8:44 AM 9/11/2012 , NBC's Today Show

[Studio20]

...while the other major over the air and cable networks (including MSNBC)drop what they're doing, even for three minutes, NBC's Today Show opts to blow off the Moment Of Silence for the victims of the terror attack on New York City, literally down the street from their studios, in favor of a story on....

<drum roll please>

The Kardashians.

Yes. This show has sunk THAT low.

 

[upstate29651]

It's NBC. Did you expect anything less?

G

 

[Studio20]

I was stunned. I did not expect and in depth, moment by moment account, as this was not the 1st, 5th or 10th such anniversary.

I did expect to see our President...or a shot of The Center Memorial...or...or surely something other than The Sultans of Slut.

Even ABCs GMA worked around an interview with Richard Gere. Our local FOX station, with no network programming, focused on it.

I guess that I did expect more...from the flagship morning news program that began it all in the 1950s.

 

[crainbebo]

Absolutely disgusting NBC! MSNBC is playing the whole tape of 9/11 like they do every year. This is NOT the day for Kardashians! I don't think anyone knew them on TV in 2001...

[end rant]

-crainbebo

 

[Mario500]

Even though I don't usually watch "Today", I don't believe the folks in charge of the program did wrong by not broadcasting the moment of silence. I wish more broadcasters would focus more on other subjects for every future eleventh day of September and not constantly remind folks about the tragedies that occurred on the same date in 2001. Every day is a new day and no calendar date should be dedicated to a single series of tragedies since tragedy occurs on a daily basis.

Before I go, I would like to wish everyone whose birthday or wedding anniversary is today another happy day to be alive. Do not let some folks make your feel you should feel somber today just because of a series of calendar that happened on the same date. Today is a new eleventh day of September, not the one from 2001.

 

[Braves2005]

Even though I don't usually watch "Today", I don't believe the folks in charge of the program did wrong by not broadcasting the moment of silence. I wish more broadcasters would focus more on other subjects for every future eleventh day of September and not constantly remind folks about the tragedies that occurred on the same date in 2001. Every day is a new day and no calendar date should be dedicated to a single series of tragedies since tragedy occurs on a daily basis.

Before I go, I would like to wish everyone whose birthday or wedding anniversary is today another happy day to be alive. Do not let some folks make your feel you should feel somber today just because of a series of calendar that happened on the same date. Today is a new eleventh day of September, not the one from 2001.

Very well said and true. With that being said...


I wonder if they ever did anything to commemorate the 1st, 5th or 10th anniversaries of JFK's and MLK's assassinations on TV. I wasn't even born during this time and just a few years old when their 10th anniveraries of their deaths came around but I've noticed in recent years they have been downplayed quite a bit than they once were.

 

[BlueWanderer]

Absolutely disgusting NBC! MSNBC is playing the whole tape of 9/11 like they do every year...

As much as I've rag on MSNBC in the past, this is something they did right. However, I don't know how long they will continue with this practice before switching to airing only the highlights of the events instead.

By the way, calling this date an anniversary seems very wrong to me. Shouldn't it be a commemorative or something like that instead of an actual anniversary?

 

[Mitchell H]

I wonder if they ever did anything to commemorate the 1st, 5th or 10th anniversaries of JFK's and MLK's assassinations on TV. I wasn't even born during this time and just a few years old when their 10th anniveraries of their deaths came around but I've noticed in recent years they have been downplayed quite a bit than they once were.

Don't have my TV Guides in front of me right now, but I do know that all three networks did significant specials on JFK on the 1st anniversary of his assassination (and on the first month anniversary as well), as did some of the Dallas stations. In addition, there were numerous specials on the Warren Commission and its report over the succeeding years which kept the story in the news. By the 5th anniversary, the country would have been reeling from the MLK and RFK assassinations, so I would question whether or not anything was done. Of course there was a flood of JFK programming on the 20th and 25th anniversaries, mostly of the "As It Happened" variety. (I believe the family had asked that it no longer be commemorated after the 25th, but I suspect there will be something next year for the 50th.)

I don't think this thread should devolve into a political one, so I say this without intent to provoke: but there are a great many people who strongly feel we should never forget what happened on 9/11/01. Indeed, while this is a new day, the event remains a historical fact, and always will be. As long as there is that strong an opinion, and a sense that a conflict continues, I would expect we will continue to focus on the commemoration.

 

[formeraa]

Very well said and true. With that being said...


I wonder if they ever did anything to commemorate the 1st, 5th or 10th anniversaries of JFK's and MLK's assassinations on TV. I wasn't even born during this time and just a few years old when their 10th anniveraries of their deaths came around but I've noticed in recent years they have been downplayed quite a bit than they once were.

Yes, the news did recognize these anniversaries. However, there were far fewer hours of news to fill back then (although Today was around). A few minutes on the evening news was, in fact, quite notable in those days. Celebration of MLK switched from the date of his death to his birthdate, as we begain to celebrate MLK Day. Inevitably, the anchor would note his death/birth in a serious tone, "...Dr MLK, Jr would have been xx years old..."

 

[Mitchell H]

Very well said and true. With that being said...


I wonder if they ever did anything to commemorate the 1st, 5th or 10th anniversaries of JFK's and MLK's assassinations on TV. I wasn't even born during this time and just a few years old when their 10th anniveraries of their deaths came around but I've noticed in recent years they have been downplayed quite a bit than they once were.

Yes, the news did recognize these anniversaries. However, there were far fewer hours of news to fill back then (although Today was around). A few minutes on the evening news was, in fact, quite notable in those days. Celebration of MLK switched from the date of his death to his birthdate, as we begain to celebrate MLK Day. Inevitably, the anchor would note his death/birth in a serious tone, "...Dr MLK, Jr would have been xx years old..."

Very good point. I wonder if it's because JFK's assassination was such a TV experience. Anyone of a certain age has the date November 22 seared into the consciousness. I admit I couldn't tell you the date of his birth.

 

[firepoint525]

Some of the cable networks had programming in 2003 marking the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination. I still have some of them recorded. But I have a feeling that after the 50th anniversary next year, future anniversaries won't be acknowledged as much, as the generation that remembers "where they were" slowly dies off.

While I agree with Mario that anyone with a birthday or anniversary on September 11th should still celebrate those, even as a festive occasion, I disagree with him that we should "forget" 9/11. Maybe that isn't exactly what he said, but that was the way it came off.

And JFK's birthday was May 29, 1917. At least, I think that that is right.

 

[crainbebo]

Maybe the 50th anniversary of JFK will have what "really happened" that day. Maybe we'll learn some brand new information never heard before...

-crainbebo

 

[vjm]

1. Correct on JFK's birthday

2. You can't not acknowledge 9/11 on September eleventh, but there is something to be said for not dwelling on it either as we go foward.

3. No denying that it does make NBC look bad by ignoring the moment of silence in favor of the Kardashians (remember the K Krew is on E!, one of NBC's sister cable networks, so I guess corporate synergy > remeberance in this case)

Maybe the 50th anniversary of JFK will have what "really happened" that day. Maybe we'll learn some brand new information never heard before...

-crainbebo

Don't go there.

 

[Mitchell H]

Some of the cable networks had programming in 2003 marking the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination. I still have some of them recorded. But I have a feeling that after the 50th anniversary next year, future anniversaries won't be acknowledged as much, as the generation that remembers "where they were" slowly dies off.

While I agree with Mario that anyone with a birthday or anniversary on September 11th should still celebrate those, even as a festive occasion, I disagree with him that we should "forget" 9/11. Maybe that isn't exactly what he said, but that was the way it came off.

And JFK's birthday was May 29, 1917. At least, I think that that is right.

I think you're right on next year's anniversary - it will probably be the last time we have a major acknowledgement of it. Probably something on JFK himself on his 100th birthday.

I've got a lot of the "As It Happened" footage on the assassination, and I watch it from time to time. I've also got some from 9/11, but that is much more difficult to watch. Not only emotionally, but the coverage itself I don't find quite as compelling. Question: did the networks do better coverage with less, i.e. not having the screen split into quadrants with a half-dozen people all trying to talk at once? Maybe more remote coverage would have been good, but, primitive as it is, it's quite dramatic.

 

[rnigma1]

http://www.upworthy.com/3-out-of-4-...e-for-911-you-wont-believe-what-the?g=2&c=bl3

 

[KeyTimes950]

I guess that I did expect more...from the flagship morning news program that began it all in the 1950s.

NBC has had its share of embarrassments coming out of this "flagship morning news program that began it all in the 1950s." For a time in the early 1960s portions of the show were pre-recorded the previous afternoon. That, sadly, was the case on April 28, 1961, when Dave Garroway's wife was found dead, the victim of an apparent suicide.

NBC announced the death during a news segment of "Today," which still would have been live.

The Associated Press noted that "The portion of the program on which Garroway appears usually is tape-recorded in advance." The late "Today" newscaster Frank Blair talked more about that episode in his autobiography, "Let's Be Frank About It."

God rest all of their souls.

 

[Mario500]

Some of the cable networks had programming in 2003 marking the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination.  I still have some of them recorded.  But I have a feeling that after the 50th anniversary next year, future anniversaries won't be acknowledged as much, as the generation that remembers "where they were" slowly dies off.

While I agree with Mario that anyone with a birthday or anniversary on September 11th should still celebrate those, even as a festive occasion, I disagree with him that we should "forget" 9/11.  Maybe that isn't exactly what he said, but that was the way it came off.

And JFK's birthday was May 29, 1917.  At least, I think that that is right. 

I never suggested everyone should forget about the tragedies of September 11th, 2001 (I never liked the references "9/11" and "September 11th " for the tragedies). I just broadcasters and other communicators would let folks remember and study the tragedies in their own personal ways without constant reminders that may give some folks the idea that every future eleventh day of September is supposed to be a somber day rather than another day with great potential.

 

[recto101]

Absolutely disgusting NBC! MSNBC is playing the whole tape of 9/11 like they do every year. This is NOT the day for Kardashians! I don't think anyone knew them on TV in 2001...

[end rant]

-crainbebo

Don't worry nobody will remember the Kardashians in 50 years. But Lets hope everybody remembers 9/11 100 years from now.

 

[Mario500]

"After 'Today' Criticism, NBC News Chief Apologizes to Affiliates"

 

[bpatrick]

I'm expecting a flood of books on JFK next year, as well as extensive
coverage of the 50th anniversary of the assassination on November 22.
(I saw a new one yesterday, linking LBJ to the assassination, but since I
haven't read the book, and this is not a political forum, I have no comment.)

But as someone pointed out, we who were alive in 1963 and remember it
like it was yesterday will be dying off. It'll eventually be like the anniversary
of Pearl Harbor: little coverage because of the steady dying off of sailors and
soldiers who were in Hawaii in 1941.

JFK's birthday is indeed May 29, 1917; it probably should have been stamped
on the national consciousness when Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday" to
him on his 45th in 1962, just weeks before her own death. I think we're more
familiar with that now than people were then.

Now to get personal: as for the Kardashians, I look on them the same way I
do Paris Hilton: a total waste of airtime, Sept. 11 or not. And if "Good Morning
America" is stealing away "Today"'s audience it's not hard to see why.