Tuesday, July 21, 2009

And That's The Way It Is At NBC News

This is from Brian Williams's statement about Walter Cronkite from the July 20 Nightly News: "He taught everyone how this job should be done and then some and we will strive constantly to live up to the standards he set and we will miss him every day."

"NBC News Standards" is an oxymoron. NBC News has no standards. The organization's goal is simply to pander to the viewers and gain the highest ratings so that they can charge the highest ad rates. Raking in money is all that matters.

I wonder what Walter Cronkite would think of the Nightly News practice of rewarding regular sponsors (such as McDonald's, United Airlines and Chrysler) with two-and-a-half-minute product placements masquerading as news stories. I wonder what Cronkite would think of the way Nightly News wastes their viewers' time with ridiculous non-stories about people who live to be 100, high heeled shoes, kazoos, students who like to hug each other, pink dolphins or skateboarding bulldogs. I wonder what Cronkite would think about the way NBC uses Nightly News to relentlessly promote other NBC/Universal properties. I wonder what Cronkite would think about NBC's deceitful practice of intentionally misspelling Nightly News (as "Nitely News") when they submit certain shows to the Nielsen ratings service (so those low-rated broadcasts will be counted separately from the rest of the week's shows).

Brian Williams and his sleazy crew are without integrity. They're like cops on the take. They are morally bankrupt. Anything is okay at NBC News as long as the ratings stay high and the money keeps rolling in. Brian Williams has shamed the anchor desk from which Walter Cronkite so honorably reported. Brian Williams does not have the right to offer an opinion on Walter Cronkite.

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