Word: gm
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...SOMEWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE THERE IS A HELL FOR journalists, it probably resembles the current condition of NBC News. Last month Dateline NBC stars Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips delivered a stunning on-air apology for its report on the safety of GM trucks, which showed a pickup catching fire in a test crash but did not reveal that incendiary devices had been attached to the vehicle to help ensure a blaze. A week later, anchor Tom Brokaw expressed his regrets for several aspects of a Nightly News report about environmental abuses on an Idaho river. It featured footage...
...fish supposedly killed during clear-cutting of timber on government land. In reality, one shot depicted a different forest while another showed fish that were not dead, only stunned by researchers for testing. In the most dramatic act of contrition, NBC News president Michael Gartner acknowledged that the GM controversy would not die and abruptly resigned last week, saying he hoped to "take the spotlight...
...PICTURES ARE EVERYTHING. The firm that NBC hired staged just two crashes. GM trucks do not, of course, explode in half of all sideways collisions, or there wouldn't be many left on the road. So the consultants helped things along. As GM later demonstrated, the truck that did burn -- apparently because it had an ill-fitting gas-tank cap, made for a different truck -- ignited for only about 15 sec. But to ensure that its images were graphic, NBC used tightly edited shots in which the flames looked much worse...
...CIRCLE THE WAGONS. Journalists are so often assailed by news subjects protesting stories that are fair and true -- but inconvenient -- that they tend to dismiss all complaints. It was ill advised of the story's producers to answer GM without consulting NBC's legal department or journalistic superiors. It was loyal but just as unwise for Gartner to reaffirm the story later without checking. Even the ablest journalist sometimes gets things wrong...
What will this episode mean for NBC News? Theories last week ranged from short-term embarrassment all the way up to demise. The most probable result is that all TV-news shows will look for more about celebrities, crime and vastly less complex scandals. The safety of GM trucks is exactly the kind of issue that popular news programs should address. But instead of making sure that they do it right, skittish producers and executives will probably be inclined for a while...