Tag Results for NBC

"Beat the Press" panelists sound off on their rants and raves of the week: Nina Easton blurs the line between reporter and political operative; politicians tango with the over election plans; a new report by Pew Research Center on online activity; a fake rumor spreads about Justice John Roberts' retirement; and Today Show reporter Natalie Morales moonlights as a fact-checker for The Marriage Ref.

"Beat the Press" panelists sound off on their rants and raves of the week: Topics include NBC's handling of the 2010 Olympics; the National Enquirer is allowed to compete for a Pulitzer Prize; Esquire's powerful profile of Roger Ebert; journalists still getting caught plagiarizing; and praise for the Boston Globe and Boston Herald's coverage of Amy Bishop's Massachusetts roots.

"Beat the Press" panelists sound off on their rants and raves of the week: Topics include WCVB's election night coverage; the New York Times charging for online content; sympathy levels for outgoing NBC host Conan O'Brien; coverage of the Supreme Court's ruling on corporate campaign spending; and using political party surrogates as political analysts.

The Beat the Press panel offer their own rants and raves about the media this week - including WCVB-Channel 5’s handling of the Gail Huff-Scott Brown marriage; fallout from the NBC late night feud between Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien; Google's decision to no longer support China's censoring of searches; and media comparisons between former President Bush's response to Hurrican Katrina and President Obama's response to the Haiti earthquake.

Checkbook journalism seemed alive and well at the end of 2009, as witnessed by two of the bigger television "gets" of December.

First there was the terrifying story of the Nigerian man who tried to blow up a Northwest airlines flight as it headed for a landing in Detroit. A Dutch man, Jasper Schuringa, was hailed as a hero for rushing to fellow passenger Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and burning his hands trying to put out the fire Abdulmutallab was trying to set. Authorities later  discovered high explosives concealed in Adbulmutallab's underwear.

CNN landed both the first interview and exclusive first use of the a grainy cell phone photo of Abdulmutallab being taken away by authorities, reportedly by paying for the photo. The fact that Schuringa took photo eased the ethical dilemma - though paying for interviews is a no-no, it's common practice for news organizations to pay for photos (CNN didn't disclose how much, but said the reported figures of $10,000-$18,000 were too high). Thanks to Schuringa's cell phone, CNN got a package deal and got out front of the story without taking too much heat.

The Today show? Not so much. NBC was flat-out criticized for putting David Goldman, the father who successfully fought his deceased wife's Brazilian family for custody of his son, on a chartered jet back to the US. NBC conducted the first interview with Goldman after he recovered his son during the flight.

NBC said it had already chartered the jet for its own employees anyway, but the Society of Professional Journalists' ethics committee pronounced itself "appalled" - calling the offer of the flight a clear end-run around the ethical prohibition on paying for interviews.

A new Web Exclusive for Beat the Press. Our panelists unload on media topics that they find amusing, alarming or just plain annoying. This segment is only available on BeatthePress.org and on the new radio broadcast of Beat the Press on WGBH FM 89.7 FM.

The twists and turns in the reporting of Tareq and Michaele Salahi.  It was a kicker story that turned into a security breach with the White House social director refusing to appear at Congressional hearings. How responsible was the media in reporting this story?

NBC is apparently looking to start an NBC Boston local news web site that would compete with its own affiliate in the market, WHDH. NBC is already hearing from affiliates claiming the move to air Jay Leno at 10PM has undermined the ratings of local newscasts at 11PM.

A listener named Forbes writes:

"I would love to hear some commentary from you regarding the amazingly (untrue) story that "gripped America" about the six year old who floated off in a balloon. Why is it that every single news organization had breaking news coverage of this "event" when the unverified source for this "most pressing" of lede stories was a nine year old brother of the six year old?  A lying nine year old boy duped the best and brightest editorial talent at ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and every other major news organization in America into devoting more time on their evening newscasts to an event which never occurred than all of the other truly pressing issues of the day. What ever happened to verifying stories, fact-checking and the entire notion of making sure the story is right? Or is this an example of the depths to which today's mass media has sunk in their quest for viewers and ratings?"

Walter Cronkite is being eulogized live on CBS as I write, but apparently the torch of "most trusted" newscaster has already been passed to ... Jon Stewart?

An unscientific Time magazine web poll has fake-newser Stewart and his "Daily Show" on Comedy Central beating out real anchors Katie Couric (CBS), Brian Williams (NBC), and Charlie Gibson (ABC). Stewart, though, was the only cable anchor in the poll, so we'll never know how the folks at Fox, CNN, and MSNBC would have done by comparison.