AP Wire | 11/26/2005 | NBC didn’t report accident during parade — Pathetic indictment of todays broadcasting. Something could have been said. Something should have been said.
NEW YORK – During its live coverage of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, NBC did not tell viewers that a giant balloon had caught on a street lamp and injured two sisters.
At the point in the broadcast when the “M&M’s Chocolate Candies” balloon was supposed to have crossed the finish line, announcers Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Al Roker stuck close to their scripts and the network ran footage of the balloon from last year’s parade.
found by Ima Fish who adds:
Ignoring the news is one thing, but covering it up? That’s inexcusable.
And you wonder why viewship for network programing is on the decline, while cable viewership is going up.
NBC actually rigged Chevy trucks with explosives to blow up upon impact.
All of which was rather entertaining, but not as entertaining as the giant deadly M&M. Maybe they figured nobody would notice the M&M and just said the hell with it.
You do realise that they will also cover up any incident that happens at the Nikelympics (formerly know as the Olympics until Samaranch sold it out.) And NBC executives are still wondering why they’re at the last place in ratings?
I agree. But in this case. Can someone tell me where we would have been better off knowing about this?
There ARE times when something is NOT worth telling the world about.
Unless of course you want to be tole of every accident everywhere.
Rob, even if you’re right and NBC should not have told about it, do you really think it was right to cover it up?! Doesn’t that go a little bit too far?
Rob,
When giant M&Ms start attacking people, violating the Prime Directive, that’s NEWS !
Chris, I knew someone would chime in with the argument that it was not a news program, merely entertainment. I’d agree with you 100% IF NBC didn’t use it’s anchors in the show. The broadcasters have to draw the line somewhere, and FAKING an event is way past it.
Recently on The Daily Show they had this clip of various different networks covering stories they weren’t even sure were actually stories. Then an actual news item happens, and they cover it up?
notice that the airline commercials also disappear after a crash
there was no mention of Matt Lauer’s reported drug use – even though it was everywhere else
Authors like Bernard Goldberg can be on the NYT top ten best seller’s list and never get a nod, where Howard Dean can write a cookbook and get featured