates. All the information in this story could have been presented in under a minute. There was not a single story from anywhere outside the U.S. Not Iraq, not Libya, not China, not Afghanistan, not Syria. But at least we know all about Alexander Graham Bell and the giant sequoia tree that fell. Ted Koppel is right--Nightly News is a joke.

Cardinals & Angels

2011-12-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

On Sunday's Nightly News, Lester Holt reported that Cardinal John Foley passed away.

It's been a tough week for the Cardinals. First they lost Albert Pujols, then they lost John Foley. The good news: They're both with the Angels now.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--12/3 Through 12/9

2011-12-11T01:29:00.000-08:00

Last week, it was business as usual at Nightly News. We saw stories about Liz Taylor, pandas and Will & Kate. Brian Williams used his broadcast to plug "Celebrity Apprentice" & "30 Rock", Cheerios & Bayer. And of course, Brian did his best to turn every story into a story about HIM. Here are the highlights:

Sat. 12/3--Viewers were treated to another story about the upcoming auction of Liz Taylor's jewels. Because apparently, that's what passes for news at Nightly News. Then we saw a 2:10 story about elderly jazz musicians who play at high schools and senior centers. More hard news.
Sun. 12/4--Nightly News began 10 minutes late, because golf ran overtime. Yet the producers still showed us a two-minute story about pandas and the obligatory Will & Kate story. You'd think that when a news broadcast starts late, the producers would cut out the trivial, worthless stories and focus on news. Not at NBC. Instead, the producers cut out news to focus on worthless stories. Great job, guys. Naturally, Lester Holt ended the broadcast by plugging that night's Lions-Saints game, which followed Nightly News on NBC.
Mon. 12/5--During a story about the Republican presidential candidates, David Axelrod was identified as an "Obama Campaign Senior Advisor". The previous night, Axelrod was identified as a "Senior Obama Campaign Adviser". So not only did the producers rearranged the word order of Axelrod's title, but they also spelled advisor/adviser two different ways on two different days. So much for consistency. So much for competence. This story also included plenty of Donald Trump video and audio, because one of Brian's main jobs is using his broadcast to promote NBC Entertainment shows like "Celebrity Apprentice". In a story about NASA's discovery of a habitable Earth-like planet 600 light years away, Brian said this: "Imagine what we could do with this new place--it could be our chance to start fresh. A place where the Chicago Cubs always win, where there's always free parking, productive lawmakers and uninterrupted cell phone service." I'm sure free parking is an issue for Brian and his $10 million salary. Actually, I was hoping the new planet would have an NBC News anchor who understands the difference between real news and drivel and who doesn't look for every opportunity to feed his massive ego by showing off what he believes passes for a sense of humor. But as always, Brian would much rather be thought of as funny than as a serious news anchor. After that, we saw a story that basically consisted of Richard Engel using a rope to lower himself into a Malian gold mine, where he spent several minutes horsing around. There was no real purpose to this story, except to promote a longer version of the story that would appear later on "Rock Center". Just to make sure we got the point, Brian began and ended the story with plugs for "Rock Center". How nice that Brian is wasting valuable Nightly News time plugging his prime-time show. The final story was a pointless "Making A Difference" piece (by the equally pointless Anne Thompson) about an organization that helps job-searchers improve their self-esteem. Another Nightly News story with zero news value. Brian ended the broadcast by begging people to watch "Rock Center" later that night. His third plug for "Rock Center". Shameless.
Tues. 12/6--Brian narrated a story about Green Bay Packers stock going on sale. Nightly News frequently runs stories about football because that helps to promote NBC's Sunday Night Football. And one of Brian's main jobs, of course, is to promote NBC Sports. Brian ended the story by saying, "While WE Giants fans are not happy with the Pack right about now, they are better behaved than a whole lot of companies you could invest in." Once again, Brian used a personal pronoun ("we") to turn a news story into a story about him. Because the news is always about Brian. Always. The broadcast ended with a two-minute story about a mystery person who has been leaving $20 gold coins in Florida Salvation Army collection pots. More hard news from Nightly News. I half-expected to see Richard Engel using a rope to lower himself into a collection pot to investigate the gold coin.
Wed. 12/7--On The CBS Evening News, correspondent Clarissa Ward continued her riveting reports on the events in Syria, after daringly sneaking into that country and defying a ban on foreign reporters. At ABC, Barbara Walters conducted an exclusive interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And on Nightly News...they didn't even mention Syria. That sounds about right. But we did get a story about the prison sentence handed down to Rod Blagojevich, which included a clip of Donald Trump on "Celebrity Apprentice". Because it's Brian's job to promote NBC shows on Nightly News. We also got a 35-second obituary for Dobie Gray, who was known for only one song--"Drift Away". In a story about sugar in cereal, Brian makes a point of mentioning Honey Nut Cheerios (a photo of the cereal is also shown above Brian's shoulder) so all the kids watching will nag their parents to buy it for them. Cheerios is one of the biggest Nightly News sponsors, and Brian always makes a point of plugging his sponsors on his broadcast. Like they say in the PR profession--"There's no such thing as bad publicity." Brian then spent 50 seconds talking about Alec Baldwin getting kicked off a plane, because that's a great way to promote Baldwin's TV show "30 Rock" (which airs on NBC, of course). After that, Brian told us that, "The Great Harry Morgan has died." Great? Morgan was an accomplished actor and an Emmy winner, but great? I don't think so. Apparently, Brian's fawningly obsequious reverence for anyone in uniform even extends to actors who merely portrayed members of the military. And that's just sad. By the way, it isn't a news anchor's job to attach glowing adjectives to people just because he happens to like them. But Morgan's obit was an opportunity to show clips from "M*A*S*H" and "Dragnet", and we all know how Brian loves to show TV clips on Nightly News. Hardly a broadcast goes by without some sort of movie or TV clip (or both) being shown. Obviously, the NBC News research department has informed Brian that TV clips help the Nightly News ratings, so of course he will continue to show them. The final story was a two-minute "Making A Difference" piece about three Baltimore men who teach yoga to kids. I have no idea why this was on a news broadcast. So let's recap: CBS News and ABC News air important stories about Syria. Nightly News ignores Syria because Brian thinks it's more important to tell us about Donald Trump, Dobie Gray, Honey Nut Cheerios, Alec Baldwin, Harry Morgan and yoga. Way to go, Brian. Does anyone really believe that Nightly News is a professional broadcast?
Thurs. 12/8--Brian read three promo plugs for the final story about Alec Baldwin getting kicked off a plane. And in each of the plugs, Brian attempted to turn the story into a story about himself. At the beginning of the broadcast, he said, "A celebrity's in the news for getting kicked off a plane, for failing to turn off his electronic device, but how many of US really do?" Then before the first commercial break at minute 13 he said, "And later, he defied the flight attendant's order to turn off his phone, but how many of US have done the same thing and is it really dangerous?" And before the final commercial break at minute 24, he said, "Up next here tonight, a serious question after a celebrity dust-up--what if WE do secretly leave our electronics on during takeoff?" Us, us, we. Typical of Brian--using personal pronouns to turn news stories into stories about HIM. Because the news is always about Brian. Meanwhile, Tom Costello's story about Baldwin was just a shameless 2:25 promotion for "30 Rock". It even included a clip from the show. And what's worse, Costello had reported the exact same story about personal electronic devices on planes less than two months earlier (Oct. 10). So this was just a rerun story that was resurrected as a cheap way to plug "30 Rock". Shameful. Also on this broadcast, Nancy Snyderman reported on the possible dangers of blood clots associated with the birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin, which are manufactured by Bayer. ABC's "Nightline" reported this story on Oct. 14, so Nightly News is a little behind the curve. Mea culpa: After the "Nightline" story, I predicted that Nightly News would never report this story because they don't report negative stories about Bayer products, a major Nightly News advertiser. So I guess the Nightly News producers must have decided that the story would bring more positive publicity than negative publicity to Bayer. While Nancy Snyderman did include some negative comments about the drugs, she also included many positive comments. So I guess it was more or less a wash. Obviously, as a physician, Snyderman is bound by an ethical accountability that Brian and his producers are not bound by. Brian then spent 20 seconds narrating an obituary for Jerry Robinson, an illustrator for Batman comics. Really? No offense, but Jerry Robinson does not deserve an obit on Nightly News. After that, Brian took 25 seconds to inform us that yawns are contagious. I think he should have attached a "breaking news" banner to that story. Then he spent 35 seconds telling us about a squirrel that had set off a fire alarm in a Florida elementary school. Apparently, to Brian, that qualifies as news. He ended the story by saying, "The good news--pest control has been notified. The bad news--those weren't raisins on the rice pudding." Okay, for one thing, a lot of people are eating dinner while they watch the news and that comment did not help the food stay down. But even more disturbing is that Brian thinks he's hosting a comedy show. He actually selects stories based on how funny he thinks he can be. My advice to Brian: Don't quit your day job. Wait--on second thought, I take that back. Yes Brian, DO quit your day job. We'd all be a lot better off.
Fri. 12/9--We were treated to a pointless 2:20 story about people who travel from town to town in RVs looking for work. Great. Thanks. Meanwhile, in a related story on the 12/9 Daily Nightly blog, MSNBC.com web editor/producer Becky Bratu misspelled the name of Campbellsville (one of the towns featured on the story) three times (as "Campbelsville"). Another detail-oriented NBC News employee. Then Brian spent 30 seconds telling us about some missing moon rocks. He told us to check our sock drawers. He's a riot. Brian also narrated a 52-second obituary for Alan Harding, who was NBC's manager of field operations. I understand that networks always report on their deceased employees, but 52 seconds? That's a bit much. And of course, the obit featured a photo of Harding with Brian. Because the news is always about Brian--even other people's obits. The final story was a pointless 2:15 "Making A Difference" piece about an organization that arranges cost-free vacations for wounded veterans and their families. More rah-rah, gung-ho, flag-waving, we-love-the-military propaganda from Brian and the Nightly News producers. This story does is not news and does not belong on a network newscast. But Brian understands that he gets high ratings by pretending to care about veterans. And he gets to do whatever he wants. All the time.

Reason #654 Why NBC Nightly News Is A Joke

2011-12-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

Let me make sure I understand this. On Sunday, Nightly News started 10 minutes late on the east coast (because golf ran over) so it was only a 20-minute broadcast. Despite the shortened time frame, the producers still managed to include a two-minute story about pandas and the obligatory Will & Kate story. For other networks, an abbreviated broadcast would mean eliminating the silly, trivial non-news stories. But at Nightly News, it means eliminating real news so they can show us more worthless drivel. God forbid the producers would ever cut a panda story or a Will & Kate story from the broadcast. So Nightly News viewers may have no idea what's going on across the country and around the world, but at least we know all about Sweetie and Sunshine. Great job, Nightly News producers. Just another reason why Nightly News is a joke.

Also on Sunday's broadcast, a clip of David Axelrod from that day's "Meet the Press" carried a Nightly News graphic that identified Axelrod as a "Senior Obama Campaign Adviser". On Monday, a different clip of Axelrod carried a Nightly News graphic that identified him as an "Obama Campaign Senior Advisor". Why did the Nightly News producers spell adviser/advisor two different ways on two different days? And why was the order of words in Axelrod's job description changed around from one day to the next? Have any of the Nightly News producers ever heard of something called consistency? Is anyone at Nightly News paying attention to what they're doing? Does anyone care?

NBC's Tom Costello Is A Sleazy Shameless Shill

2011-12-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

The second story on Wednesday's Nightly News (11/30) was Tom Costello's report about arsenic levels in fruit juice. As expected, Costello's first obligation was to protect the Nightly News sponsors. As a result, he did not show a single name brand of juice. Instead, we only saw clear glasses filled with what appeared to be apple juice. At one point, Costello was in a supermarket juice aisle but all the juice bottles on the shelf had been turned around by the Nightly News staff so their labels were not visible. They manipulated the bottles in a supermarket to protect NBC sponsors! There is a word for this: Unethical. And there's another word for it: Sleazy. Costello's manipulation of the juice aisle reminded me of Kristen Welker's manipulation of a supermarket cereal aisle for her 9/24/10 Nightly News report about the shopping habits of American consumers. For that report, Welker and her producers painstakingly rearranged the cereal aisle in a Target store and padded it with 50 facings of Cheerios in order to create a wall of Cheerios that was clearly visible to the camera. Cheerios had nothing to do with the story--Welker rearranged the aisle just to create a product placement for Cheerios, a regular Nightly News advertiser. It's sort of the flip side of what Costello did. He manipulated a supermarket aisle to protect Nightly News sponsors, Welker manipulated a supermarket aisle to promote a Nightly News sponsor. Meanwhile, The CBS Evening News also aired a report Wednesday about arsenic levels in juice. But the CBS report clearly showed bottles of Mott's, Apple & Eve and other name brands. I think it's obvious who the legitimate journalists are and who the shills are. Sidebar: At one point during the Nightly News juice story, Costello told us that, "(T)he FDA now says it's considering a new standard that will reduce consumers' exposure to arsenic in apple juice." But when that statement appeared on-screen, "consumers'" was spelled as "consumer's". Note to the Nightly News producers: I think the FDA is looking to reduce the exposure for more than one consumer.

Of course, it's no surprise that when the Nightly News producers wanted to protect their sponsors, they gave the job to Costello. He has a history of protecting sponsors in his stories. On the 3/29/11 Nightly News, Costello did a story about the link between food dyes and hyperactivity in children. He told us the dyes were, "Found in everything from drinks to candies, baked goods, chips, even pickles and mac and cheese." As he said this, we are shown video of these products--but not a single identifying label was visible. This is hardly shocking. These products all advertise regularly on NBC and the producers are obviously afraid of offending their sponsors. The chips were clearly Doritos (from Frito-Lay), and the pickles and macaroni and cheese were likely from Heinz and Kraft, two of the largest manufacturers of those respective products (and also frequent NBC advertisers). Simply put, Brian Williams, Tom Costello and their producers do not run negative reports that include their sponsors' products. Not surprisingly, the 3/29/11 CBS Evening News report on food dyes showed brand-name products such as Fritos and Ruffles (both from Frito-Lay), M & M's, Mott's Applesauce, Gatorade, Eggos, Kraft salad dressings, Hellmann's Mayonnaise, Popsicles, Jello and a variety of cereals such as Frosted Flakes, Cap'n Crunch and Apple Jacks. CBS News acted in the best interests of their viewers while NBC News acted in the best interests of their sponsors.

But there's more. On the 11/3/09 Nightly News, Costello did a report about harmful BPA levels in plastic bottles and canned food liners. Costello told us that the chemical was present in "brand name foods from vegetable soup to tuna fish, green beans to corn and chili." But the accompanying graphic showed only generic cans labeled "chili", "vegetable soup", "green beans" and "tuna". Not a single name brand. Meanwhile, ABC's World News reported the same story on the same night. The ABC story showed canned goods from Del Monte, Progresso, Campbell's, Hormel, Hunt's, Bush's and Chef Boyardee. As with the food dye and juice stories, Costello and his producers refrained from showing brand names in the BPA story as a favor to the many food companies that advertise on their broadcast and other NBC shows. (In the week prior to the 11/3/09 BPA report, Nightly News aired commercials for Bush's Beans, Progresso canned soups and Swanson chicken broth.) What does it tell us that both CBS and ABC are willing to include their sponsors' products in unflattering news reports, while Nightly News is not? Simple. Nightly News makes a point of vigorously protecting and promoting their sponsors' products, while the other networks do not. Obviously, ABC and CBS place news above loyalty to their sponsors.

By the way, on Monday's Nightly News (11/28), we were shown a "Making A Difference" report about campus food pantries that provide food to needy students. In the story, there were no fewer that 8 clear shots of Campbell's canned foods. The final shot of the story was an extreme close up of a can of Campbell's Chunky Soup. This was no accident. Campbell's is a major Nightly News sponsor. Obviously, this story was concocted solely as a way to promote Campbell's products. So Nightly News refuses to show a single can of Campbell's soup in a damaging story about BPA levels, but they have no problem turning a "Making A Difference" report into a Campbell's product placement bonanza. Shameful.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--11/26 Through 12/2

2011-12-02T23:26:00.000-08:00

It was a great week at Nightly News. Misspellings, math errors and repeat stories abounded. Tom Costello protected his sponsors...again. Brian's massive ego was on full display and the incompetent Nightly News personnel allowed a fire alarm to go off during Tuesday's broadcast. Here are the highlights:

Saturday 11/26--Here's how Lester Holt introduced a story about baby boomer women living together as roommates: "Turning now to some real-life Golden Girls. The story of Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia was a huge TV hit in the 80's...." And during the story, Thanh Truong told us, "It's a scene reminiscent of that iconic 1980's sitcom 'The Golden Girls'." "Huge hit"? "Iconic"? Obviously, this story was concocted for the sole purpose of promoting and selling "Golden Girls" DVDs and other merchandise, which is available at the NBC Universal on-line store. An appallingly crass and shameful way to make money for NBC. In other words, business as usual at Nightly News. The final story of the night was a "Making A Difference" piece about Operation Love ReUnited, in which photographers volunteer to take pictures of military families before the service member ships out. First of all, this isn't news. This is just another example of Nightly News acting as the propaganda arm of the U.S. military. Brian Williams has decreed that Nightly News shall do everything in its power to be a rah-rah, gung-ho promoter of the military and as a result, we are forced to watch dozens of these sappy, tear jerker, eagle-soaring, flag-waving, God-Bless-America stories. They're like bad Hallmark cards. In fact, Nightly News does so many of these ridiculous stories that they have begun to repeat them. On 12/15/09, Nightly News aired a MAD story about "Portraits of Love"--in which photographers volunteer to take pictures of military families to send to the deployed service member. Same story two years later. So that's twice as much of our time that Nightly News wasted on pointless drivel with no news value. Great job, Nightly News producers.
Sunday 11/27--The Nightly News producers spelled Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's name as "John". They just don't care. Later, in an "Education Nation" story about on-line schooling, Rehema Ellis informed us that, "Thirty states offer a full-time on-line education to at least some students." But in the accompanying on-screen map, only 28 states were highlighted. Does anyone see the irony in this? In a story about education, the Nightly News producers can't even correctly count to 30. After that, we got a two-minute story about Prince William flying a helicopter during a rescue mission. The story also included footage of Harry and Kate, because it's the Nightly News producers' obligation to show as much Will, Kate and Harry footage as humanly possible (since July 1, we've seen over 32 minutes of Will, Kate and Harry stories on Nightly News. Does anyone else think that's excessive?). The broadcast ended with a 2:20 "news story" about celebrity auctions. It was just an excuse to show footage of Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, Cyndi Lauper and Michael Jackson. Obviously, the NBC News research department has informed the producers that viewers like to see stories about celebrities and as a result it boosts the ratings. So the Nightly News producers make a point of showing celebrities as often as possible. Constantly. Never mind the fact that these stories contain absolutely no news. After all, when has news ever been important to the Nightly News producers? Naturally, Lester Holt ended the broadcast by plugging that night's Steelers-Chiefs game on NBC. Because the primary job of a Nightly News anchor is to promote NBC sports and entertainment programming.
Monday 11/28--In a story about shopping on Black Friday, Brian Williams informed us that, "$52 billion was spent by 226 million of us...." Once again, he used his favorite word--"us"--because it allowed him to turn a news story into a story about him. Because the news is always about Brian. Always. We were also treated to a "Making A Difference" report about campus food pantries that provide food to needy students. In the story, there were no fewer that 8 clear shots of Campbell's canned foods. The final shot of the story was an extreme close up of a can of Campbell's Chunky Soup. This was no accident. Campbell's is a major Nightly News sponsor. Obviously, this story was concocted solely as a way to promote Campbell's products. Shameful. The broadcast ended with Brian begging us to watch "Rock Center".
Tuesday 11/29--In a story about the attack on the British embassy in Tehran, Brian introduced Andrea Mitchell as "Our Chief Foreign Correspondent". Actually, no. Richard Engel is the NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent. Mitchell is the NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent--a position she's held for the past 17 years. Brian makes this mistake all the time. But he doesn't care. He's too important to bother with these petty trivialities. The final story was about three Connecticut money managers who won a $250 million lottery and may or may not be fronting for an unseen winner who wishes to remain anonymous. So? This isn't news, but Brian likes showing stories about people who are as wealthy as he is because it highlights the difference between his opulent existence and our humdrum middle-class lives. Meanwhile, the entire broadcast was continuously interrupted by a blaring fire alarm in the studio. Because Nightly News is a professional broadcast.
Wednesday 11/30--Tom Costello did a report about arsenic levels in fruit juices, but as usual, he protected the NBC sponsors by not showing a single name brand of juice. He even turned the bottles around in a supermarket juice aisle so the labels wouldn't show! That's not exactly ethical. Meanwhile, The CBS Evening News reported the same story that night, but they showed bottles of Mott's and Apple & Eve juice. Obviously, between CBS and NBC, one network news organization believes in truthful journalism and the other believes in manipulating the facts. I'll let you guess which is which. At one point during the Nightly News story, Costello told us that, "(T)he FDA now says it's considering a new standard that will reduce consumers' exposure to arsenic in apple juice." But when this statement appeared in print on-screen, "consumers'" was spelled as "consumer's". Note to the Nightly News producers: I think the FDA is looking to reduce the exposure for more than one consumer. During a story about the Republican presidential candidates, we were shown a clip from a Mitt Romney television ad that carried this credit line (supplied by the Nightly News producers): "Mit [sic] Romney Campaign ad". Yes, the Nightly News producers actually managed to misspell "Mitt". It takes a supreme effort to misspell such a short name, but the Nightly News producers were obviously up to the task. Romney is now the fourth candidate (along with Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann) to have his or her name misspelled by the Nightly News producers. As for the remaining four candidates--well, it's only a matter of time. Do you want to bet that the Nightly News producers can misspell "Ron Paul"? It seems that Ann Curry is up to her usual tricks. In her live report from Baghdad, she continued her practice of condensing words and talking in her own secret language. In Curry-speak, "Obama administration" became "Obaministration". Why do they allow Curry to appear on Nightly News? She's clearly not ready for prime time. Meanwhile, after Curry's report, Brian said, "And Ann, you can hear those c-17 and c-130 cargo planes in the air above you...." Brian never misses an opportunity to show us exactly how smart he thinks he is by dispensing useless information that no one cares about. But he likes advertising the fact that he's a sycophantic military wannabe who never served a day in the armed forces but knows all sorts of irrelevant military data. At the end of the broadcast, Brian took time to talk about the fire alarm that interrupted the previous night's broadcast. Apparently, Brian and his producers have never read a basic public relations manual. The first rule of public relations is never, never, EVER mention your own mistakes, especially unsolicited. Has Herman Cain ever started a news conference by asking, "First of all, does anyone have any questions about all the women I'm alleged to have harassed?" Has Bill Clinton ever brought up the subject of Monica Lewinsky? Of course not. When you make a stupid mistake, let it die. Don't bring it up. But Brian couldn't resist because his favorite subject is Brian Williams. Talking about the fire alarm incident gave him the opportunity to talk about himself. And as if that's not bad enough, Brian told us that he "looked for the guy responsible". What a magnanimous thing for a news anchor to say. Then he took some time to promote the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, which would immediately follow Nightly News on NBC. Here's what Brian said: "Hopefully things will go better out in our backyard tonight. This is a big night every year--we're here at Rock Center in New York with thousands of our closest friends outside--that would include tonight Mr. Roker, Savannah Guthrie, entertainment including Buble and the Biebs--it's all tonight on NBC as they light THE most famous Christmas tree in the world--right here at 30 Rock." The Biebs? That's just sad.
Thursday 12/1--At the beginning of the broadcast, Brian previewed a story about hidden phone software by saying this: "Tonight the phone software 140 million of us don't even know we have...." Us. We. Again, the news is all about Brian. A story about the Massachusetts Attorney General's lawsuit against some big-name banks was titled "Bankers Suits". Actually, it should have been "Bankers' Suits". In his introduction to Hillary Clinton's trip to Myanmar, Brian said, "Now we go to a place we hardly ever see--Myanmar." Well, who's to blame for that? We hardly ever see Myanmar because Nightly News hardly ever reports on it. That's like blaming the power company when your lights go off even though you didn't pay your electric bill. Then as a special treat, we got to see Brian's interview with Bono. But before the commercial break that preceded the interview, a teaser showed some old footage of Brian and Bono in Africa. After the commercial, we saw more of the Brian/Bono footage, accompanied by a U2 song. This is unbelievable. Is there no limit to Brian's ego? "Look at me with my pal Bono," the footage seemed to be screaming. The interview (about Bono's efforts to fight AIDS) was uninformative and unenlightening, but it gave Brian an opportunity to once again show us that he has really cool rock star pseudo-friends. Brian makes it a point to put Bono (and Springsteen and Bon Jovi) on Nightly News as often as possible because it makes him feel hip and important. Let's be clear about something: Brian Williams does not care the least bit about AIDS or World AIDS Day. He only cares about how Bono and other celebrities can improve his ratings. If it wasn't for the Bono interview, Brian never would have bothered to mention World AIDS Day. Brian also reported a 30-second story about how Coca-Cola is abandoning their white holiday cans because consumers didn't like them. The entire thirty seconds of this story was comprised of video of Coke cans and clips of Coke ads. Good ol' Brian. He's always happy to give some free air time to one of his regular sponsors. The night's final story was a pointless 2:20 piece about the auctioning of Liz Taylor's jewelry. It had no news value, but it was a great opportunity to show lots of movie and newsreel clips of Liz. The story was reported by the idiotic Anne Thompson, who seems to have found a story that matches her lack of intellectual depth. This is the second Nightly News story in four days about celebrity auctions. News? Of course not. They are just gratuitous celebrity stories. But viewers like celebrity stories and that drives up the ratings. And that's really all that matters. By the way, the Liz Taylor story was given the on-screen title "Rock Center" because Brian always makes everything about himself. He gets to promote his nickel-and-dime TV show and stroke his ego at the same time. Good deal.
Friday 12/2--After a story about Herman Cain, Brian said, "And on this night of breaking political news, we're fortunate to have the moderator of 'Meet the Press', David Gregory, here with us in our New York studios." Fortunate? Why? What does it matter if Gregory is in the New York studio or appearing on a split screen from Washington? It doesn't make a bit of difference. And he didn't really even have anything relevant to say--he was just there to promote MTP. In a story about the U.S pullout from Iraq, Brian made sure to mention Burger King and Cinnabon because he wants to continue to get free Whoppers and cinnamon buns. This is nothing new. On his 4/6/10 Daily Nightly blog, Brian wrote, "Yes, I've had Cinnabon in Iraq. And Burger King, and Taco Bell. And I loved every bite, every minute of it." Wow. Shill much? While introducing another story about spying software in phones, Brian said, "The software in millions of smartphones that some experts say is spying on us users--tracking virtually everything we do with our phones...." Us. We. Now the story is all about Brian. The spyware story was reported by Pete Williams, who continues to be my hero. Once again, Brian tried to bait Pete with a treacly "Good evening, Pete", but Pete wouldn't take the bait. Instead of replying in kind with "Good evening, Brian", Pete just launched right into his story. You go, Pete Williams! Then Brian took 1:40 to report three important stories: House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood is retiring; a Massachusetts lobster trap washed up in Ireland (just an opportunity for the producers to show clips from "The Perfect Storm); and a dog that stepped on a rifle trigger and shot its owner. Because Brian is all about hard news. Brian introduced the dog story by saying, "Those of us who are dog people heard this next item...." There it is again. "Those of us". Brian's favorite expression. The final story of the night was about postal employees who answer letters to Santa. Maybe the producers should have attached a "breaking news" banner to this one. They do the same ridiculous story every year. (They did it previously on 12/15/10 and on 12/20/09.) Same old, same old at Nightly News.

The NBC Nightly News Producers Are Morons

2011-11-30T23:49:00.001-08:00

During Wednesday's Nightly News story about the Republican presidential candidates, an excerpt from a Mitt Romney television ad carried this on-screen credit line (supplied by the Nightly News producers): "Mit [sic] Romney Campaign Ad". That's right, it said "Mit". Seriously. I'm not kidding. They actually managed to misspell "Mitt". Romney has now become the fourth Republican presidential candidate--half of the entire field--to have his or her name mangled by the idiotic Nightly News producers. Previously, they misspelled Herman Cain (as "Hermain" on the 10/12 broadcast), Jon Huntsman (as "John" on the 11/27 broadcast) and Michele Bachmann (both as "Michelle" and "Bachman" variously on the 6/26, 8/10 and 9/6 broadcasts). That leaves only Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum as candidates whose names have not been misspelled by the Nightly News producers. And I'm sure it's only a matter of time for them. Does anyone at Nightly News care? Is anyone paying attention? These sloppy mistakes happen night after night after night. Except when they air stories about whales, Will & Kate or the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree (the producers never make mistakes in those important stories). So what are the qualifications for becoming a Nightly News producer? That's a trick question--there are obviously no qualifications required for the job. No college (or high school) is needed. No spelling or math skills are necessary. In fact, no skills at all are required. Clearly, NBC News is not a professional news organization and Nightly News is not a professional news broadcast. They prove that on the air every single night.

Brian Williams: A Hypocrite Who Hates Snoopy

2011-11-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday, the Nightly News producers treated us to a two-minute story about 40 beagles that had been rescued from a research testing lab in Spain. Apparently, the producers figured that Thanksgiving was a slow news day and there wasn't much to report. But the U.S. is the only country that celebrates its Thanksgiving on that particular day, so for the rest of the world, last Thursday was just a regular news day. So instead of showing us pointless stories devoid of any news value (Black Thursday shopping, the troops in Afghanistan eating turkey dinners, homeless veterans, a female football coach, beagles), the producers could have shown us actual news stories from Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and other regions of the world where it was not a holiday. But they didn't. Because the Nightly News producers don't roll that way. They're satisfied to show us garbage instead of news. So now we know all about the rescued beagles. Great job, guys.

But it didn't end there. On Friday, Brian Williams saw fit to spend another 40 seconds rehashing the beagle story. Did he have any new information to report? Of course not. But that didn't matter. Brian can do whatever he wants. However, he did end his story by shamelessly and inappropriately begging the viewers to donate money to the Beagle Freedom Project. Okay--first of all, it's not a news anchor's job to publicly promote his favorite charities or to beg his viewers to donate money to anything. An anchor's job is to objectively report news--nothing else. But there is a much more disturbing aspect to this story.

Question for Brian Williams: How much ad money does NBC Universal (and Nightly News in particular) accept each year from companies that test their products on dogs and other animals? $25 million? $50 million? $100 million? Let's just say it's a lot. That would certainly include cosmetics companies (like Revlon, Estee Lauder, Clinique, Lancome, L'Oreal and others), health and beauty aids manufacturers (like Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble) and pharmaceutical companies (like GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Bayer). All of these NBC advertisers test their products on animals, perhaps even beagles. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the beagles in the story were rescued from a facility owned by one of these companies. I noticed that Miguel Almaguer did not mention the specific place the dogs came from. He was probably instructed not to divulge the name in order to protect an NBC advertiser.

So Brian Williams reported a story about rescuing beagles from a research lab when his own broadcast accepts millions of dollars each year from companies that test their products on animals! There's a word to describe someone like that: Hypocrite. It's obvious that Brian does not care the slightest bit that his sponsors are murdering animals. If he did, he would refuse to work for a network that accepts so much ad money from companies that test their products on animals. Here's an idea: Instead of begging his viewers to donate money, why doesn't Brian march into the office of NBC News president Steve Capus and demand that NBC News immediately stop accepting this blood money? And if NBC won't stop that practice, why doesn't Brian resign? You know when that will happen? When pigs fly.

Speaking of which--do you know when pigs actually do fly? When they're in the Bayer research labs. In order to test their many headache remedies (like Bayer aspirin and Aleve), the Bayer researchers first have to induce headaches in their lab animals. One way they do this is by launching pigs across the room head-first into a brick wall. That usually does the trick. Then they give them some aspirin or Aleve and monitor their pain response through the electrodes sticking out of their brains. After that, the researchers go home and pet their dogs or cats. They're hypocrites--just like Brian Williams. He has the blood of thousands of animals on his hands and he has the nerve to ask us to donate money to the Beagle Freedom Project!

P.S.--Immediately before Thursday's beagle story and immediately after Friday's beagle story, Nightly News aired ads for Aleve. Talk about adding insult to injury! So how many beagles gave their cute little lives so that Bayer could test Aleve before bringing it to the market? I'm guessing it was more than 40. And I'm guessing that one or two of them may have even been named Snoopy.

More Mistakes At Nightly News

2011-11-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

On Sunday's story about the Republican presidential candidates, the Nightly News producers spelled Former Governor Jon Huntsman's first name as "John". It is absolutely mind-boggling that the producers of a network news broadcast can't even manage to correctly spell the name of a presidential candidate. Of course, Huntsman isn't the first candidate to suffer this fate. The Nightly News producers have also recently misspelled the names of Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann (both her first and last names). If you misspell the name of a presidential candidate, you are not a professional news organization. And if you misspell the names of three candidates, you are a joke. It seems that every Republican candidate is taking a turn leading the polls. It also seems that every candidate will take a turn having their name misspelled by the Nightly News producers.

Also on Sunday: During a report about on-line public school education for children from kindergarten through 12th grade, Rehema Ellis told us that, "Thirty states offer a full-time on-line education to at least some students." But in the accompanying on-screen map, only 28 states were highlighted. So in a story about education, the Nightly News producers could not manage to accurately count to 30. Unbelievable.

Last Wednesday, Savannah Guthrie told us that, "Today in Washington, the President did what presidents have done for the last 64 years now--pardoned the national Thanksgiving turkey." So if the tradition started 64 years ago, then Pres. Truman would have been the first president to pardon a turkey, right? Wrong. There is not a single shred of evidence in the Truman Library (or anywhere else) that supports this. Every news source credits Pres. George H.W. Bush (in 1989) as being the first president to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey. Even MSNBC's own "First Read" blog states that, "President Harry Truman is often cited, incorrectly, as the first president to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey." Maybe Guthrie should have perused the "First Read" blog. Oh well, she was only off by 42 years. No big deal. Funny thing--every time Guthrie reports a story for Nightly News, Brian Williams makes a point of telling us that she's a lawyer (as if that has any bearing on her news reporting). Well, if Guthrie can't even manage to do basic research on something as simple as presidential turkey-pardoning, I sure wouldn't want her defending me in court.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--11/19 Through 11/25

2011-11-25T18:56:00.000-08:00

On this Thanksgiving week, I think we should all give thanks for Nightly News. Because without this joke of a broadcast we wouldn't be truly able to appreciate some of the serious news broadcasts we see on PBS, BBC and Democracy Now. So without further ado, here's what happened on Nightly News this week:

Sat. 11/19--No Nightly News aired today because Notre Dame football is much more important (translation: profitable) than news to the clowns in the NBC executive offices. The Iranians could have launched a nuclear attack against Israel and the jokers at NBC wouldn't cut away from football. After all, nuclear attacks against Israel aren't very profitable.
Sun. 11/20--A story about the Republican candidates at an Iowa "Faith and Family" forum was just an excuse to show a clip of Jon Huntsman on the previous night's "Saturday Night Live". As always, one of the main functions of Nightly News is to promote NBC sports and entertainment programs. We also saw another story on Natalie Wood's death because Brian Williams knows that viewers prefer to see entertainment stories (even if they're 30 years old) instead of actual news. A story about people preparing to shop on Black Friday showed ad clips from Best Buy, Target and Walmart because the Nightly News producers do everything they can to help promote their sponsors. The final story of the night was another story about pandas (the last Nightly News panda story was less than two months ago on Sept. 29). The NBC News research department has obviously informed Brian and his producers that animal stories test very well with viewers and result in high ratings, so Nightly News makes a point of showing animal stories almost every night. More shameless pandering (or panda-ing) from Brian and his producers. Lester Holt introduced the panda story by telling us that, "They're cute, they're cuddly, they're adorable..." True, but that doesn't make them newsworthy. By the way, this story included old recycled panda footage that had previously been shown in the Sept. 29 story.
Mon. 11/21--Here's what Brian said to Richard Engel during Engel's report from Cairo: "So Richard...the last time you and I walked through [Tahrir Square], it was a sunny afternoon--we met and talked to a lot of people...." As always, Brian tries to turn every news story into a story about HIMSELF. His favorite expressions are "For those of us...", "If you're like me..."and "Most of us..." because they allow him to transform a story into a story about Brian Williams. Why would anyone care about the last time Brian walked through Tahrir Square? We don't. The story is supposed to be about the Egyptian people, not about Brian Williams. But it's Brian's show and he gets to do whatever he wants. Then Brian spent 40 seconds talking about NASCAR because the NBC research geeks have told him that a lot of Nightly News viewers are also NASCAR fans. So Brian pretends to like NASCAR. You know, for the ratings. After that, Brian read a 40-second obituary for financier Ted Forstmann. Seriously? He deserves an obit on Nightly News? I don't think so. The final story was a a 2:15 piece about military personnel who get reunited with dogs they were with in Afghanistan. Yet another pointless "news story" that's really just a shameless excuse to show dogs for ratings purposes. On Nightly News, it's dogs, dogs, dogs.
Tues. 11/22--Brian ended his chat with The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore by saying, "Thanks, pal." How many times a night does Brian describe someone as "my friend"? I have never seen anyone so desperate to make people think he is well-liked. Then, Brian spent a minute showing clips of Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone on CNBC's "Squawk Box" because it's Brian's job to use his broadcast to promote CNBC. There was no news value to this story--it was pure promotion. The final story of the night was something Brian introduced as, "A piece of video we thought you should see." Was it footage from the current uprising in Syria? Was it footage from the new country of South Sudan? Was it footage from the thawing political situation in Myanmar? No. It was YouTube video of a couple of kids messing up their living room with a bag of flour. Seriously. You probably think I'm making this up, but I'm not. This is what Brian felt merited two minutes of news time on his broadcast. And Brian ended the story by telling us that the mother and her kids would be guests on the next day's "Today" show. Even by the abysmally horrendous standards of Nightly News, this represents a new low. A story completely devoid of any news value whose only purpose was to promote "The Today Show"? You've got to be kidding me. It's hard for me to understand how people can tolerate something like this. Why aren't thousands of viewers marching up to 30 Rock with pitchforks and torches demanding that Brian Williams and NBC News president Steve Capus be replaced? If anyone needs further proof that Nightly News is a joke and should be taken off the air, this is it.
Wed. 11/23--In a very important news story, Savannah Guthrie informed us of the following: "Today in Washington, the President did what presidents have done for the last 64 years now, pardoned the national Thanksgiving turkey." So if the tradition started 64 years ago, then Pres. Truman would have been the first president to pardon a turkey, right? Wrong. There is not a single shred of evidence in the Truman Library (or anywhere else) that supports this. Every news source credits Pres. George H.W. Bush as being the first president to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey. Even MSNBC's "First Read" blog states that, "President Harry Truman is often cited, incorrectly, as the first president to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey." Maybe Guthrie should read the "First Read" blog. Oh well, she was only off by 42 years. No big deal. Then Guthrie spent 30 seconds promoting the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which would be televised the following day on...you guessed it...NBC. The broadcast ended with a "Making A Difference" piece about some people in Illinois who help a family harvest their crops. Wow, that's an important piece of news.
Thurs. 11/24--Here are some of the stories Nightly News brought us on Thanksgiving: Shopping on Black Thursday, the troops in Afghanistan eating their turkey dinners, homeless female veterans who have a hard time finding work and a boys' high school football team that is coached by a woman. I guess the producers ran these stories because Thanksgiving is a slow news day, right? Wrong. It may be a slow news day in the U.S., but everywhere else in the world it's a regular news day. So instead of airing these idiotic stories that have no news value, why didn't the producers show us the important news from around the world? Because this is Nightly News and they don't do things like that. The final story of the night was a two-minute piece about some beagles that were freed from a research lab in Spain and transported to the U.S. to be adopted. Okay, first of all that's not news. It's just another excuse to show dogs. Remember--viewers like dogs, so dog stories get high ratings. And that's what Nightly News is all about. Ratings. In the past two months, Nightly News has shown 21 stories about animals (dogs and whales are the most popular, but we also saw stories about pandas, penguins and bears). But I have a question for Brian Williams, Steve Capus and the Nightly News producers: How much money does NBC Universal (and Nightly News in particular) earn each year from companies that test their products on dogs and other animals? That would certainly include cosmetics companies like Revlon, Estee Lauder, Clinique, Lancome, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, L'Oreal and a host of other NBC advertisers. And then there are pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Bayer. All of these companies test their products on animals, perhaps even beagles. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the beagles in the story were rescued from one of these companies. I noticed that Miguel Almaguer did not mention the specific company that they came from. He was probably instructed not to divulge the name in order to protect an NBC advertiser. So the Nightly News producers run a story about rescuing lab dogs, while they are accepting ad dollars from companies that test their products on animals. That is the very definition of hypocrisy.
Fri. 11/25--The lead story--yet again--was Black Friday shopping. In this story, we saw five different shots of people with Dynex televisions (Dynex is the Best Buy house brand). We saw multiple shots of customers wearing Best Buy hats. We saw lots of people shopping in Best Buy stores. John Yang told us that, "Electronics stores like Best Buy seem to be early Black Friday winners." Do you see a pattern here? Obviously, Nightly News is promoting Best Buy (during the past week, they also promoted Walmart, Target, Kohl's and other retailers). How nice--Brian and his producers are helping out some Nightly News advertisers. What a friendly thing to do. Later, Brian spent a combined sixty seconds on obituaries for Maggie Daley (wife of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley) and retired Four-Star General Ralph E. Haines. It must be great to have your own TV show--you can report on anything you want! After that, Brian spent another 40 seconds telling us about those beagles that were rescued. Apparently, the previous day's story wasn't comprehensive enough. Brian ended the story by begging the viewers to contribute money to the Beagle Freedom Project. Here's an idea: Before begging the viewers to donate money, why doesn't Brian, Steve Capus and the NBC executives agree that they will no longer accept advertising from companies that test their products on animals? That would have a far greater impact than the few thousand dollars the viewers could donate. I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen. By the way--one of the commercials that ran right after the beagle story was from Aleve (a Bayer product). How many beagles were tortured or killed in order to allow Aleve to come to market? The final story of the night was a piece about all the great holiday movies for kids. The story ran 2:15, and 1:25 of that was devoted to movie clips, including 45 seconds of clips from the new "Muppets" movie and 20 seconds from "Hugo". We also saw clips from "Puss in Boots", "Happy Feet Two", "We Bought A Zoo" and "Arthur Christmas" (and that doesn't include the ten-second clip of the Muppets on Jimmy Fallon's show. After all, as long as they were promoting movies, why not also promote Fallon?). So on one level, this story was meant to satisfy the viewers' desire for more and more entertainment news at the expense of real news. But there's something else going on here. The five weeks from Thanksgiving through the end of the year are among the most lucrative and competitive for the movie studios. As such, they spend a disproportionate amount of money on advertising during those weeks. Obviously, the NBC advertising sales department got together with Brian Williams, Steve Capus and the Nightly News producers and figured out a way to include movie clips on Nightly News as a part of ad sales packages. Instead of simply buying straight commercials, the movie studios were offered the opportunity to buy a combination package that includes commercials and promotional clips as part of Nightly News stories. So the 45 seconds of "Muppets" clips we saw were actually part of a paid ad package that Disney purchased. Paying to have a movie promoted on Nightly News is quite attractive to a movie studio, since an appearance on a news broadcast adds a legitimacy that a commercial lacks. Remember--there are no coincidences on Nightly News. Everything you see on the broadcast is put there for a specific reason to promote a specific product. So happy holidays from your pals at Nightly News! Don't say they never gave us anything.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--11/12 Through 11/18

2011-11-21T23:16:00.000-08:00

Here's some of the exciting stuff that happened on Nightly News last week:

Sat. 11/12--Nightly News spent an astounding 10:35--nearly half the broadcast--on stories related to the Penn State sex abuse scandal. By contrast, they spent 15 seconds reporting on the situation in Syria. Great job, Nightly News producers! You really have your priorities straight.
Sun. 11/13--A story about the previous night's Republican Presidential debate included a clip from "Saturday Night Live" because one of the main functions of Nightly News is to promote NBC sports and entertainment programs. A story about how sugar affects heart disease in women spelled "triglycerides" as "tryiglycerides" because no one at Nightly News cares the slightest bit about getting things right. The final story of the night was a ridiculous 3:15 puff piece about New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Of course, this was just a shameless and unethical way to promote that night's Patriots-Jets game, which was airing on NBC immediately after Nightly News. Did I mention that the main function of Nightly News is to promote NBC sports and entertainment programs? The producers can't spell "triglycerides", but they sure know how to promote Sunday Night Football.
Mon. 11/14--For the second time in a week, we saw a story about Patrick Witt, the Yale quarterback who has to choose between his Rhodes Scholarship interview and playing in the Harvard-Yale game (both of which take place on Nov. 19). Last Monday, the idiotic Anne Thompson spent two-and-a-half minutes fawning over Witt. The Harvard-Yale game will be televised by Versus, which is owned by NBC Universal. So the only reason Brian Williams and his producers are reporting this story (twice) is to promote a college football game on an NBC network. Slick. Brian then took 30 seconds to boast about how Chelsea Clinton is joining NBC News: "She's anxious to report stories of volunteerism and highlight the great works of ordinary humanity that we encounter every day." What a load of crap. Chelsea is joining NBC News because she wants to raise her profile and get her face on television. And NBC hired her to add to their collection of kids from famous parents. Chelsea, say hello to Jenna Bush Hager and Luke Russert. Of course, the truth is that Clinton, Bush Hager and Russert combined don't add up to one competent news correspondent. It's like a reality show at NBC News. If you have a famous last name, you can have a job at NBC News. Prediction: In about 20 years, NBC News will have at least five correspondents with the last name of Jolie-Pitt. The broadcast ended with a pointless "Making A Difference" piece (that's an oxymoron) about a 12-year-old girl who raises money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. As is the case with every MAD piece, this one did not contain a shred of actual news. Rather, it's designed to generate high ratings by appealing to the viewers' emotions. These silly MAD pieces don't belong on a news broadcast, but seriously--when have Brian and his producers ever cared about that?
Tues. 11/15--Nightly News began with eight-and-a-half minutes of Penn State stories--including a rehashing of Bob Costas' interview with Jerry Sandusky from the previous night's "Rock Center". Is it ethical for a news anchor to use his broadcast to promote his prime-time show? But then again, when has Brian Williams ever been concerned with ethics? By contrast, Nightly News spent 35 seconds reporting on the situation in Syria. All together now: Great job guys! During one of the Penn State stories, a man (who was clearly not Nightly News correspondent Michael Isikoff) was identified in an on-screen graphic as Isikoff. So for the second time in a week, the Nightly News producers failed to correctly identify their own correspondent. (On Nov. 10, Nightly News correspondent Ron Mott was identified as "Ron Allen".) After that, Robert Bazell reported a story about the soon-to-expire patent on Lipitor. Other than Brian Williams, Bazell is the biggest shill at NBC News. So whenever Bazell reports a "news story" we should immediately start wondering what exactly he is promoting. In this case, Bazell was promoting Pfizer (a big Nightly News advertiser) as an all-around great company who will soon be doing us a huge favor by graciously allowing their cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor to be sold as a generic. Of course, Bazell never mentioned the lawsuit against Pfizer that accuses them of delaying the patent expiration on Lipitor and illegally keeping a generic version of the drug off the market. According to CourthouseNews.com (http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/08/41276.htm), "Lead plaintiff Chimes Pharmacy claims that after a patent dispute, Pfizer and [Indian drug company] Ranbaxy agreed to artificially extend Pfizer's Lipitor patents, previously set to expire in March 2010, until Nov. 30 this year, when Ranbaxy will get a 'risk-free' 180-day monopoly on the generic version. The pharmacies say Ranbaxy and Pfizer also made a deal to fix the price of the generic version at just slightly less than Pfizer's price." The website estimates that this delay earned Pfizer "approximately $18 billion dollars, which they would not have sold in the absence of the unlawful agreement with Ranbaxy." But Bazell isn't interested in those details. He just wants us to believe that Pfizer is eager to do us the big favor of allowing their Lipitor drug to be sold as a generic. Wow, what a great company Pfizer is! And what a huge shill Bazell is! Later, Brian spent 45 seconds reporting on Gabby Giffords' video message to her constituents--without ever once mentioning that Diane Sawyer interviewed Giffords on the previous night's "20/20"! I guess that's not surprising. Sawyer's "20/20" crushed Brian's "Rock Center" in the ratings so he was understandably ticked off. Promote "Rock Center", ignore "20/20"--that's Brian's philosophy. Then, Brian wasted sixty seconds of valuable news time telling us about Annie Leibovitz's photographic technique--excerpted from his interview with Leibovitz on the previous night's--you guessed it--"Rock Center". That's the second time that night that Brian has shown excerpts from "Rock Center" on Nightly News. Brian Williams is without a doubt the sleaziest self-promoter on NBC, and that's saying a lot for a network that also includes Donald Trump. Brian continued the broadcast with a 40-second obituary for Irving Franklin, who made his fortune manufacturing baseball batting gloves. This is news? Does Irving Franklin really deserve an obituary on an evening newscast? And even more alarming--Franklin's obit got more air time than the Syria situation! The broadcast ended with a "Making A Difference" piece about a woman on Block Island who helps needy people pay for things like heating bills or medical expenses. Riveting. In the interview with Jerry Sandusky that aired earlier, Sandusky told Bob Costas that he "is trying to make a difference in the lives of young people." Hey--that sounds like a great idea for a "Making A Difference" piece. Maybe it could be Chelsea's first Nightly News story.
Wed. 11/16--Yet again, Brian told us that a Nightly News correspondent is reporting from "State College P-A", rather than actually saying "Pennsylvania". Is it really too much trouble for Brian to pronounce the state's name in full? He doesn't verbally abbreviate the names of any other states, so why does he do it with Pennsylvania? Brian then spent 40 seconds on an obituary for Karl Stover, the last surviving munchkin from "The Wizard of Oz". Because Brian is first and foremost about reporting hard news. And speaking of hard news, the "Making A Difference" story this night was about two guys who walked across the country picking up garbage. I wonder how many Nightly News broadcasts they picked up.
Thurs. 11/17--In a story about congress's decision to allow pizza to be classified as a vegetable, Anne Thompson took ten seconds to plug McDonald's, telling us that, "McDonald's got the message--reducing french fries and adding fruit to its Happy Meals." (While she was saying this, a huge McDonald's logo appeared to her left.) This nugget of info had nothing to do with the story, it was just a gratuitous product placement. But if there's anything Brian and his crew love doing, it's plugging McDonald's. And why not--they spend a boatload of money advertising on NBC Universal networks every year. Brian's just showing a little love to his pals at the Golden Arches. In a story about a pilot who got locked in his plane's restroom mid-flight, a transcript of a second pilot's conversation with the control tower spelled the word "oughtta" (as in "you guys oughtta declare an emergency and just get on the ground") as "outta". Then Brian spent 30 seconds on the obituary for Lee Pockriss (who wrote "Johnny Angel") because apparently Brian gets to do whatever he wants. That was followed by a story about a Secret Santa gift exchange that will be starting in the U.S. Senate. I think they should have attached a "breaking news" banner to that one. Finally, we were treated to a "Making A Difference" story about...oh, who cares.
Fri. 11/18--The lead story was the murder of Natalie Wood because Brian would rather show us 30-year-old entertainment news than current world or national news. This was just an excuse to show clips from Wood's movies because NBC research shows that viewers like movie clips on the news and it keeps the ratings up. After all--why make viewers wait for "Access Hollywood" to get their fill of entertainment news? Then we saw Chuck Todd's interview with Hillary Clinton which included a discussion of Chelsea's new job at NBC News. It's obvious that one of the main reasons NBC hired Chelsea was in order to get access to Bill and Hillary (Bill Clinton was featured in an exclusive interview on Nov. 7--obviously he gave the interview to NBC out of gratitude for hiring Chelsea). After that, we were treated to yet another story on climate change from the idiotic Anne Thompson. Thompson reports on climate change every few weeks (the last time was on Nov. 1) and the stories are all the same with no new information. I guess the NBC News research department has informed Brian and his producers that it's okay to repeat a story after two weeks because by that time the viewers will have forgotten about the previous story. The broadcast ended with a riveting 2:10 story about a First Ladies exhibit at the Smithsonian because it's easier than reporting real news. What a great week it was at Nightly News!

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--11/5 Through 11/11

2011-11-19T00:57:00.000-08:00

Here's some of the exciting things that happened on NBC Nightly News from 11/5 through 11/11:

Sat. 11/5--Nightly News spent two-and-a-half minutes telling us about non-retail tenants in malls. Trampolines! Aquariums! A science museum! Awesome. This was a story on a network newscast. Really. We also saw a tribute to Andy Rooney. Some clips of Rooney were presented as if they were being shown on a television--a Dynex television. That's right, ladies and gentlemen--Nightly News has a new sponsor. Dynex is manufactured by Best Buy, so obviously Best Buy paid NBC to have their product appear on Nightly News. That's called product placement. Is there anything NBC won't so for a few dollars?
Sun. 11/6--We saw an important story about an experimental technique that slows down the aging process in lab mice. How wonderful--if there's one thing we've all been praying for, it's younger-looking mice. The story included clips of commercials for Neutrogena and RoC skin care products. More product placements. I wonder how much those brands paid NBC to appear on Nightly News. We were also treated to yet another story about Will & Kate--this time a two-minute piece about the couple moving into their new Royal digs. This is the 16th Will & Kate story Nightly News has shown since July 1. That's thirty minutes of Will & Kate--the equivalent of more than an entire Nightly News broadcast. Good thing there wasn't any actual news to report. Naturally, Lester Holt ended the broadcast with a plug for the Ravens-Steelers game coming up on NBC. Because what's the point of having a sham news broadcast if you can't use it to plug your NFL games.
Mon. 11/7--We saw Kate Snow's thrilling 3:10 interview with Bill Clinton. Let me tell you, that Kate Snow is a real intellectual heavyweight. It's obvious that the reason NBC News hired Chelsea Clinton was to ensure they would have constant access to Bill and Hillary. Brian then reported yet another story about the asteroid that was on track to miss earth. I don't really need to know about asteroids that will miss earth. Tell me about the ones that are going to hit us. In the final story, the idiotic Anne Thompson told us all about the Yale quarterback whose Rhodes Scholarship final interview is the same day as the Harvard-Yale game on Nov. 19. Oh, by the way--that game is being televised by the Versus network. Which is owned by NBC Universal. So this story was just a two-and-a-half minute promo for a college football game airing on an NBC network. Using a news broadcast to underhandedly promote a sporting event is just unbelievably sleazy. In other words, business as usual at NBC.
Tues. 11/8--Brian read a thirty second obituary for Ed Pauls, the inventor of the NordicTrack exercise system. Really, Brian? You think Pauls' death is important enough to report on Nightly News? The final 2:20 of the night was all about--you guessed it--the asteroid that missed earth.
Wed. 11/9--Robert Bazell began and ended his report on weight loss with clips from NBC's "The Biggest Loser". Unfortunately, Nightly News viewers are the biggest losers because they are constantly forced to watch news stories that are contrived to promote NBC entertainment and sports programs. In a story about Gabby Giffords' new book, Brian made sure to show footage of himself reporting about Giffords' shooting from Tucson last January. Because there's nothing Brian likes reporting on more than himself. Brian ended a story about a snowstorm in Alaska by saying, "They don't scare easily up there." Is there any group of people that Brian won't shamelessly pander to? Apparently not. Brian then read a twenty-second obituary for Heavy D because he was one of the great musicians of the past quarter-century. A true innovator. A musical genius. A legend. Brian also made sure to spend valuable time telling us that Eddie Murphy will not be hosting the Oscars. I've got to give Brian credit, though. He managed to plug "30 Rock" by showing photos of Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin despite the fact that they had absolutely nothing to do with Eddie Murphy. The final story was a 2:25 piece about whales--the seventh whale story Nightly News has done in the past two months. As always, Brian's philosophy is to find a topic that's popular with viewers (as in gets high ratings) and repeat it over and over and over again. Whales, whales, whales. Ratings, ratings, ratings.
Thurs. 11/10--At the end of a story about the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State, correspondent Ron Mott was identified in a Nightly News graphic as "Ron Allen". Apparently, the producers can't tell their own correspondents apart. Later, Brian reported a 2:10 story about more things Richard Nixon said on tape, because it's easier (and cheaper) than reporting current news. After that, Brian read another story about Will & Kate, and a story about Billy Crystal stepping in to host the Oscars. Talk about breaking news!
Fri. 11/11--In a story about births and weddings on 11/11/11, we saw an interview with "Glynis McCants--Numerologist to the Stars". Seriously? This is someone who is given air time on Nightly News? The final story was a "Making A Difference" piece about veteran-owned businesses. Because, apparently this is news. To someone. I don't know who.

NBC's Anne Thompson Shills For McDonald's

2011-11-18T18:24:00.000-08:00

On Thursday's Nightly News, right in the middle of a story about Congress's decision to categorize pizza as a vegetable, correspondent Anne Thompson took a ten-second break to read a McDonald's commercial. With a huge McDonald's logo next to her, Thompson told us that, "McDonald's got the message--reducing french fries and adding fruit to its happy meals." This had absolutely nothing to do with the story about pizza being a vegetable--it was just another opportunity for a Nightly News correspondent to shill for the Golden Arches. It's also interesting to note that right before Thompson read her McDonald's commercial, she said, "First Lady Michelle Obama is on a mission to change that--urging America's kids to exercise and encouraging healthy eating." Thompson's statement was accompanied by video of Mrs. Obama. This is no accident. Showing Mrs. Obama right before a McDonald's product placement is actually a very calculated and crafty move by the Nightly News producers to imply that Mrs. Obama endorses McDonald's. This has happened before. On the July 26 Nightly News, Brian Williams read this 30-second promo for McDonald's: "McDonald's said today that it's taking steps to make Happy Meals healthier. The company is cutting the size of the french fry portion in half for starters and adding apple slices to every meal. The new meals will have about 20% fewer calories--coming in at under 600 calories total. First Lady Michelle Obama, who campaigns, of course, for better nutrition, put out a statement today calling this a good step." Again--it was clearly the intent of Brian and his producers to imply that Mrs. Obama was endorsing McDonald's. (As Brian read this, the McDonald's logo was onscreen for the entire thirty seconds, along with the words "Healthy Choices" and a picture of a Happy Meal.)

Brian Williams and his producers and correspondents have a history of promoting and endorsing McDonald's on Nightly News. This isn't surprising. With the recent acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast, the new Comcast/NBC Universal mega-conglomerate controls more than twenty national (or regional) networks and cable channels. In addition to NBC, MSNBC and CNBC, they own Bravo, Chiller, Oxygen, Sleuth, Syfy, Telemundo, Mun2, The Weather Channel, USA, E!, SportsNet New York, Exercise TV, G4, The Golf Channel, PBS Kids Sprout, The Style Network, Versus and New England Cable News. And those are only the ones I know about. I can only imagine how much money McDonald's spends each year advertising on all these Comcast/NBC stations. Is it $50 million? $75 million? $100 million? Who knows. Let's just say it's a lot. So with McDonald's spending all this money with Comcast/NBC, it makes perfect sense that Brian Williams would act as a shill for McDonald's. It's obvious that Brian and the Nightly News producers work closely with the NBC News ad sales department and the McDonald's ad agency to find the most advantageous ways to promote the burger franchise on their broadcast. I would not be at all surprised to learn that the McDonald's press releases Brian reads on the air are actually part of paid commercial packages purchased by McDonald's. For a certain amount of money, McDonald's gets ten commercials and one news story that portrays their products in a positive light. Here are some other examples of how McDonald's has been promoted (or protected from negative publicity) on Nightly News:

5/18/11--Brian personally defended McDonald's against criticism from parenting organizations and nutritional advocacy groups that accused McDonald's of unfairly using Ronald McDonald to attract children to their high sodium, high cholesterol, high fat food. In the story, Brian said that this criticism "seems a little harsh". So much for anchor neutrality.
5/9/11--Brian took thirty seconds to tell us that McDonald's is spending more than $1 billion to upgrade their restaurants. "Look for wooden tables, muted colors and faux leather seats coming soon to a Mac's near you. And you can get fries with that." Is it just me, or is that a commercial?
3/8/11--During a story promoting Subway Sandwich Shops (you didn't think McDonald's was the only fast food restaurant Brian promoted, did you?) as now having more U.S. outlets than McDonald's, Brian was quick to tell us that McDonald's still makes more money annually--$24 billion to $15 billion.
12/7/10--A story about how San Francisco is banning toys that come with children's fast food meals began with a cute segment about a woman who collects Happy Meal toys. The rest of this 2:30 "news story" (which was really just a commercial for McDonald's) contained clips of actual McDonald's commercials and non-stop footage of the McDonald's logo, restaurants and food.
11/8/10--The lead story on The CBS Evening News was a study released by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity detailing the inappropriate ways that fast food chains market their unhealthy food to children. Nightly News did not report this story as a courtesy to their pals at McDonald's.
9/3/10--The CBS Evening News reported that Consumer Reports rated 53 different fast food and chain restaurant hamburgers on taste and attractiveness, and McDonald's came in dead last. Needless to say, Nightly News did not report this story, either.
7/2/10--A Nightly News profile of LeBron James included clips from his McDonald's commercials.
6/14/10--Lester Holt gave us the important news that McDonald's will now be offering free Wi-Fi at their restaurants.
2/4/10--While reading a 25 second promotional piece about Heinz Ketchup's exciting new packaging, Brian also threw in a gratuitous plug for McDonald's.
10/22/09--During a piece about women in the workplace, Nightly News spent 75 seconds profiling Jan Fields, the Chief Operating Officer of McDonald's USA. The story gave her ample time to talk about things like McDonald's "world famous fries". Ms. Fields is now the president of McDonald's USA--no doubt thanks in part to her ability to manipulate NBC News into allowing her to plug her greasy burgers and fries.
5/5/09--In what may be the most shameless and blatant plug ever, Nightly News did a two-minute story whose sole purpose was to announce the launch of McDonald's new gourmet coffees to compete with Starbucks. Ann Curry called McDonald's coffee a "delicious brew".

So if anyone thinks that Anne Thompson's plug for McDonald's was anything other than a paid advertisement, then there's a bridge across the East River I'd like to sell you.

Diane Sawyer CRUSHES Brian Williams In The Ratings

2011-11-15T18:07:00.000-08:00

On Sunday's Nightly News story about the relationship between sugar and heart disease in women, the producers spelled "triglycerides" as "tryiglycerides". Perhaps the geniuses at Nightly News weren't sure if the word began with "tri-" or "try-", so they decided their best option was to spell it both ways at once. Great thinking, guys. If the Nightly News producers can't spell basic words that are in any dictionary, how can we trust them to report important facts? We can't.

Every time Brian Williams introduces a story about the Penn State sex abuse scandal, he tells us that the correspondent is reporting from "State College, P-A". Why is he verbally abbreviating Pennsylvania as "P-A"? He doesn't abbreviate any other state names. He never says "Houston, T-X" or "Detroit, M-I". It's ridiculous that he does this only with Pennsylvania. I guess Brian thinks it sounds nifty.

Once again, Nightly News ended their Sunday broadcast with a story about the NFL. They do this in order to promote NBC's Sunday Night Football, which follows Nightly News. Sunday's story was about Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots--one of the teams that would be playing later on NBC. This is, to say the least, unethical. Ignoring real news so they can serve their own self-interests by promoting football is not in the best interests of the viewers. Is there one person out there who thinks that a 3:15 story on Robert Kraft in any way qualifies as a news story? The FCC should revoke NBC's right to air a news broadcast.

On Monday, Brian reported for the second time about the Yale quarterback who was forced to decide between applying for a Rhodes scholarship and playing in the Harvard-Yale game, both of which take place on Nov. 19. This was just another shameless way for Brian to plug the Harvard-Yale game, which will be televised on Versus, an NBC network. The only reason Brian mentioned this story (and the only reason Nightly News ran their original 2:30 story on it on Nov. 7) was to promote college football on Versus.

Also on Monday, Brian took thirty seconds to brag about the fact that Chelsea Clinton would be joining NBC News. Here's some of what he said: "She's anxious to report stories of volunteerism and highlight the great works of ordinary humanity that we encounter every day." What a load of crap. Obviously, Brian (and Chelsea) drank the NBC Kool-Aid. Does Brian (and his pal NBC News president Steve Capus) really believe that hiring daughters of former presidents and other celebrities is a substitute for seasoned news correspondents? There are probably dozens of tried-and-tested network reporters out there looking for jobs, and many more local reporters who are ready to move up to the big leagues. But instead, NBC News handed the microphone over to the Mickey Mouse Club. Chelsea Clinton, Jenna Bush Hager and Luke Russert combined do not add up to one network-quality news reporter. I don't know about you, but I want my news to be reported by Lois Lane, not Jimmy Olsen. Obviously, NBC's hiring of Clinton, Bush Hager and Russert is nothing more than a cheap ratings stunt designed to make people tune in to satisfy their curiosity. In other words, business as usual at NBC News.

I'd like to heartily congratulate to Diane Sawyer. Her "20/20" special with Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly made mincemeat out of "Rock Center" Monday night. According to the website TV By the Numbers (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/11/15/abcs-2020-with-diane-sawyers-gabrielle-giffords-interview-scores-big-ratings/110749/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Tvbythenumbers+(TVbytheNumbers), "ABC’s 20/20 CRUSHED NBC’s competing Rock Center with Brian Williams in the hour, nearly tripling the NBC newsmagazine in Total Viewers (+198%) and more than doubling its Adult 18-49 delivery (+115%)." (I added the bold and capitals to "crushed" just to piss off Brian.) Way to go, Diane!

Meanwhile, on Tuesday's Nightly News, Brian spent 45 seconds telling us about Giffords' video message to her constituents--without ever once mentioning Sawyer's "20/20" interview with Giffords! Of course, Brian spent the first six minutes of his Tuesday broadcast rehashing Bob Costas' "Rock Center" interview with Jerry Sandusky--including a 4:15 chunk of the interview followed by Brian's 1:15 interview with Costas about his interview with Sandusky. Later in the broadcast, Brian spent a minute replaying his interview with photographer Annie Leibovitz from--you guessed it--the previous night's "Rock Center". So Brian spent more than seven minutes of Nightly News recapping what happened Monday night on "Rock Center", but he refused to even acknowledge Diane Sawyer's interview with Gabby Giffords! As always, Brian's favorite job is reporting the news about Brian Williams. Has there ever been a more conceited, self-promoting asshole on TV than Brian Williams?

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--10/29 Through 11/4

2011-11-12T00:08:00.000-08:00

Nightly News was packed with hard news last week. Here are some of the highlights:

Saturday 10/29--Nightly News didn't air because obviously college football was more important (that's NBC weasel-speak for "more profitable").
Sunday 10/30--Janet Shamlian reported the riveting breaking-news story that the price of peanut butter was about to go up. This is news? Incredibly, this is the second story that Nightly News has reported on the rising price of peanut butter (Brian Williams earnestly told us about it back on Oct. 13). Obviously, the producers' goal was to get people to panic and stock up on peanut butter so NBC sponsors like Jif, Peter Pan and Skippy (manufactured respectively by Smucker's, ConAgra and Unilever) would get a nice sales bump. And it certainly didn't hurt to give some free publicity (like plenty of gratuitous close-up shots) to brands owned by those food industry giants--all of whom advertise heavily on NBC stations. Then we saw 22 seconds of the President and Michelle Obama handing out treats on the White House lawn. The NBC News research department has obviously informed the Nightly News producers that stories featuring Michelle Obama get high ratings, so we see her on Nightly News several times a week. And Lester Holt made sure to tell us that the kids walked away with "handfuls of M&M's" because at Nightly News, every story is an opportunity to promote an NBC advertiser. The final story of the night was a ridiculous two-and-a-half minute piece about the horror TV shows filmed in Atlanta. It was just an excuse to show clips from shows like "The Walking Dead", "Teen Wolf" and "The Vampire Diaries" because the Nightly News producers love to pander to the viewers with entertainment stories. It's good for the ratings, and vampires, werewolves and zombies are especially appealing to the coveted 18-25 age group. This is what Brian and his producers think about--ratings, ratings, ratings. And of course, Lester ended the broadcast with plugs for "Rock Center" and the Cowboys-Eagles football game.
Monday 10/31--Brian introduced Harry Smith's story about the boom town of Williston, ND by saying, "Now to a story almost unheard of in this economy, a place where they are in the middle of a boom and where they are hiring." Unheard of? Not quite. Brian Shactman reported the exact same story about Williston for Nightly News on Sept. 4. So this is the second time in less than two months that we are seeing this story. But it doesn't end there. The Nightly News version of the Williston story was a condensed promo piece for that night's "Rock Center" premier, where an expanded version of the story was being featured. So it was actually being shown three times in less than two months. That's just ridiculous. Next, we saw a story about professional women who are less ambitious and as such are forgoing promotions in order to have more time to spend by themselves or with their families. That's great, but this is not a news story. Then we saw a "Making A Difference" story about NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon. Apparently, Gordon had seen a 10/24 MAD piece about a 7-year-old go-kart racer nicknamed Mini who races to raise money for pediatric cancer charities. So Gordon invited the kid to watch him race and donated money to his charity. Anne Thompson (with her usual idiotic grin) told us that, "Gordon was touched by Mini's story last week on Nightly News." Let's be clear. This is not news. This does not even resemble news. The original MAD piece did not belong on a news broadcast and the follow-up piece most certainly did not belong there either. But Brian loves NASCAR, and he gets to air whatever he wants. Naturally, the follow-up piece showed a clip of Brian introducing the original story, because there's nothing Brian likes reporting on more than himself (although he also really likes reporting on NASCAR and kids with cancer because those stories get high ratings. So here he got to report on three of his favorite subjects.). But wait--there's more. Jeff Gordon was profiled in a lengthy piece (more than four minutes) on the Feb. 18 Nightly News. So this is the second Jeff Gordon story this year. It must be great to be an FOB (Friend Of Brian) like Jeff Gordon, Jon Bon Jovi or Bono because you get featured in Nightly News stories over and over and over again. Let's recap: Two stories on the price of peanut butter. Two (actually three) stories on Williston, ND. Two stories on a seven-year-old go-kart racer. Two stories on Jeff Gordon. Nightly News is showing reruns. Of course, Brian didn't have time to mention that Palestine was admitted to UNESCO. That's kind of an important story, don't you think? But at least we know all about peanut butter, Williston, ND and Jeff Gordon. And of course we know all about the premier of "Rock Center" later that night because Brian has been hyping it relentlessly for weeks. Great job, Brian.
Tuesday 11/1--Anne Thompson--who has mastered the art of taking two-and-a-half minutes to say absolutely nothing--reported yet another story on climate change. Thompson trotted out all the usual cliches for this story that contained not a shred of new information. "The weather is going to extremes," she tells us. Really? You don't say. Thanks, Anne. In a story about the Herman Cain controversy, Lisa Myers was identified as an "NBC News Investigative Correspondent." Wait a second--for years Myers has been identified as the NBC News Senior Investigative Correspondent. What happened? Was she demoted? Inquiring minds want to know. Then Brian spent 40 seconds telling us that NASCAR owner Rick Hendrick was in a minor plane crash. How great--another NASCAR story. News? Of course not. But again--Brian loves NASCAR and he gets to report whatever he wants. Brian still didn't mention Palestine being admitted to UNESCO, but at least we know all about Rick Hendrick.
Wednesday 11/2--In her story about Herman Cain, Lisa Myers was identified as the "NBC News Senior Investigative Correspondent", so I guess her demotion was only temporary. In a story about sexual harassment in the workplace, we were shown a clip from "Mad Men". This is the seventh time in the past year that a "Mad Men" clip was featured in a Nightly News story. That's no surprise, since it's one of Brian's favorite shows. And we all know that Brian gets to do whatever he wants. The clip was credited to "Lionsgate Televison [sic]". That's right--the geniuses at Nightly News actually managed to misspell the word "television". Later, an Education Nation story about schools in Shanghai informed us that U.S. students ranked 14th in reading among all the world's students. I think that's pretty obvious from the constant misspellings on Nightly News. I'm sure the producers of Shanghai's evening newscast would never misspell "television". Brian then spent 35 seconds telling us that Filene's Basement was filing for bankruptcy, as was its parent company, Syms. I guess Brian considers that news. He also had to remind us of Syms' slogan--"An educated consumer is our best customer." Brian previously quoted the Syms slogan on 11/19/09, when he read an obituary for the company's founder, Sy Syms. Hearing an anchor read that line once is bizarre. Twice is just inexplicable. What is Brian's obsession with Syms? Maybe that's where he buys his suits. Later, Brian told us about an asteroid that's going to miss earth. Here's an idea: you don't need to tell us about the asteroids that will miss us. Just tell us about the ones that are going to hit us. And then he showed us some photos of humpback whales--the same photos he showed us on Oct. 27. This is the fifth whale story Brian has done in the past two months. I'm surprised that Brian didn't don a whaler's hat and yell, "Thar she blows!" It's shameful that Brian will pander to the audience with stories like this that are designed solely to get ratings. But of course, when it comes to ratings, Brian has no shame. Still no mention of Palestine joining UNESCO.
Thursday 11/3--GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay a record $3 billion settlement to the U.S. government for deceptive sales and marketing practices that included manipulating research of its diabetes drug, Avandia. Brian never mentioned the story, because one of his main responsibilities as Nightly News anchor is to protect major sponsors like Glaxo from negative publicity. Meanwhile, Scott Pelley reported the story on The CBS Evening News. That's the difference between Brian Williams and Scott Pelley. Pelley has integrity. Later, Brian reported a story about the 100th anniversary of Chevy, which included plenty of vintage TV ads and shots of gleaming current models. So Brian refused to report a negative story about Glaxo, but he's happy to provide Chevy with lots of free advertising. Good old Brian--always looking out for the best interests of his sponsors. What a guy. And just for good measure, he brought us another story about a whale that almost swallowed a surfer. That's the sixth Nightly News story on whales in two months. In case anyone's counting. The final story of the night was about some giant sequoia trees that fell in California. Because apparently, that's news. But the Glaxo settlement--not news. At least to Brian.
Friday 11/4--Brian told us it was Friday five times during the broadcast. Okay--we get it. It's Friday. Once would have been enough. And he told us again about the asteroid that will miss earth. Just in case we didn't hear him when he told us about it on Wednesday. And then he told us again about the sequoia trees that fell. Just in case we didn't hear him when he told us on Thursday. Here's how Brian ended the broadcast: "It was another busy week around here and while we were busy covering the big stories as always happens, a few things got by. So in the waning minutes remaining in our broadcast week as we go right down to the wire on a Friday night, tonight we look at what else we learned in this first week of November." Covering the big stories? I guess he means stories about whales, peanut butter, NASCAR, asteroids, Chevy and sequoia trees. So here are the important stories that Brian absolutely had to tell us about before the week ran out:
***Research shows that the "freshman 15" weight gain theory is a myth. The entire 30-second visual of this story was comprised of clips from "Animal House"--a movie that was released by Universal Studios, NBC's sister company. This was just a way for Brian to promote the movie, sell DVDs, and earn money for Universal.
***We were shown a photo of a dog with big ears. This was actually a story that Brian reported on Nightly News.
***The field from "Field of Dreams" was sold. "Field of Dreams" was--you guessed it--a Universal picture, so for the second time in less than a minute, Brian was using a sham story on Nightly News to promote a Universal movie.
***Brian then spent 10 seconds promoting the new JFK book written by MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Brian's third promotion in less than two minutes.
***We saw obituaries for Oscar producer Gil Cates and Tom Keith, who did sound effects for Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" show. With all due respect, neither of these men deserved obits on a network news show.
***Brian told us that sitting around can increase your chances for getting certain types of cancer, so we shouldn't sit around, except to watch Nightly News. Really, he said that.
***Brian spent 20 seconds telling us that fingernails on a blackboard is a really grating sound. We also got to see a demonstration of this. Thanks.
***Then Brian told us that, "In a related story, we made it through the week without mentioning Kim Kardashian."

So Brian spent more time this week on Kim Kardashian than he did on Glaxo's $3 billion settlement or Palestine's admission to UNESCO. For Brian Williams, that sounds about right.

Robert Bazell Is Still A Scumbag

2011-11-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

Has Robert Bazell ever reported a story that was not somehow intended to promote an NBC sponsor? Whenever the Nightly News producers want to use a sham "news story" to promote a medical or pharmaceutical product from Glaxo, Pfizer or Bayer, they give the job to Bazell. On May 12, 2009, he even did an entire two-minute story whose sole purpose was to extol the benefits of Cheerios, a major Nightly News advertiser. And now Bazell is branching out even further, into the realm of promoting NBC entertainment, which had heretofore been the domain of NBC news-shills like Kristen Welker, Tom Costello, Kerry Sanders and Anne Thompson. On Wednesday, Bazell started a story about a weight loss drug with a 12-second clip from NBC's "The Biggest Loser". Here's how Bazell began his story: "The popularity of the show 'The Biggest Loser' is one of the countless examples of people's desire to lose weight." So not only did Bazell shamelessly use a clip from an NBC entertainment show, he also made sure to tell us that the show was popular. And just for good measure, Bazell ended his story with another "Biggest Loser" clip. Let's be clear: Nightly News only aired this story because it presented an opportunity to plug "The Biggest Loser", a reality show that currently airs Tuesday nights on NBC. Obviously, Bazell, Brian Williams and the Nightly News producers work closely with the marketing and promotions staff at NBC entertainment (and NBC sports) to figure out ways to use Nightly News to promote NBC entertainment and sports shows (remember the 160 minutes of Olympic-related stories than Nightly News aired during the Vancouver Olympics?). Which news reports air on Nightly News is determined by the extent to which a particular report can be used to promote an NBC sports or entertainment show or an NBC sponsor. I would estimate that 70%-80% of all the stories that air on Nightly News have some sort of hidden promotional agenda. The NBC prime time schedule is currently mired in fourth place among the networks (and would be in much worse shape without Sunday Night Football). So it's hardly surprising that the NBC executives are using Nightly News in a desperate attempt to promote their prime time schedule. (There was an excellent article on NBC's prime time woes in Monday's New York Times business section. You can link to it at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/business/media/nbc-struggles-for-its-footing.html?pagewanted=all.) So I guess it's no surprise that Robert Bazell is now shilling for NBC entertainment, in addition to his usual shill-work for Glaxo, Pfizer and Bayer.

On Thursday's Nightly News, the lead story was the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University. The story was reported by Ron Mott. However, at the end of Mott's report, he was identified in a Nightly News graphic as "Ron Allen". Both Mott and Allen are African American males. I don't want to jump to any rash conclusions here, but I think we have to at least consider the possibility that some of the Nightly News producers are challenged when it comes to differentiating between African American men. Whatever the reason, it's appalling that the Nightly News producers could not correctly identify their own correspondent. This is a professional news broadcast?

Thought for the day: If you air seven stories about whales in a two-month period (as Nightly News did) then you are not a professional news broadcast. If you air seventeen stories about Will & Kate (totalling more than 30 minutes) since July 1 (as Nightly News did--a full two months after their wedding), you are not a professional news broadcast.

Brian Williams Protects Glaxo. Again.

2011-11-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

On last Thursday's CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley reported this story: "The drug company GlaxoSmithKline agreed today to pay the U.S. government a record $3 billion to settle investigations of its sales and marketing practices. Federal prosecutors had accused Glaxo of manipulating research to promote Avandia, the diabetes drug that has been linked to heart attacks. Under the settlement, Glaxo will not admit wrongdoing." Did Brian Williams report this story on Nightly News? Of course not. One of Brian's main responsibilities as Nightly News anchor is to promote NBC's sponsors and, conversely, to protect them from negative publicity. Glaxo is one of NBC's (and Nightly News's) most frequent advertisers, and Brian has a history of refusing to report bad news about them--specifically with regard to Avandia.

Of course, when the news is good for Glaxo, Brian loves to report it. On the 3/31/10 Nightly News, Robert Bazell (who frequently acts as Brian's main stand-in shill) took more than two minutes to tell us that Avodart (manufactured by Glaxo) may soon be approved to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, in addition to its currently approved use for shrinking non-cancerous enlargements of the prostate. Good news for Glaxo gets reported, bad news gets ignored.

So Brian didn't have time to report the Avandia story last Thursday. But here are a few stories he managed to report on Friday:
***Research shows that the "freshman 15" weight gain theory is a myth. The entire 30-second visual of this story was comprised of clips from "Animal House"--a movie that was released by Universal Studios, NBC's sister company. This was just a way for Brian to promote the movie, sell DVDs, and earn money for Universal.
***We were shown a photo of a dog with big ears. This was actually a story that Brian reported on Nightly News.
***The field from "Field of Dreams" was sold. "Field of Dreams" was--you guessed it--a Universal picture, so for the second time in less than a minute, Brian was using a sham story on Nightly News to promote a Universal movie.
***Brian then spent 10 seconds promoting the new JFK book written by MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Brian's third promotion in less than two minutes.
***We saw obits for Oscar producer Gil Cates and Tom Keith, who did sound effects for Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" show. With all due respect, neither of these men deserved obits on a network news show.
***Brian told us that sitting around can increase your chances for getting certain types of cancer, so we shouldn't sit around, except to watch Nightly News. Really, he said that.
***Brian spent 20 seconds telling us that fingernails on a blackboard is a really grating sound. We also got to see a demonstration of this. Thanks.
***Then Brian told us that, "In a related story, we made it through the week without mentioning Kim Kardashian."

So Brian had time to promote two Universal movies and Chris Matthews's book, show us a dog with big ears and fingernails scraping on a blackboard, read two gratuitous obits, plug his own broadcast and mention Kim Kardashian. But he didn't have time to report Glaxo's record $3 billion settlement. For Brian Williams, that's just business as usual.

Some Things Brian Williams Might Not Tell You About NBC

2011-11-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

On Monday, The New York Times ran an article titled "NBC Struggles for Its Footing" (by Bill Carter and Brian Stelter) on page one of its business section. I doubt that Brian Williams will report anything from this article anytime soon on Nightly News, since he makes it a point never to report bad news about NBC. This is fascinating stuff, so I thought it was worth reprinting:

Coming into a new television season, about the only solace for the new management regime at NBC was that the network’s prime-time fortunes had been so bad for so long, things could not get much worse.

Oh yes they could — and they have. In a year in which NBC’s new corporate owner, Comcast significantly increased the budget for fall shows, the ratings have continued to slide even as competitors have had success.

How bad are NBC’s prime-time ratings? Bad enough that most of the hours on NBC’s schedule, other than the potent “Sunday Night Football” package, have regressed in ratings this season. While every other network has generated a new hit, NBC, which needs hits the most, has not.

The already fourth-place rating in the financially crucial area of viewers ages 18 to 49 has dropped on average 11 percent, to a 2.5 (3.1 million) this year, from 2.8 (3.57 million viewers) last year. NBC has also lost more than 800,000 total viewers from last season. Several new shows never got off the ground, like “The Playboy Club” and “Free Agents,” both of which have been canceled.

It’s bad enough that without the big ratings supplied by the N.F.L. (which costs NBC more than $600 million a year to buy) NBC would be struggling to stay out of fifth place in the ratings. Without football, NBC is now tied with the Spanish-language network Univision in those 18-49 ratings.

To make the grim matters even worse, the only prime-time shows NBC previously owned that posted consistently good numbers, the comedy “The Office,” the drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and the reality show “The Biggest Loser” are all down significantly this season. Not coincidentally, important cast members have left all three shows.

NBC was not the crown jewel in Comcast’s $13.75 billion purchase of NBC Universal early this year, but there were hopes inside the company and among investors that the new owners might begin to revive the once-mighty network’s moribund prime-time schedule and attract more ad dollars.

So far at least, the opposite has happened. In September, the new chief executive of NBC, Stephen B. Burke, told a media conference in California, “No network has ever been as far behind financially as NBC is,” citing prices for prime-time commercials that are consistently 20 percent less than what its competitors can charge advertisers.

Comcast’s chief executive, Brian L. Roberts, did not even mention the network on Comcast’s earnings call with investors last week. Instead he raved about the health of the NBC Universal cable channels, which drive the profitability of the division. Those cable assets increased revenues by 12 percent, to $2.1 billion.

Robert Seidman, the co-editor of TV by the Numbers, a ratings Web site, said Comcast “knew what it was buying and knew what it was getting with the broadcast network.”

But the network Comcast bought had several pillars outside of prime time — the “Today” show, “The Tonight Show” and “Nightly News” — that had weathered the storm. Lately, there have been concerns inside the network that even those stalwarts might finally be subject to fallout from prime time’s underperformance. One senior news executive, who asked not to be identified commenting on the entertainment division, said, “Prime time is painful.”

But for the moment at least, those concerns are more about shrinking leads over competitors than shrinking audiences. “Today,” which hasn’t lost a week in the ratings in almost 16 years, has maintained its audience (even adding to it slightly) this season, though the No. 2 show, ABC’s “Good Morning America” had added more viewers and closed what was once a yawning gap to just a sizable one. ABC has also inched closer in the evening news ratings, though NBC has added viewers to that top-rated program as well.

In late night, which traditionally has a closer relationship to prime-time ratings, some impact is noticeable. “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, which enjoyed more than 15 years of dominance over CBS’s “Late Show With David Letterman” (not counting the period of upheaval when Conan O’Brien replaced Mr. Leno), has fallen behind CBS four weeks out of the first six this season in those 18-49 ratings — the first time that has happened since 1994.

Of course, Mr. Leno was infamously exiled for a time to the 10 p.m. hour where his show was pummeled — particularly by NBC’s own affiliates — for low ratings. But this year two new NBC 10 p.m. shows have fared even worse. The Monday drama “The Playboy Club” was an instant flop. A new entry on Thursday, “Prime Suspect,” has been more highly regarded and is still on the air, but last week averaged a puny 1.2 rating (about 1.5 million viewers in the 18-49 group).

NBC’s new leadership made clear internally that the rebuilding process would take time and that extreme patience would be required. One senior NBC executive, who asked not be identified discussing the network’s internal strategy, said, without disclosing specific figures, that the budget for developing new shows was significantly increased last spring, to the same levels as the other networks, after years of cutbacks. (NBC’s previous owner, General Electric, had pared budgets in preparation for selling the company.)

Mr. Burke has been stressing patience through the dismal start of this season, the senior executive said, and has told people his chief job now “is to keep everybody in the company from driving the development people crazy” in expecting some kind of quick turnaround.

One sign of the patience NBC is trying to apply was the decision to withhold from the fall the one breakthrough show it has programmed in the past five years, the singing competition “The Voice.” Some NBC executives have conceded they urged the new programming chief, Bob Greenblatt, to rush that show back on the air in September after its success in the spring and summer.

He resisted, both because the show needed more time to find suitable contestants, and because holding it back meant it could be reintroduced in February, when NBC broadcasts the Super Bowl. For the same reason NBC held back its most anticipated pilot, a drama about the making of a Broadway show called “Smash,” hoping to pair it with “The Voice” this winter.

But NBC has done little to help itself this fall — and it has been a very good fall for its competitors. Both Fox and CBS are up in the ratings this fall and ABC is flat, an unusual development in a business where erosion has become a way of life. All three of the others have also added at least one significant new hit, while NBC’s best offerings have been a modestly rated but promising comedy “Up All Night,” and the horror drama “Grimm.”

Still, program executives who have been in NBC’s position — if not quite as far down — endorse the idea that a comeback is still possible. Warren Littlefield, who was at NBC during two previous down cycles, said of the potential for a revival, “I do think it’s possible. Last year ‘The Voice’ had a significant effect on their performance each week in ratings and revenue. They just have so many holes to fill and not enough arrows in their quiver.”

Susan Lyne, now chairwoman of the Gilt Groupe, the online luxury retailer, recalled being almost exactly where NBC is now when she was president of ABC Entertainment, starting in 2002.

Ms. Lyne said NBC can’t possibly hope to revive by making wholesale changes.

“The mistake I made my first season was thinking, ‘I’ve got so many time periods that are a disaster, I need eight shows,’ ” Ms. Lyne said in a telephone interview. “And you just can’t launch that much. In our second development season we said the name of the game here is: one hit. Get something that is going to be appointment programming so you begin to get people back into the nest.”

Ms. Lyne, who was working at the time with Lloyd Braun, managed to develop three huge hits the next season, and ABC was on its way back. Her advice to NBC: Pay attention to what cable networks do.

“They launch a show, one show,” she said. She acknowledged that the challenge is made much harder because more and more people use DVRs and access shows on Hulu or Netflix or other sources.

“You find that one piece of programming and you stick with it,” Ms. Lyne said. “You make sure it’s good, that you genuinely believe in it, and you just keep running it until it finds an audience. Once you’ve got that building block, you keep adding to it.”

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--10/22 Through 10/28

2011-11-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some things you may have missed recently on Nightly News:

Saturday 10/22--Nightly News aired yet another story on the death of IndyCar racer Dan Wheldon. This is the fourth story (totalling more than eight minutes) they have done on Wheldon in the past week. Everyone knows how much Brian Williams likes racing (because he tells us about it constantly). So obviously Brian's overreporting of the Wheldon story (and insistence that Lester Holt also continue to report it) is just another example of Brian giving lots of air time to stuff he likes. Lester also told us that, "Another defunct satellite's hurtling toward the atmosphere...." Yeah, we know because Kate Snow told us about the satellite the night before. Do we really need to hear about it again? Unfortunately, one of the main jobs of the Nightly News anchors is to scare and alarm the viewers so they'll tune in each night for more information on the latest piece of falling space junk. The final story was a 2:20 piece about blue penguins in New Zealand who are living near an oil spill. People have been knitting sweaters for the penguins to wear so that when they preen, they won't be able to ingest any oil that's on their bodies. That's nice. But how is this news? Actually, it isn't. This is the second penguin story Nightly News has done in six weeks (the last one was on 9/4). Obviously, the NBC News research department has informed the Nightly News producers that penguins are good for ratings.
Sunday 10/23--We were treated to a 2:05 story on a shark attack in Australia--the second consecutive day Nightly News has reported this story. Apparently, hurtling satellites and shark attacks merit multiple days of coverage on Nightly News. Be afraid--be very afraid. While reporting on the Conrad Murray trial, Kristen Dahlgren told us that one witness had called another witness a "scumbag". Thanks for sharing, Kristen! The final story was a 2:30 "Making A Difference" piece about an Ohio farmer who brings pumpkins to pumpkinless kids in Paterson, NJ. Wow, he really is making a difference. This story just reinforces the fact that Nightly News is first and foremost about reporting hard news.
Monday 10/24--Brian read a 40 second obituary for Paul Leka, who had co-written the song "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye". Really? This is the most important story Brian could find to spend 40 seconds on? I find that hard to believe. But once again, when you're Brian Williams and you have your own entertainment and variety show (AKA Nightly News), you can report whatever you want. Brian then spent 45 seconds giving us a tour of the new Nightly News studio, which of course turned into a plug for "Rock Center". And finally, we were treated to a 2:30 "Making A Difference" story about a 7-year-old kid who races go-karts to raise money for kids with cancer. There is no subject Brian likes reporting on more than kids with cancer. Clearly his pals in the research department have told him that these types of stories score very high with viewers. So Brian uses kids-with-cancer stories to boost his ratings. What other reason could there be for the abundance of these stories on Nightly News? They certainly aren't newsworthy. It's just exploitation. Real nice, Brian.
Tuesday 10/25--During a story about President Obama, Kristen Welker made sure to plug the President's appearance on The Tonight Show that night. She will shamelessly plug anything (some of her past plugs have included Meet the Press, America's Got Talent and Cheerios). Brian then spent 35 seconds reporting an important story about how Necco is abandoning their attempt to use all-natural ingredients in their wafers. Good thing, because I must have missed this story when the PBS NewsHour reported it. Listen--I used to live near the Necco factory in Cambridge, MA. Every time I walked by, it smelled awesome. But that doesn't make it news, okay? After that, Brian reported a story about blue whales. I guess the blue penguin story went so well that he decided to try blue whales. This is the third whale story that Brian has reported in the past month. You know why--people like them...high ratings...blah blah blah. While reporting this story Brian told us, "(The whale) passed very close to the glass bottom boat then came back for a second pass just in case anyone missed the money shot the first time." Now, I don't know the origin of the phrase "money shot", but I do know that it is most closely associated with the porn industry. And I know that Brian knows that, too. Why is Brian intentionally using a porn term on Nightly News? Shouldn't he be saving that for "Rock Center"? Later, Brian spent 30 seconds showing us video of a wedding in Arizona that was disrupted by a dust storm. Great. The final story was about the 40th anniversary of the book "Our Bodies, Ourselves". Brian called it a book about "sex, plumbing and menopause". That doesn't seem particularly sensitive or appropriate. But then again, Brian is a guy's guy who likes to throw around terms like "money shot" on Nightly News. So I guess it's okay to say "plumbing".
Wednesday 10/26--Brian reported that from 1979-2007, the share of income for the top 1% of U.S. earners grew by 275%. He ought to know--with his 8-figure salary, he's definitely in the top 1% of earners. That's known as first-hand experience. The "Making A Difference" story this night was about a man who is running 42 miles a day to raise money for Parkinson's research. That's great. But why is this on a network newscast? Wasn't there any real news to report?
Thursday 10/27--The lead story was the health benefits of aspirin as a cancer-fighting drug. The story featured shots of only one national brand--Bayer. It also featured shots of some old-time Bayer print ads and a clip from a current Bayer TV commercial. Bayer (and their other products like Aleve, One A Day vitamins and Alka-Seltzer) is one of the biggest advertisers on Nightly News. They advertise up to four times on a broadcast. Clearly, this was just a big product placement for Bayer products. It was a way for Brian (and Robert Bazell, the professional shill who reported the story) to give a big "thank you" to the great folks at Bayer for all the ad money they've spent with Nightly News over the years. What a good friend Brian is. Then Ron Allen reported a story on Ruth Madoff and made sure to tell us that Mrs. Madoff would be appearing on The Today Show the next day. Great job, Ron. Plug, plug, plug. After that, Brian spent 30 seconds on a breaking news story about a black lab puppy who was found riding on top of a train. And another 30 seconds on a story about a humpback whale. The fourth whale story in a month! Nightly News loves those whales! Nightly News--your source for important information all the time. The final story was a "Making A Difference" piece about a company that bakes elaborate birthday cakes that go to children in crisis. That's a nice thing to do. And this story has zero news value. It does not belong on a news broadcast. But as far as Brian is concerned, kids in crisis are almost as good as kids with cancer for generating high ratings.
Friday 10/28--The final story of the night was an extremely important 2:15 report about the change in the British law of succession that would allow a first-born daughter to eventually become monarch. Obviously, this was just another excuse to show footage of Will & Kate. Because Will & Kate are good for ratings. During the July sweeps period, Nightly News showed eleven Will & Kate stories (totalling a whopping 24:02). So is it any surprise that they would air this story? Of course not. Just wait until Will & Kate visit a pediatric cancer ward. Brian will devote an entire broadcast to that.

Anne Thompson Bamboozles Nightly News Viewers

2011-11-08T00:02:00.000-08:00

On Monday, Nightly News aired a story about Yale quarterback Patrick Witt and the choice he has to make between attending the interview for a Rhodes Scholarship and playing in the Harvard-Yale game, both of which take place on Nov. 19. Make no mistake--the ONLY reason Nightly News aired this story is because the Versus network (owned by NBC Universal) will be televising the Harvard-Yale game. Neither Brian Williams nor Anne Thompson (who reported the story) care the slightest bit about Patrick Witt or the choice he has to make. They are just promoting an NBC property. On Monday, the Nightly News website asked viewers to weigh in on Witt's choice, and hundreds of people have already responded. What Brian Williams and Anne Thompson have actually done is tricked the Nightly News viewers into participating in a discussion about athletics vs. academics, when their real goal is to get us to watch a college football game on an NBC network. This "news story" was nothing more than a two-and-a-half minute commercial for the Harvard-Yale game on Versus. Please be vigilant. Every story that airs on Nightly News comes with some sort of hidden agenda. Every night, every viewer should be wondering exactly what it is that Brian and his producers and correspondents are promoting or selling. Because the fact is, they are always promoting something.

Nightly News Misspells The Word "Television"!

2011-11-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, a Nightly News story about sexual harassment in the workplace featured a clip from "Mad Men". This is the seventh time in the past year that Nightly News has used a "Mad Men" clip and the 90th time this year that they have used a television or movie clip as part of a news story. Was that clip really relevant to the story? Of course not. In fact, not one of these clips has ever done anything to clarify or explain a news story. They are featured solely to pander to the audience and drive up the ratings. The NBC News research department has informed Brian Williams and his producers that movie and television clips attract viewers and make them more likely to tune in to future broadcasts. And since "Mad Men" is one of Brian's favorite shows, he has obviously ordered his producers to include "Mad Men" clips on Nightly News as frequently as possible. It's just another example of how Brian Williams and NBC News President Steve Capus have turned Nightly News into the fifth hour of "The Today Show" and the first half hour of "Access Hollywood". If you pack your news broadcast with extraneous entertainment clips, people will tune in. And of course, higher ratings mean more ad dollars. It's all about money.

But here's the astonishing thing. When the Nightly News producers displayed the credit for the "Mad Men" clip on screen, they attributed it to "Lionsgate Televison [sic]". Televison! They actually misspelled "television"! NBC is in the television industry, and they misspelled the word "television"! How incredible is that? Do we need any further proof that Nightly News is a joke and that their producers are morons? It's obvious where the producers' priorities lie. Show the gratuitous clips and don't worry about spelling. Unbelievable. This is a news broadcast?

Ironically, that night's broadcast featured an Education Nation report about the school system in Shanghai. During the report, Rehema Ellis informed us that U.S. students rank 14th in the world in reading. That's hardly surprising--after all, the Nightly News producers misspell words practically every night.

Robert Bazell Is A Scumbag

2011-10-29T00:38:00.000-07:00

On Thursday's Nightly News, the lead story was about the health benefits of aspirin as a cancer-fighting drug. In truth, this was just a 2:40 product placement for Bayer. The story featured only one national brand of aspirin--Bayer. All the other aspirin brands were generic or store brands like CVS or Sunmark. The story also clearly showed two vintage Bayer newspaper ads and just for good measure, it featured an 8-second clip from a current Bayer TV commercial. This story was a joke. It was nothing more than a shameless way to plug Bayer aspirin. And the fact that they showed it as the lead story is even more shameless. The message was obvious--buy Bayer aspirin and you won't get cancer.

Bayer is by far the most frequent advertiser on Nightly News. They advertise virtually every night--and as often as four times on a single broadcast (in addition to aspirin, Bayer also makes Aleve, Alka-Seltzer and One-A-Day vitamins). And Bayer products sometimes sponsor "Making A Difference" segments. So it was no coincidence that Brian Williams and his producers chose to run this as the lead story, since that was the most effective way to promote Bayer.

It was also no coincidence that this story was reported by Robert Bazell. Whenever the Nightly News producers want to promote a product in the medical or health care field, they give the assignment to Bazell. He's the broadcast's professional shill. He will gladly promote a product by placing it in the best possible light (or conversely, he will protect a product from negative publicity by countering or downplaying the claims against it). So promoting one of Nightly News's best advertisers is nothing new for Bazell. In fact, promoting Bayer aspirin is nothing new for Bazell. Been there, done that. On the 12/6/10 Nightly News, Bazell reported virtually the same story--the health benefits of aspirin. This "news report" began with a five second clip from a Bayer commercial. Then there were three close-ups of Bayer aspirin: A box on a shelf in a Walgreens, a pill in someone's palm and a bottle of Bayer. No other name-brand aspirin was shown in the story, just generic or store brands. Even an animated graphic of a bottle simply labeled "aspirin" was brown and yellow--easily recognizable as Bayer's traditional colors on their aspirin bottles and the main colors on their website. This story was virtually identical to last Thursday's story. Which means that Bazell has shilled for Bayer aspirin twice in less than a year. But wait--there's more. On the 6/8/10 Nightly News, he spent two-and-a-half minutes reporting on an obscure Danish medical study which claimed that Naproxen (sold as Bayer's Aleve brand) may reduce the risk of heart attacks among its users. Needless to say, the story featured plenty of close-up shots of Aleve. Chalk up another Bayer product placement for Bazell. Of course, Bayer is not the only company that Bazell shills for. He has also done "news reports" about Pfizer products, GlaxoSmithKline products and even one for Cheerios (a major Nightly News sponsor).

Bazell's 5/12/09 Cheerios story was so obviously meant to promote the cereal that it was laughable. It was purportedly about how the FDA had reprimanded General Mills for making false claims about Cheerios. But the report intentionally minimized the FDA aspect of the story and instead spent most of its time promoting the positive attributes of Cheerios. This was Bazell's first line: "It is one of America's iconic products--Cheerios." Well, that certainly set the scene. We were then shown 20 seconds of Cheerios commercials while Bazell told us that, "Soluble oat fiber--a key component--can help reduce cholesterol." In other words, Bazell just made the very claim that the FDA had expressly forbidden General Mills from making. He then briefly interrupted his Cheerios love-fest to mention the FDA reprimand: "A letter from the FDA to General Mills, the manufacturer, says that the health claims have gone too far. The big problem is those claims about how much cholesterol can be reduced in how many weeks. They are repeated on the box. The FDA says those are drug-like claims that can only be made after studies have been submitted to the agency and approved." So rather than acknowledging that General Mills made inappropriate claims, he chose to defend the claims as if they were mere technicalities. As Bazell said this, he was sitting at a table with a bowl of Cheerios in front of him, and at least six boxes of Cheerios neatly stacked next to him. He looked like he was in a Cheerios commercial. Actually, he was. Bazell continued, "In a statement, General Mills said, 'The science is not in question and we look forward to discussing this with the FDA and reaching a resolution.'" The science is not in question! Bazell did not take issue with the General Mills statement--he simply accepted it as fact. The General Mills statement also appeared on screen alongside a pleasing graphic of a breakfast table with a bowl of Cheerios, a box of Cheerios and a glass of orange juice. We then saw a close-up of milk being poured into a bowl of Cheerios. There was a brief interview with a doctor who said that three grams of soluble fiber is not really going to help you, but that it's better than eating something that's high in fat. Bazell then twisted this statement into, "Food industry experts say there is no question that Cheerios is a healthy product but the FDA seems to be paying more attention to the claims that companies make." No question! Bazell's commercial--I mean news story--ended with boxes of Cheerios going by on a conveyor belt, a slow pan down a box of Cheerios, and a mother pouring some Cheerios for her toddler. That is unbelievable. The actual point of the story--the FDA's reprimand of General Mills--was completely dwarfed by the positive images and Bazell's unabashed praise of Cheerios. I think it's pretty obvious that Bazell and his producers worked closely with the Cheerios marketing team to devise the best possible on-air strategy for combatting the FDA reprimand while also presenting Cheerios in a commercial-like "news report". (For another Cheerios product placement, see Kristen Welker's 9/24/10 Nightly News report or read about it on an earlier posting of this blog at http://nightly-daily.blogspot.com/2010/09/nightly-news-producers-manipulate.html. It's a how-to manual for product placement.)

Robert Bazell will plug a product on Nightly News any time he is told to do so. He is absolutely shameless in that regard. And he doesn't care that by doing so he is committing a serious ethical breach. As a science, health and medical reporter, viewers assume that Bazell's first priority is to provide them with accurate and honest information, not to promote Bayer or other Nightly News sponsors. So by serving the advertisers instead of the viewers, he could conceivably be jeopardizing the viewers' health. I can't think of any other way to say it: Robert Bazell is a scumbag. And by the way, if anyone thinks that word is too harsh, I would remind them that NBC News correspondent Kristen Dahlgren used that very word during her report about the Conrad Murray trial on the Oct. 23 Nightly News. So if that word is good enough for Nightly News, it's good enough for this blog.

NBC Nightly News Show Notes--10/15 Through 10/21

2011-10-25T00:59:00.000-07:00

Here's some of the important stuff you may have missed on Nightly News this past week:

Saturday Oct. 15--Nightly News aired a 2:25 "Making A Difference" story about a woman who makes stained glass angels to give to cancer patients. Seriously? This has to be one of the stupidest and most pointless stories I've ever seen on Nightly News (and that's saying a lot). In what alternate universe does this story belong on a network evening newscast? And do we need any further proof that Anne Thompson is a joke?
Sunday Oct. 16--Anne Thompson was wearing a huge grin on her face while reporting a story about Renee-Nicole Douceur being rescued from the South Pole after possibly suffering stroke. Why? Was there something funny about this story? Maybe Thompson was still thinking about the stained glass angels. Later, Lester Holt took 20 seconds to narrate a story about Bill Clinton's 65th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl. This was just an excuse to show some footage of Bono. Brian has ordered his producers and anchors to show clips of Bono (and Springsteen and Bon Jovi) as frequently as possible because they are all FOBs (Friends of Brian). And of course, at Nightly News, you have to do what Brian wants. The final story of the night was about Bears defensive lineman Israel Idonije. Apparently, he mentors grade school kids. But that doesn't matter. The Nightly News producers were really only interested in promoting the Bears-Packers game that was airing on NBC immediately after the broadcast. Virtually every Sunday, the final story of the night is about an NFL player or team that is playing later on NBC. Using news time to promote football is grossly unethical. Brian Williams doesn't care. Lester Holt doesn't care. NBC News president Steve Capus doesn't care. All they care about is promoting football. Great job, guys. You should be real proud of yourselves.
Monday Oct. 17--The lead story of the night was the death of IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon. Brian spent 3:55 on this, including his ridiculously overlong 60-second intro. But we all know how much Brian likes hearing the sound of his own voice. The next story was a 2:35 piece about Pres. Obama out on the road to promote his jobs bill. So I guess the death of Dan Wheldon was much more important than what the President is doing. At least it is to Brian. Then we saw a story about the shortage of cancer drugs which included lots of footage of kids with cancer. Brian and his producers constantly show stories about kids with cancer because the NBC News research geeks have informed them that these stories get very high ratings by pulling at the viewers' heartstrings. Brian then took 50 seconds to recap what happened in the NFL on Sunday because his main job at all times is to promote NBC's Sunday Night Football, the network's top rated show. The final story of the night was about a Boston firefighter who caught a kid who was thrown out of a three-story window. Clearly, this was a local story, not a national story. It had no business being shown on Nightly News. But again, the NBC research geeks have informed Brian that firefighter stories test well with the viewers, so Brian includes them regularly. This was Brian's closing comment after the story: "Modest man thanking his lucky stahs." So now Brian is doing fake Boston accents on the news? I guess that makes sense. Whenever Brian anchors from Louisiana, he always adopts a fake Cajun accent. I hope he does many more accents in the coming weeks. I'd like to hear him do a funny Indian accent, a silly German accent and a wacky Cockney accent.
Tuesday Oct. 18--Brian told us that, "...Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas and held captive for five years was exchanged today for a thousand Palestinian prisoners..." Not exactly. On that day, Shalit was exchanged for 477 Palestinian prisoners. The other 550 prisoners will be released in approximately two months. I thought accuracy was supposed to be important in news reporting. And by the way, the total comes to 1,027 prisoners, not "a thousand". Someone should buy Brian a calculator. Then we got another story on the death of Dan Wheldon, a 1:40 story on a dust storm in West Texas and 25 seconds of footage of a bear cub running around in an Alaska supermarket. Because Nightly News is a professional newscast. They should have attached a "breaking news" banner to that last story. Brian also spent 25 seconds telling us about the latest falling satellite because alarmist stories make people tune in regularly. The broadcast ended with a 2:35 story on homeless students because...well, I'm not really sure why they aired that story. But it must have had something to do with the ratings.
Wednesday Oct. 19--We saw a 2:05 story about Michelle Obama on the campaign trail because Michelle Obama stories are ratings gold. We also got a 1:35 story about windstorms in Chicago. Really? You don't say. How surprising. Brian then told us excitedly about Starbucks' new Blonde Roast. Brian likes to read press releases from Starbucks. Maybe promoting Starbucks on the air gets him free coffee. He also told us about Carla Bruni's new baby--just in case they didn't mention it on Access Hollywood. The final story of the night was about the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas. I'm not sure why that was on the broadcast. Maybe Brian wants to eat there free next time he goes to Vegas.
Thursday Oct. 20--As part of the coverage of Khaddafy's death, Andrea Mitchell showed us footage of Hillary Clinton arriving in Tripoli on Tuesday. But on-screen, the footage is labeled "March 28, 2011". Oh well, it's only off by about seven months. Brian then spent 1:55 interviewing counterterrorism expert Michael Leiter. During this "interview", Brian spoke for 64 seconds, while Leiter was only allowed to speak for 51 seconds. I always thought that the point of an interview was to hear what the subject, not the interviewer, had to say. I guess I must be wrong. My bad. The final story of the night was a "Making A Difference" piece about a Los Angeles woman who teaches inner-city kids to play music. Hmmm...where have I seen that before? Oh yeah--on Nightly News. Over the past few years, they've done dozens of identical stories about teachers or philanthropists who teach inner-city kids to play music. As Yogi Berra said--it's like deja vu all over again. And the funny thing is that if you add up all those MAD pieces, they don't have a single shred of news value between them.
Friday Oct. 21--We got our second story on the falling German satellite. (The third story will air the following day.) Nightly News certainly has that story covered. The final story was a "Making A Difference" piece about Jon Bon Jovi's pay-what-you-can restaurant in Red Bank, N.J. Really? This is a news story on Nightly News? I think the reason is obvious. Bon Jovi is an FOB (Friend of Brian) so obviously Brian ordered his producers to do this story. And Bon Jovi says he was inspired to open his restaurant by a story he once saw on Nightly News! Awesome! There's nothing Brian and his producers like reporting on more than themselves. As if that's not ridiculous enough, this isn't even the first time that Jon Bon Jovi was the subject of a "Making A Difference" story. On 11/9/09, Brian himself profiled Bon Jovi for MAD. For four minutes and ten seconds. Brian told us about all the great things JBJ has done to make a difference. And back then, JBJ was also inspired by a previous MAD segment he had seen! Wow! It was so cool to see Brian hanging out with his pseudo-pal JBJ. As I recall, during that 2009 MAD piece, JBJ was in the middle of his exclusive artist-in-residence stint with NBC for the purpose of promoting his latest album. So he was showing up on one NBC show after another--Nightly News, 30 Rock, The Today Show, The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien, The Jay Leno Show (which then aired at 10 PM), SNL--even "Inside the Actors Studio" on Bravo (an NBC Universal network) because of (I assume) all his great acting roles. And now here he is again on MAD. So I wonder what JBJ is promoting this time. And is he an NBC artist-in-residence again? And more importantly--when can we see Bono or Springsteen on a MAD segment? This is all so fascinating. Jon Bon Jovi gets a second MAD segment. It must be great to be an FOB.

Stories You Didn't See On NBC Nightly News This Week

2011-10-24T17:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some stories you didn't see recently on Nightly News (and are not likely to see for obvious reasons):

***Michael Douglas's son Cameron, who is already serving a five-year prison sentence for dealing meth and cocaine, pleaded guilty to possession of drugs in prison and is expected to receive an additional 12 to 18 months on his sentence. Many news organizations reported this story, but Brian Williams will never report it because Michael Douglas is an FOB (Friend of Brian). Brian doesn't report negative stories about his friends and their families, and he obviously quashed this story as a favor to Michael Douglas, who introduces Brian almost every night on Nightly News.

***According to an article in The New York Times this week, McDonald's has indicated that it may be necessary for them to raise menu prices for the third time this year. Brian will not report this because he only reports good news about McDonald's, like the launch of their new gourmet coffees, how they spent a billion dollars to renovate their restaurants or how their Happy Meals are now healthier. McDonald's is one of NBC's best advertisers, so you won't hear this story on Nightly News.

***On Friday, CBS News reported that Walmart is drastically cutting their employee health benefits (The New York Times also reported this on Friday--on the front page of their business section). Employee health insurance premiums will increase by 20%-60%, company health savings contributions will decrease by 50% and Walmart will no longer provide health insurance for new part-time employees who work less than 24 hours per week. Brian will not report this because he doesn't like to report bad news about Walmart, one of NBC's biggest advertisers. Of course, he's happy to tell us when Walmart is planning to sell healthier food or slash their prices because Walmart pays NBC for positive news coverage with their millions in ad dollars each year.

Brian and his producers often decide what stories to report on Nightly News based not on the newsworthiness of the stories, but on how much the stories can help their sponsors. Conversely, they also protect their sponsors (and FOBs) by refusing to report negative stories. That's how Brian and his producers operate. Welcome to Nightly News. New studio, same old tricks.

Kristen Welker Is A Joke

2011-10-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

Here's how Lester Holt introduced Sunday's Nightly News story about Herman Cain: "Herman Cain faced some tough new questioning today on his policies including his 9-9-9 tax plan, the war in Iraq and abortion...." Then Kristen Welker began the report by saying, "Under the strongest microscope yet, newly-minted GOP front runner Herman Cain appeared on NBC's 'Meet the Press' and acknowledged that his controversial revenue plan would increase taxes on some Americans." "Tough new questioning"? "The strongest microscope yet"? Give me a break. This is just typical Nightly News mumbo-jumbo meant to promote "Meet the Press", another NBC News show. The questions asked by David Gregory had all been asked before. Are we supposed to believe that Gregory is some sort of super genius who can come up with questions that no one else would consider asking? Are we supposed to believe that no one else questioned Cain's 9-9-9 plan? Not ABC News, CBS News or CNN? Not The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Huffington Post or The Chicago Tribune? In fact, the media have been disputing this plan ever since Cain announced it. The Oct. 13 New York Times ran a front page story (written by Trip Gabriel and Susan Saulny) on Cain and his 9-9-9 plan that included an interview with Cain--three days before his "Meet the Press" appearance. Here are some excerpts from the Times article:
*** "Now both he and his proposal are getting intensive new scrutiny as Republicans continue to flirt with their candidates less than three months before casting the first votes of the primary season."
*** "The 9-9-9 plan...is little more than a sketch of what would be a radical and complex overhaul of the tax system."
*** "The plan could have major economic and political challenges: It might result in a substantial revenue loss for the government and shift the tax burden to lower- and middle-income people."
*** "Their (9-9-9) plan has drawn fire from both right and left. Conservatives are wary of a national sales tax, concerned that it would create another, easily increased method of taxation. Among the critics are The Wall Street Journal editorial page and Bruce Bartlett, an official in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, who contributes to the Economix blog for The New York Times."
*** "Critics, especially liberals, say the plan offers a huge tax break for the wealthy while imposing a steep, regressive new sales tax on the middle-class and working poor, with everyday items like milk and bread being subject to a 9 percent tax."

So I'm sorry to burst Lester Holt's and Kristen Welker's bubble, but David Gregory was not the first person to question Cain's 9-9-9 plan, although Holt and Welker would have us believe that he was.

Poor Lester Holt. He used to be a respected journalist. But he had to sell his soul to the NBC devil when he became the Nightly News weekend anchor. Now, he's forced to meekly promote NBC sponsors, NBC sports and entertainment shows and to be a rah-rah cheerleader for all things NBC. It's sad to see, but that's the price he had to pay.

And Kristen Welker simply has no credibility as a journalist. Her shameful promotion for "Meet the Press" is a clear indication that she will say anything her producers tell her to say. This certainly isn't the first time Welker has shilled for NBC or its sponsors. On the 8/12/10 Nightly News, Welker did a two-and-a-half minute "news story" about Jackie Evancho, "America's newest singing sensation" (Ann Curry's words) who was then appearing on NBC's "America's Got Talent". Here's how Welker began her story: "America couldn't believe its ears when this very big and seemingly seasoned soprano voice came out of a very small girl on NBC's 'America's Got Talent'". It was shameless for NBC to use its news broadcast to promote one of its entertainment shows and it was shameless of Welker to report this story. During that report, Welker also told us that, "on any given night, there are 12 million people watching" America's Got Talent. But according to one of NBC's very own press releases (reprinted on the website for TV By The Numbers [http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/08/17/nbc-primetime-results-for-the-week-of-aug-9-15/60225#more-60225]) NBC claimed that the Tuesday (8/10/10) AGT had 10.5 million viewers, and the Wednesday (8/11/10) AGT had 10.7 million viewers. Additionally, also according to TV By The Numbers, the Tuesday (8/3/10) AGT had 9.56 million viewers (from 9-10 PM) and 10.81 million viewers (from 10-11 PM). The Wednesday (8/4/10) show had 9.96 million viewers. None of those shows reached 11 million viewers, never mind 12 million. So Welker's claim was disputed by NBC's own press release, as well as by Nielsen. I guess Welker and her producers are just plain old liars. But when it comes to shilling for NBC, lying is part of the job.

And then there was the 9/24/10 Nightly News. On that broadcast, Welker reported a story that was ostensibly about the credit card-versus-cash shopping habits of American consumers. In actuality, this was nothing more than a 2:20 product placement for Cheerios, one of Nightly News's (and NBC's) best advertisers. The story begins with a couple in the cereal aisle of a Los Angeles Target store, where we see a massive wall of Cheerios comprising 50 facings. (It is absurd to think that any store would display 50 facings of a cereal. This aisle was clearly manipulated by the NBC production staff.) The camera then follows the couple through the store--zooming in on the Cheerios box in their basket. At the checkout, we get a close-up the cashier swiping the Cheerios box past the scanner. At the end of the story, the mother is clearly shown feeding Cheerios to her infant. There is little doubt that General Mills paid NBC News to feature their Cheerios brand in this story. Welker contributes to the product placement by saying things like, "Every cent counts when Sarah and David Winfrey go shopping," and, "The young parents...are always looking for discounts and learning to live within their means." By making these statements as the couple shops for Cheerios, Welker is reinforcing to the viewers that Cheerios are a good value. She was as complicit as the NBC producers and ad executives in bamboozling the viewers into thinking that this was a news story, when it was really a paid product placement. So since Welker has already acted as a shill for Cheerios, "America's Got Talent" and "Meet the Press", are we supposed to believe that she has any credibility as a reporter? Kristen Welker is not a journalist, she's a publicist. She's a joke.

I will say this: At least Sunday's story about Herman Cain managed to spell his name correctly. During last Wednesday's Nightly News story about Cain, an on-screen graphic spelled his first name as "Hermain".