Going Green

This week, NBC has been making a big deal about going green for Earth week. All this week, the NBC logo in the bottom left corner of the screen is green, so I guess they must really mean it. I'll say this much: NBC is by far the leading network when it comes to recycling. Recycling old news footage, that is. For starters, there's the footage of people on line at the "Work One" job placement center. They use that clip every time they do a story about unemployment. In the past few months, they must have used that same clip several dozen times. I don't want to say the clip is old, but there's a guy on line wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers hat and an "I Like Ike" button.

And then there are the recycled news reports. Every week, Nightly News airs stories that have been condensed from specials that have aired (or will soon air) on CNBC or MSNBC, or from segments produced for Today or Dateline. These segments are a great way to fill time and save money, since they don't require a news crew. All the producer has to do is edit the segment and add a voice-over. Voila--instant story! NBC seems really proud of how green they are. But the producers should keep in mind that green is also the color of mold.