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NBC fails to report on balloon accident

WNBC had a special report at about 12:30, well after 2 and 7 covered it on their noon newscasts.<P ID="signature">______________
<a href=http://blog.spotteddogs.org/blog/>Random Observations on Life, the Universe and Television</a></P>
 
> WNBC had a special report at about 12:30, well after 2 and 7
> covered it on their noon newscasts.
>


When The Incident Happened The Parade Coverage Went to

Video Tape Of The M&M Balloons
 
> > WNBC had a special report at about 12:30, well after 2 and
> 7
> > covered it on their noon newscasts.

Well I watched it on CBS and the set where they broadcast the parade the sence was right in the back of Dave and Hannah. Maybe NBC didn't want to show where it happened as CBS broadcasts exclusively from Times Square as NBC broadcasts near Macy's. But NBC could of at least told viewers without a video. MSNBC told what happened without any video. Bad call on NBC's part.
 
I though Matt and Katie worked for NBC News. Isn't the Today Show part of the news department?

> Read the link from AP via Yahoo:
http://n> ews.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051126/ap_en_tv/thanksgiving_parade_nbc
>
>
> They probably thought it was inappropriate.
> But couldn't they have cut to NBC News, or had a reporter on
> the scene? And this is the number one network for news?
>
> Ok, off my soap box now.
> Comments?
>
 
> Read the link from AP via Yahoo:
http://n> ews.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051126/ap_en_tv/thanksgiving_parade_nbc
>
>
> They probably thought it was inappropriate.
> But couldn't they have cut to NBC News, or had a reporter on
> the scene? And this is the number one network for news?
>
> Ok, off my soap box now.
> Comments?
>

NBC's coverage was also on tape, not live.

Edit: There's a story on it right on on Nightly News.

-A<P ID="signature">______________

</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by RockManAC on 11/26/05 11:53 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> I though Matt and Katie worked for NBC News. Isn't the
> Today Show part of the news department?

No. It's been part of the entertainment division for well over a decade. They took over control of the show sometime during the Bryant and Jane era.
 
NBC could of at least told
> viewers without a video. MSNBC told what happened without
> any video. Bad call on NBC's part.
>


A damaging black eye for the peacock. I did watch CBS' coverage and Dave Price and Hannah Storm told Big Eye viewers about it.
 
> NBC's coverage was also on tape, not live.

In most parts, yes, but aside for the M&M Balloon roll-in the Parade was live in the Eastern time zone (Detroit is an exception - it aired after Conan there if at all).
 
> A damaging black eye for the peacock. I did watch CBS'
> coverage and Dave Price and Hannah Storm told Big Eye
> viewers about it.

And they had little choice but to report it. Their broadcast position atop the Paramount Theater was literally across the street from the incident. In the initial confusion one CBS cameraman got the hand-over-the-lens treatment from one of New York's finest.

In fact, both of these lamppost incidents were in CBS territory. The 1998 one was up the street from Columbus Circle, where for years the eyeball erected its old "bubble" booth. While I don't recall seeing the balloon make contact with the post, I remember seeing the balloon in question having its troubles while the network announcer was dutifully running through the sponsor plugs.
 
Many Of You Simply DO NOT Get It!

> A damaging black eye for the peacock. I did watch CBS'
> coverage and Dave Price and Hannah Storm told Big Eye
> viewers about it.

It's amazing how many of you commenting simply do not get it.

How is this damaging to NBC again? I'd love to hear this.

Did any of you even think for a minute that maybe...JUST maybe, the announcers for NBC weren't even aware of it because, as pointed out by another poster, it wasn't even in their "territory."

Also, how is this accident relevant to the overall parade again? Did the parade come to a halt? Was it cancelled? Out of the hundred or so around this particular area where the accident happened, the viewers would be affected by this HOW if they knew this?

In addition, why would NBC interrupt coverage to show this accident? This goes back to earlier question of how this is would even affect the parade in itself and the tens of thousands of people watching this on TV, in addition to the people in NYC who were lined up. When you do a parade like this, even the slightest bit of wind can cause problems for some floats. It was a freak accident. It happens -- no matter how much you try to prevent it. Even the family affected was like "hey, it was an accident...we're not going to sue over it." They get it, but some of you don't??

For those of you claiming this was bad or a black eye for NBC simply don't know what the hell you're talking about. If something happened where it would affect the coverage, then NBC should report it (because obviously they would have to explain what's happening). But that wasn't the case. But quite frankly, it didn't affect THEIR coverage, so there's no need to mention it. The parade is not a "news event", it's entertainment.
 
Re: Many Of You Simply DO NOT Get It!

Well said. This "black eye" talk is nonsense.

> > A damaging black eye for the peacock. I did watch CBS'
> > coverage and Dave Price and Hannah Storm told Big Eye
> > viewers about it.
>
> It's amazing how many of you commenting simply do not get
> it.
>
> How is this damaging to NBC again? I'd love to hear this.
>
>
> Did any of you even think for a minute that maybe...JUST
> maybe, the announcers for NBC weren't even aware of it
> because, as pointed out by another poster, it wasn't even in
> their "territory."
>
> Also, how is this accident relevant to the overall parade
> again? Did the parade come to a halt? Was it cancelled?
> Out of the hundred or so around this particular area where
> the accident happened, the viewers would be affected by this
> HOW if they knew this?
>
> In addition, why would NBC interrupt coverage to show this
> accident? This goes back to earlier question of how this is
> would even affect the parade in itself and the tens of
> thousands of people watching this on TV, in addition to the
> people in NYC who were lined up. When you do a parade like
> this, even the slightest bit of wind can cause problems for
> some floats. It was a freak accident. It happens -- no
> matter how much you try to prevent it. Even the family
> affected was like "hey, it was an accident...we're not going
> to sue over it." They get it, but some of you don't??
>
> For those of you claiming this was bad or a black eye for
> NBC simply don't know what the hell you're talking about.
> If something happened where it would affect the coverage,
> then NBC should report it (because obviously they would have
> to explain what's happening). But that wasn't the case.
> But quite frankly, it didn't affect THEIR coverage, so
> there's no need to mention it. The parade is not a "news
> event", it's entertainment.
>
 
Re: Many Of You Simply DO NOT Get It!

I agree, and to boot, it wasn't even THAT BAD of an accident.
The two that were hit, only had minor scratches and released from the hospital the same day. They're not even going to file charges, as they said "it was just a minor accident".

Now can we end this thread?
 
Clarification...

> >
>
> NBC's coverage was also on tape, not live.
>
> Edit: There's a story on it right on on Nightly News.
>
> -A
>

I should have been more clear, my apologies.
My post was not about NBC News's nightly coverage about the story. It was about the their not making note of the story during their coverage of the parade.

Obviously, if the coverage of the parade was pre-recorded, this changes the dynamics. However, IMHO, it also reduces the parade to packaged programming, just like The Tonight Show.
 
Cretzschmar asked:

> I though Matt and Katie worked for NBC News. Isn't the
> "Today" Show part of the news department?

Clichemoth replied:

> No. It's been part of the entertainment division for well
> over a decade. They took over control of the show sometime
> during the Bryant (Gumble) and Jane (Pauley) era (of "Today").

As far as I know, "Today" is still produced by NBC News. However, it's the Macy's Parade coverage that is produced by the entertainment division.

Personally, NBC News should take over production of the Macy's Parade. Besides, Couric and Lauer already host it, and the approach of the production need not change---unless there's a repeat of what happened this year, in which case, NBC News would be able to get the information out during their parade broadcast.

Besides, aren't local broadcasts of hometown parades on local TV stations that are produced by the news departments of those stations??
 
Re: Many Of You Simply DO NOT Get It!

> For those of you claiming this was bad or a black eye for
> NBC simply don't know what the hell you're talking about.
> If something happened where it would affect the coverage,
> then NBC should report it (because obviously they would have
> to explain what's happening). But that wasn't the case.
> But quite frankly, it didn't affect THEIR coverage, so
> there's no need to mention it. The parade is not a "news
> event", it's entertainment.
>

Actually, it did affect their coverage. The network replaced what was supposed to be live video of the balloon crossing the "finish line" with video of last year's "finish line" at Herald Square.

As Richard Huff reported in Saturday's New York Daily News article:

<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/369174p-314056c.html" target="_blank">Couric and Lauer spent the last 10 minutes of the coverage reading from the sappy script, although they did note viewers at home were seeing last year's footage of the M&M's balloon, which depicts the candies in distress.

"Now, because of today's windy conditions, these characters are on video, and if we told you they were not in a panic, we'd be full of hot air," Couric joked.

Sure, you can make an argument why they shouldn't have mentioned the crash. But the fact that someone was injured in a similar incident in 1997 was enough to make the crash worthy of mention on-air.</a>

If the network had enough time to cue up video from last year and alert Couric of the change via her earpiece, there would and should have been plenty of time to tell her that there had been an incident and have her refer viewers to MSNBC for more information.

As Huff says: "The situation exposed the perils of having newscasters anchor entertainment events."

and that

"...NBC left Lauer and Couric journalistically dangling and, as a result, risked their credibility with viewers."
 
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