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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.