This is from the Feb. 23 Nightly News Daily Nightly blog titled "Protesters gain control of more Libyan cities": "Rahm Emmanuel wins Chicago mayoral race."
Actually, his name is Rahm Emanuel. But they were close. And for Nightly News, close is pretty darn good.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Where's Mary?
Nightly News's coverage of the situation in Libya has been woefully inadequate. How can they claim to be fully reporting the story when their coverage has not included a single story about Mary Thornberry? Did Lester Holt ever find his way to her apartment? Did she manage to get safely out of Tripoli? Did she bop Khaddafy on the head with her rolling pin? Is Brian Williams going to spend another three-and-a-half minutes interviewing her (like he did on Feb. 7)? After all, her story has captivated Americans (we know that's true because Lester said so). We haven't heard a thing about Mary in over two weeks. Please don't keep us in suspense, Nightly News producers. Inquiring minds want to know.
The Chutzpah Of Brian Williams
Speaking at the 2009 Nantucket Film Festival (as reported by the 6/22/09 bostonherald.com website), Brian Williams told his audience, "Welcome to the Nantucket Film Festival--where Jews come to be honored. Nantucket is actually a Yiddish word meaning where the WASPS live."
Although it pains me greatly, I must disagree with Brian. According to information I found under the lid of a bottle of Nantucket Nectars Half & Half (half iced tea, half lemonade--a delicious and refreshing beverage if ever there was one), "Nantucket means 'faraway land' in the language of the original natives, the Wampanoag tribe." I hate to rain on Brian's antisemitic parade, but apparently Nantucket isn't a Yiddish word at all. Where does he get the nerve? What chutzpah!
Although it pains me greatly, I must disagree with Brian. According to information I found under the lid of a bottle of Nantucket Nectars Half & Half (half iced tea, half lemonade--a delicious and refreshing beverage if ever there was one), "Nantucket means 'faraway land' in the language of the original natives, the Wampanoag tribe." I hate to rain on Brian's antisemitic parade, but apparently Nantucket isn't a Yiddish word at all. Where does he get the nerve? What chutzpah!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Keith Miller Tells It Like It Is
On Monday night, BBC World News America did a story on the (over)saturation coverage of Prince William and Kate Middleton's upcoming wedding. As part of the story, the BBC correspondent interviewed Keith Miller of NBC News regarding the American media's perspective on the wedding. Here is what Miller said: "The appetite in America is insatiable for this story and we will literally cover as a network every single event regardless of how insignificant it may appear if it gives us some insight into Kate Middleton or Prince William. We'll do it because our audience wants to know about it."
Thank you, Keith Miller. Finally, someone at NBC News has confirmed what we already know is true. First, that NBC News reports on "insignificant" things. Second, that they are going to waste our time by reporting ad nauseam on every minuscule Will & Kate morsel, no matter how ridiculously inconsequential it is. Third, and most important, Miller confirmed that NBC News reports stories based not on their significance or news value, but rather based on how much the viewers want to see these stories. That means that NBC News is not a news organization--it's just a popularity poll. A news organization is supposed to inform viewers about national and world events, not simply hold a mirror up to pop culture. To an extent, the Royal Wedding is news and deserves some coverage. But the dozens and dozens of pointless Royal Wedding stories that NBC News will inevitably be reporting between now and April 29 (and beyond) will certainly be far in excess of what a serious news organization should be reporting. For those people who want to know every single detail about Will & Kate, there's the E! Channel or BBC-America or any one of the thousands of websites that specialize in Royal watching. But Nightly News shouldn't be wasting their viewers' time with this fluff. Even if Keith Miller thinks they should.
Thank you, Keith Miller. Finally, someone at NBC News has confirmed what we already know is true. First, that NBC News reports on "insignificant" things. Second, that they are going to waste our time by reporting ad nauseam on every minuscule Will & Kate morsel, no matter how ridiculously inconsequential it is. Third, and most important, Miller confirmed that NBC News reports stories based not on their significance or news value, but rather based on how much the viewers want to see these stories. That means that NBC News is not a news organization--it's just a popularity poll. A news organization is supposed to inform viewers about national and world events, not simply hold a mirror up to pop culture. To an extent, the Royal Wedding is news and deserves some coverage. But the dozens and dozens of pointless Royal Wedding stories that NBC News will inevitably be reporting between now and April 29 (and beyond) will certainly be far in excess of what a serious news organization should be reporting. For those people who want to know every single detail about Will & Kate, there's the E! Channel or BBC-America or any one of the thousands of websites that specialize in Royal watching. But Nightly News shouldn't be wasting their viewers' time with this fluff. Even if Keith Miller thinks they should.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Brian Williams Is A Blue Collar NASCAR Guy
Even by Nightly News's appallingly low standards, Monday's broadcast was a huge waste of the viewers' time. The entire second half of the broadcast (eight minutes and fifty five seconds) was comprised of three "news stories" that did not contain a single shred of news among them. Anne Thompson wasted nearly four minutes telling us about the impending changeover from standard incandescent light bulbs to the new compact fluorescent bulbs. We got a two-and-a-half minute "Making A Difference" story on a woman who underwent a heart transplant. And Brian Williams himself narrated a story about Sunday's Daytona 500 race. These three stories could have been summed up in one sentence: You'll soon have to start using compact fluorescent light bulbs, organ donations are a good thing and Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500. That's it. The entire second half of Monday's Nightly News in five seconds. I could have saved the producers eight minutes and fifty seconds, which they could have used to report on actual news stories. Like what's going on in Libya or Wisconsin. Or the latest on Will & Kate.
It's not surprising that Brian spent more than two and a half minutes reporting on the Daytona 500 story. He often reports on NASCAR. On Friday, he narrated a 30-second tribute to Dale Earnhardt (which egotistically included a photo of Brian standing next to Earnhardt), followed by a three-and-a-half minute profile of Jeff Gordon. Last May 11, Brian told us all about the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It's no accident that Brian spends so much Nightly News time talking about auto racing. He does this intentionally to project a certain image. And for that purpose, NASCAR is a smart choice. Brian is desperate to be seen as a blue collar, working class-type regular guy. He thinks he's a character in a Springsteen song. He imagines himself as the guy that wears work boots, punches the clock and goes to the corner bar with the other factory workers. And publicly identifying himself with auto racing is a good way for Brian to adopt this persona. It's a great way to appeal directly to the red state, rural, small town demographic that Brian is so eager to pander to. NASCAR is like a code word. For people who don't follow racing, it doesn't have any meaningful significance. But for the millions and millions of racing fans throughout the U.S., mentioning NASCAR is like a secret handshake. It lets those people know that Brian thinks of himself as a salt-of-the-earth regular guy, just like them. He doesn't want to be perceived as a blue state, northeastern member of the liberal New Yawk media elite. And he certainly doesn't want to be seen as someone with an 8-figure salary. He wants to be thought of as Joe Sixpack, the guy standing next to you at a NASCAR race or waiting to play pool at the bar. Look at the things Brian claims to like: Dogs, New Orleans, Medal of Honor winners (and the military in general), football, Springsteen, American cars. Now I can't say for sure whether Brian really likes any of these things. But I can tell you this: All of Brian's "likes" have been painstakingly researched and selected to bolster his on-screen image and maximize his likeability factor with the viewers. Who doesn't like dogs? (Maybe a few militant cat owners.) Who doesn't like American cars? Or New Orleans? Or the troops? Or football? Pinko commie subversive agitators, that's who. But it's important for viewers not to confuse the character Brian Williams with the real Brian Williams. The Brian Williams we see every night on Nightly News is a role he plays on TV. It's like Larry David's character on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or Matt LeBlanc's character on Showtime's "Episodes". The character may share qualities with the real person--there may be similarities--but the two should not be confused. Brian's on-air persona is to wrap himself in the American flag. And not only figuratively. When he's anchoring his broadcast, the screen behind Brian often displays a waving flag, as if he's trying to out-FOX the people at FOX News. Brian has carefully cultivated this hyper-patriotic image in order to have the broadest possible appeal to the viewers. Like a politician who wears a different hat at each appearance. In Cleveland, wear an Indians hat. In Cincinnati, wear a Reds hat. When it suits your purposes, wear a Dale Earnhardt hat. And like a politician, Brian is desperate for your vote. Viewers vote by watching a particular news broadcast. We can vote for Brian, Katie or Diane. Ironically, on any given night, 90% of Americans do not watch any of the three network newscasts, so Brian, Katie and Diane are essentially competing for scraps. Which makes every vote (viewer) that much more important. So by showing everyone how much he likes NASCAR or dogs or American cars, Brian is campaigning hard for our votes. (Although I don't see Katie or Diane doing much campaigning.) And apparently it's a successful strategy, since Nightly News is the top-rated network evening newscast (we know that's true because Brian tells us it is). So Brian owes a debt of gratitude to the NASCAR people. And to the NFL. And to dogs. And to Larry David.
It's not surprising that Brian spent more than two and a half minutes reporting on the Daytona 500 story. He often reports on NASCAR. On Friday, he narrated a 30-second tribute to Dale Earnhardt (which egotistically included a photo of Brian standing next to Earnhardt), followed by a three-and-a-half minute profile of Jeff Gordon. Last May 11, Brian told us all about the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It's no accident that Brian spends so much Nightly News time talking about auto racing. He does this intentionally to project a certain image. And for that purpose, NASCAR is a smart choice. Brian is desperate to be seen as a blue collar, working class-type regular guy. He thinks he's a character in a Springsteen song. He imagines himself as the guy that wears work boots, punches the clock and goes to the corner bar with the other factory workers. And publicly identifying himself with auto racing is a good way for Brian to adopt this persona. It's a great way to appeal directly to the red state, rural, small town demographic that Brian is so eager to pander to. NASCAR is like a code word. For people who don't follow racing, it doesn't have any meaningful significance. But for the millions and millions of racing fans throughout the U.S., mentioning NASCAR is like a secret handshake. It lets those people know that Brian thinks of himself as a salt-of-the-earth regular guy, just like them. He doesn't want to be perceived as a blue state, northeastern member of the liberal New Yawk media elite. And he certainly doesn't want to be seen as someone with an 8-figure salary. He wants to be thought of as Joe Sixpack, the guy standing next to you at a NASCAR race or waiting to play pool at the bar. Look at the things Brian claims to like: Dogs, New Orleans, Medal of Honor winners (and the military in general), football, Springsteen, American cars. Now I can't say for sure whether Brian really likes any of these things. But I can tell you this: All of Brian's "likes" have been painstakingly researched and selected to bolster his on-screen image and maximize his likeability factor with the viewers. Who doesn't like dogs? (Maybe a few militant cat owners.) Who doesn't like American cars? Or New Orleans? Or the troops? Or football? Pinko commie subversive agitators, that's who. But it's important for viewers not to confuse the character Brian Williams with the real Brian Williams. The Brian Williams we see every night on Nightly News is a role he plays on TV. It's like Larry David's character on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or Matt LeBlanc's character on Showtime's "Episodes". The character may share qualities with the real person--there may be similarities--but the two should not be confused. Brian's on-air persona is to wrap himself in the American flag. And not only figuratively. When he's anchoring his broadcast, the screen behind Brian often displays a waving flag, as if he's trying to out-FOX the people at FOX News. Brian has carefully cultivated this hyper-patriotic image in order to have the broadest possible appeal to the viewers. Like a politician who wears a different hat at each appearance. In Cleveland, wear an Indians hat. In Cincinnati, wear a Reds hat. When it suits your purposes, wear a Dale Earnhardt hat. And like a politician, Brian is desperate for your vote. Viewers vote by watching a particular news broadcast. We can vote for Brian, Katie or Diane. Ironically, on any given night, 90% of Americans do not watch any of the three network newscasts, so Brian, Katie and Diane are essentially competing for scraps. Which makes every vote (viewer) that much more important. So by showing everyone how much he likes NASCAR or dogs or American cars, Brian is campaigning hard for our votes. (Although I don't see Katie or Diane doing much campaigning.) And apparently it's a successful strategy, since Nightly News is the top-rated network evening newscast (we know that's true because Brian tells us it is). So Brian owes a debt of gratitude to the NASCAR people. And to the NFL. And to dogs. And to Larry David.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Gabby Giffords Loves NBC!
I have a great idea for Comcast, NBC's new owner. They should start a nightly 30-minute news broadcast on NBC that would cover all the important news events going on across the country and around the world. It could air right before (or after) "NBC Nightly News", which is mostly devoted to covering lifestyle, sports, entertainment, animals, weather and emotional tear-jerker stories that have no news value. This new program could be called "NBC Evening News" or "NBC World News" or something like that and it could be anchored by someone with a serious commitment to presenting an actual news broadcast. Perhaps Lester Holt, Andrea Mitchell, Pete Williams or Carl Quintanilla would be a good fit for the job. That would free Brian Williams to devote 100% of his Nightly News broadcast to reporting on Medal of Honor winners, Bruce Springsteen, NASCAR, Mary Thornberry or any other topic that is of interest to him. It would also allow him to spend as much time as he wants plugging other NBC shows or programs on MSNBC and CNBC. (On Wednesday, Brian scored a rare daily double by combining a tear-jerker story with a shameless plug when he told us that Gabby Giffords likes to watch "30 Rock" in her hospital room. Wow. Using Giffords's medical situation to plug "30 Rock" surely represents a new low in so-called broadcast journalism.) It's really a shame to force Brian to cover stories like the revolt in Egypt, the economy or the goings-on in Congress when it's obvious that he would much rather be reporting on Will & Kate or the Westminster Dog Show.
Speaking of which, on Tuesday, Nightly News spent two-and-a-half minutes reporting on the dog show. Immediately after that story, Brian read a promo telling us that we can watch the dog show on the USA Network (which is owned by NBC Universal). Meanwhile, in the business section of Thursday's New York Times, Stephen Burke, NBC Universal's new chief executive, was quoted as saying that USA and Bravo are, "...fantastic businesses and those businesses can do even better than they are doing right now if they get the right investment and the right cross promotion." It's obvious what that means. Comcast plans to use Nightly News to aggressively promote NBC Universal shows. So in the future, Nightly News is going to be spending even more time than usual plugging USA, Bravo and other NBC Universal networks.
On Wednesday, Brian once again introduced Richard Engel as NBC's "Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent", despite the fact that Engel is actually NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent. (Andrea Mitchell is the network's Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent.) Meanwhile, in two stories this week about the assault on CBS's Lara Logan in Cairo, Brian correctly identified her as CBS's Chief Foreign Correspondent. So how come Brian knows who CBS's Chief Foreign Correspondent is, but he can't seem to remember that Engel holds that position at NBC?
Speaking of which, on Tuesday, Nightly News spent two-and-a-half minutes reporting on the dog show. Immediately after that story, Brian read a promo telling us that we can watch the dog show on the USA Network (which is owned by NBC Universal). Meanwhile, in the business section of Thursday's New York Times, Stephen Burke, NBC Universal's new chief executive, was quoted as saying that USA and Bravo are, "...fantastic businesses and those businesses can do even better than they are doing right now if they get the right investment and the right cross promotion." It's obvious what that means. Comcast plans to use Nightly News to aggressively promote NBC Universal shows. So in the future, Nightly News is going to be spending even more time than usual plugging USA, Bravo and other NBC Universal networks.
On Wednesday, Brian once again introduced Richard Engel as NBC's "Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent", despite the fact that Engel is actually NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent. (Andrea Mitchell is the network's Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent.) Meanwhile, in two stories this week about the assault on CBS's Lara Logan in Cairo, Brian correctly identified her as CBS's Chief Foreign Correspondent. So how come Brian knows who CBS's Chief Foreign Correspondent is, but he can't seem to remember that Engel holds that position at NBC?
Monday, February 14, 2011
Nightly News Is Now The Michelle Obama Show
During Sunday's Nightly News broadcast, viewers were treated to three teaser promos (totalling 24 seconds) for a story about Michelle Obama's advice on love and happiness for Valentine's Day (a breaking news story if ever there was one). When they finally showed this "news story" in the broadcast's final segment, it ran for all of 15 seconds. So the producers showed 24 seconds of promos for a 15 second story. This is what passes for journalism at Nightly News. It doesn't take Marshall McLuhan to understand what's going on here. Like NBC Entertainment, NBC News conducts focus groups to determine which people and subjects are of the most interest to their viewers. Based on the feedback from these focus groups (and from other sources such as a list of the top Google or Yahoo searches), the Nightly News producers then make a point of airing stories about those specific topics that the viewers have indicated they would most likely tune in to see. That's called pandering. Instead of airing stories based on newsworthiness, Nightly News airs stories based on how many viewers the producers think the stories can attract. That way, Nightly News gets higher ratings and can charge higher ad rates. Obviously, Michelle Obama tests very well in Nightly News focus groups. So in order to attract a larger audience, the producers make sure to air plenty of Michelle Obama stories. Even when there is no story to report, they slap together 15 seconds of stock photos (like they did on Sunday) and call it a "news story". Other "news subjects" who enjoy a high favorability rating (and thus have been featured repeatedly on Nightly News) are Kate Middleton, Chelsea Clinton, Susan Boyle, Mary Thornberry, George Clooney and Sarah Palin. (Palin may not be well-liked, but she attracts viewers. Sometimes people are just as eager to see stories about people they dislike as about people they like.) That's the reason Nightly News constantly shows clips from movies, TV shows and pop music performances. Viewers have indicated that they like to see entertainment on the news, so by showing more of these vacuous types of "news stories", Nightly News manages to attract a larger audience than CBS or ABC. And achieve higher ratings. Which is, of course, the goal at Nightly News. Anything for ratings. That's the motto of Brian Williams and his producers.
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