Ethics Lapse, 'Plane' & Simple: NBC News Pays for Exclusive Coverage of Aerial Mishap

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Credit NBC News with the best disaster coverage money can buy, after the Washington Post detailed how the Peacock Network agreed to pay more than $100k to nine skydivers and the pilots who survived the midair crash of two small planes for exclusive coverage of their mishap.

The checkbook journalism nets NBC the right to air amateur footage from the divers' helmet cameras on Today, Dateline and the Nightly News with Brian Williams and two-week exclusive rights to interview the fortunate survivors, according to the Post article. Although print and radio journalists may speak to those involved in the accident, the divers and pilots will not sit down for any tv interviews other than for NBC during the two-week window, the Post quoted one of the survivors as saying.

Paying for stories is frowned on by the Society of Professional Journalists and other news groups because it encourages lazy journalism, tempts payees to embellish their stories and threatens to compromise the payor news organization's objectivity in its coverage. "TUOL" questions if NBC News' money is well-spent and wonders whether the midair crash, however thrilling to watch, is particularly informative for viewers. Here's hoping financially challenged would-be daredevils don't begin staging accidents in search of a big payday from a news organization.

Zimmerman Rekindles Defamation Suit Against NBC

Image via CrunchBase

Just under two weeks since a 6-member jury acquitted him of all charges in the shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman is ready to head back to a courtroom to restart his dormant defamation suit against NBC, the iMediaEthics.org Web site reported.

The case, Zimmerman v. NBC Universal Media LLC et al. (Case No. 2012CA006178), filed in Seminole County Circuit Court last December (see "TUOL" post 12/7/12), which alleges defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, was stayed last February per a motion by NBC pending the outcome of the criminal case against Zimmerman.

The suit concerns an edited tape of a 911 call placed by Zimmerman that aired on the Today show in March 2012, that the plaintiff alleges depicts him as racist. NBC apologized in April 2012,  for the edits made to the taped call and dismissed staffers involved in airing the story, including a reporter and producer who also are defendants in the suit.

Zimmerman is likely to have to prove actual malice to prevail in his suit, as the high-profile murder trial elevates him to the status of, at least, a limited public figure.

http://www.imediaethics.org/News/4056/George_zimmerman_moves_to_restart_libel_lawsuit_against_nbc_over_edited_911_tape.php 

NBC News Taps Turness; First Woman to Helm Network News Division in U.S.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forty-six-year-old Deborah Turness, who has headed the London-based ITV News since 2004, has been appointed president of NBC News, the New York Times reported yesterday.

NBC News, America's first producer of network news, dating back to 1940, becomes the first broadcast journalism operation in the U.S. to hire a woman to run a network news division. She replaces Steve Capus, who just completed an eight-year run as NBC News' top honcho.

Turness' challenges include trying to restore the luster of the Today Show, which has yielded its top morning program status to ABC's Good Morning America. NBC News last week was socked with the network's decision to cancel Brian Williams' Rock Center news magazine program because of cost and paltry ratings.

The Shrivernator Returns: Award-Winning Journo Rejoins NBC News

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Both Today.com and MariaShriver.com announced today that the 57-year-old award-winning broadcast journalist, author of six books and former First Lady of California has rejoined NBC News as a special anchor on women's issues.

NBC News will exclusively broadcast the multiplatform Shriver Reports on the status of American women and their role in national issues. Shriver, the niece of the late President John F. Kennedy, was an NBC News anchor and correspondent from 1986 (the year she married beefy thespian Arnold Schwarzenegger) to 2004, when she assumed First Lady duties after her buff spouse became Governor of California. The couple separated in 2011.

Shriver won a Peabody Award for a Dateline story on single mothers on welfare, and first rose to prominence anchoring the Today Show.

Revolving Door--The Sequel

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

David Axelrod, senior advisor and senior strategist during President Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns, has signed on as a contributor to NBC News and theMSNBC cable network, just a week after  former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs did the same.

Axelrod, who turns 58 this week, recently was named director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, his alma mater, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy. The Chicago-homesick "TUOL" staff remembers way back when Axelrod toiled as a political writer for The Chicago Tribune.

If Fox News has served as a haven--or witness protection program, depending on one's political viewpoint--for former GOP presidential aspirants, ranging from Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to recently hired Herman Cain, then NBC News and MSNBC is fast becoming the retirement community for Obama Administration refugees. Meanwhile, broadcast and print journalists by the bushel-full ponder voluntary buyout offers.

Oiling the Revolving Door

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Robert Gibbs, senior advisor to President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, has been hired as a contributor to MSNBC and NBC News, Politico reported.

The 41-year-old Auburn, Alabama, native was the 28th White House press secretary, serving in that role for President Obama from 2009 to 2011. Gibbs' association with President Obama dates back to 2004. He also served early on as press secretary during now-Secretary of State John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Gibbs joins a long list of former White House shills who have crossed-over into the news media once they stop taking flak from the White House Press Corps, including Tony Snow (Fox News), Clinton White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos (ABC News), Pierre Sallinger (ABC News), Bill Moyers (PBS) and Dana Perino (Fox News), though, to be fair, some of them were making a return trip.

Not surprisingly, public skepticism spikes whenever a former presidential spokesperson appears as a talking head on a network to offer informed, "objective" commentary about an opposition party's position or representative. It doesn't thrill lifetime journalists either to see these ex-shills begin their ink-stained wretch career on the top rung of the news media ladder.

CNN Favoring Curry?

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ann Curry, unceremoniously dumped by The Today Show, but still under contract to NBC News, is looking to jump to CNN, where she would be reunited with former boss Jeff Zucker, Inquisitr.com and other outlets report.

According to the Inquisitr and Radar Online blogs, Curry is asking out of her contract with NBC, but the Peacock Network appears disinclined to grant her request.  Were she just to quit, she reportedly would be constrained by a non-compete clause from joining CNN. Sources report that her attorney could opt to bring a breach of contract suit based on her changed status. Meanwhile, NBC has been trying to arrange a lunch with Curry and Today Show host Matt Lauer, who has been excoriated by the public and blamed for Curry's ouster from Today.

Those keeping score may find it difficult to discern which networks are currying favor and favoring Curry.

Chelsea's Bridge to a Journalism Career?

Image via WikipediaGiven the economic hard times that have befallen the field of print and broadcast journalism and the surfeit of debt-ridden j-school grads flooding the marketplace, it's heartwarming when an industry powerhouse such as the NBC Nightly News takes a flyer on a fresh young face.

So, according to Bloomberg News, NBC ("Nothing But Celebrities") News has hired 31-year-old former First Daughter, Chelsea Clinton, to be a full-time special correspondent for NBC News' "Making a Difference" segments. The feature reports, which air on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and may also be showcased on the newsmagazine "Rock Center with Brian Williams," focus on individuals who volunteer in their communities to improve the lives of others.

Clinton will continue her work for her family's William J. Clinton Foundation while handling her tv duties. In 2009, NBC hired Jenna Bush Hagar to be a part-time correspondent on Today (see "TUOL" post 8/31/09), while MSNBC boasts Meghan McCain as a contributor. NBC's presidential kiddie corps may not compare all that favorably to alumni such as Tom Brokaw, John Chancellor, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, but at least the Peacock Network is offering entry level jobs and we need all the "job creators" we can get.

NBC News Taps Guthrie as Chief Legal Analyst

Image via WikipediaThirty-nine-year-old Savannah Guthrie is the Today Show's new chief legal analyst.

Guthrie, who joined NBC News in 2007 and is the former co-host of MSNBC's  Daily Rundown.  She is a former litigator and a magna cum laude graduate of  the Georgetown University Law Center.

She succeeds ABC Legal Analyst and Mediaite mogul Dan Abrams.

NBC Gives 'Infotainment' A Worse Name

Image via Wikipedia

Lost amid the splashy Post-Olympics debut of  Jerry Seinfeld's comedy-reality-quiz show-train wreck "The Marriage Ref," Sunday night featuring celebrity panelists Alec Baldwin and Kelly Ripa was the presence of NBC "Today Show" anchor and correspondent Natalie Morales, who will appear regularly on the series as the "Just the Facts Ma'am" (the rest of the show is just as side-splittingly funny as her title).

Morales' involvement in the Seinfeld series has been vetted and approved by NBC News Standards, which should be comforting to viewers worried about the blurring of news and entertainment, but somehow isn't.  During the "Ref" program, Morales is perched behind a laptop computer, like a real journalist, where she reports information about the underlying issue about which the couples are arguing.

Perhaps "TUOL" shouldn't be all in a dither about this, given that CNN Newsie Anderson Cooper once hosted "The Mole" on ABC and CBS's "The Early Show" anchor Julie Chen does double duty as host of  the network's "Big Brother" reality show.  "TUOL" is grateful that Chet Huntley & David Brinkley left the network before they could be given recurring roles on "Law & Order" and that John Chancellor died well-before he might have been asked to host "The Biggest Loser."

NBC stands for "News Broadcast by Clowns."

The Face of TV News?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Television analyst Andrew Tyndall, who tracks evening newscasts, reports that NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell logged the most "face time" of any broadcast journalist over the past decade.

For those of you keeping score, Mitchell logged 2,416 minutes on the NBC Nightly News during the past decade. Before the nation's economy collapsed, one could argue that Mitchell's husband, former Federal Reserve Board chief Alan Greenspan, appeared on tv more than Ronald McDonald, and at least Mitchell sports a better "mug" than her spouse.

NBC News Becomes Leading Brazilian Exporter in Goldman Case

Cover via Amazon

In Pythonite Terry Gilliam's film Brazil (1985), a bureaucrat in a futuristic society who tries to rectify an administrative error unwittingly becomes an enemy of the state.  In its checkbook journalism coverage of the U.S. dad  v. Brazil mom custody battle over Sean Goldman, NBC News attempted to cover the story, but wound up becoming a key component of it.

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has condemned NBC News for footing the bill for the plane on which David Goldman and his son Sean flew back to the U.S. after the father was awarded custody of the boy. NBC News was rewarded for its aeronautical largesse with an exclusive interview with the Goldmans both on the plane and after they disembarked in the U.S.

Contrary to the SPJ's ethics code that implores journalists to act independently, not bid for news and avoid conflicts of interest, NBC News made itself a part of the breaking Goldman story, and not only covered, but also helped to create the news story.