NBC's Dateline Caught in New Scandal?
Jim Kouri, CPP
April 07, 2006
Slowly -- ever so slowly -- a new mainstream news media scandal is being exposed by members of the so-called new media. This time it's NBC News's "Dateline" which is being investigated for allegedly creating news rather than reporting news.
According to producers at NBC News, the show is attempting to film Americans' reaction to seeing Muslim men in their midst at public events. And, although they'll never admit it, they're pulling their stunt at events they believe will attract the most rednecks.
For instance, NBC sent a film crew with a group of "Muslim-looking men" to a NASCAR event in Virginia in order to film the reaction of the spectators. Apparently, NBC believes that's where they're likely to get a desired reaction from the bigots who attend NASCAR races. In the middle of a war on terrorism, NBC wants to show "Dateline" viewers that Americans are a bunch of bigots.
NASCAR officials called it "outrageous" that "Dateline" targeted its racetrack for a segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, according to Roanoke.com. One can't help but wonder: if there is no reaction to having Muslim men walking around the NASCAR track, will NBC still show the segment on their show?
NASCAR reported that NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Va., walked around and no one bothered them," according to NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston.
"It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said.
"Any legitimate journalist in America should be embarrassed by this stunt. The obvious intent by NBC was to evoke reaction, and we are confident our fans won't take the bait," he told Roanoke.com.
Mike Smith, public relations director for the Martinsville Speedway, stated that security officers noticed people who looked like Muslims near the site.
"There were some people [who] appeared to be Muslims near our main office. Our security [staff] was aware of them, and they were monitored the whole time they were there," he said. "That was for their safety and for everyone's safety."
Smith said he did not know any details about the people or how many there were. They never went inside the facility but stayed near the main office, according to Roanoke.com.
"There were no disturbances and at some point they left," he said.
Smith said Martinsville Speedway officials were unaware NBC was involved until Tuesday.
"We haven't talked to anyone from 'Dateline'," he said Wednesday. "We've just heard through the grapevine that 'Dateline' was involved."
"'Dateline' is looking into this story," NBC said in a statement, according to conservative columnist and firebrand Michelle Malkin.
"We were intrigued by the results of a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll and other articles regarding increasing anti-Muslim sentiments in the United States.
"It's very early on in our newsgathering process, but be assured we will be visiting a number of locations across the country and are confident that our reporting team is pursuing this story in a fair manner," the statement said.
So, the gist of the story is: NBC's Dateline wanted to prove Americans harbor anti-Muslim sentiments, so NBC's newspeople were using "undercover Muslims" to provide the evidence. And we, the public, have to trust that NBC will fairly edit the segment. If there's no reaction, does anyone believe they'd air the segment?
What's next? NBC using "undercover NASCAR fans" to simulate uneasiness or worse when they see a dark-skinned, bearded man?
This isn't the first time NBC's news division got caught with their fingers in the fabrication cookie jar: In 1993, NBC's "Dateline" aired a story on exploding General Motors pickup trucks. The show alleged that the trucks were unsafe because upon impact they are liable to explode.
However, during their tests, they just couldn't get the darn test truck to explode for the camera. So they hooked up some hidden explosives and staged the segment. NBC didn't admit to the deception until threatened by a lawsuit and public ridicule.
When challenged over the accuracy of a test crash in the now famous Dateline NBC story on pickup trucks, NBC News President Michael Gartner avoided any admission of guilt: "We remain convinced that taken in its entirety and in its detail, the segment...was fair and accurate."
Gartner insisted the "sparking" devices NBC hooked to the GM truck were to "simulate sparks which would occur in a collision," so weren't misleading.
The next day, at the conclusion of the February 9, 1993 Dateline NBC, the story changed. Jane Pauley conceded "that what we characterized in the November Dateline segment as an unscientific demonstration was inappropriate and does not support the position that GM CK trucks are defective, according to the Media Research Center.
Specifically, NBC's contractor did put incendiary devices under the trucks to insure that there would be a fire if gasoline were released from the truck's gas tank." Added co-anchor Stone Phillips: "We deeply regret that we included the inappropriate demonstration in our Dateline report. We apologize to our viewers and to General Motors."
How sorry was NBC? On March 2, 1993 the same day Gartner resigned over the GM story, the network announced it was hiring Michael Moore, the producer-star of the movie Roger & Me -- a documentary that contained fabrications about GM, according to the Media Research Center.
According to producers at NBC News, the show is attempting to film Americans' reaction to seeing Muslim men in their midst at public events. And, although they'll never admit it, they're pulling their stunt at events they believe will attract the most rednecks.
For instance, NBC sent a film crew with a group of "Muslim-looking men" to a NASCAR event in Virginia in order to film the reaction of the spectators. Apparently, NBC believes that's where they're likely to get a desired reaction from the bigots who attend NASCAR races. In the middle of a war on terrorism, NBC wants to show "Dateline" viewers that Americans are a bunch of bigots.
NASCAR officials called it "outrageous" that "Dateline" targeted its racetrack for a segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, according to Roanoke.com. One can't help but wonder: if there is no reaction to having Muslim men walking around the NASCAR track, will NBC still show the segment on their show?
NASCAR reported that NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Va., walked around and no one bothered them," according to NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston.
"It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said.
"Any legitimate journalist in America should be embarrassed by this stunt. The obvious intent by NBC was to evoke reaction, and we are confident our fans won't take the bait," he told Roanoke.com.
Mike Smith, public relations director for the Martinsville Speedway, stated that security officers noticed people who looked like Muslims near the site.
"There were some people [who] appeared to be Muslims near our main office. Our security [staff] was aware of them, and they were monitored the whole time they were there," he said. "That was for their safety and for everyone's safety."
Smith said he did not know any details about the people or how many there were. They never went inside the facility but stayed near the main office, according to Roanoke.com.
"There were no disturbances and at some point they left," he said.
Smith said Martinsville Speedway officials were unaware NBC was involved until Tuesday.
"We haven't talked to anyone from 'Dateline'," he said Wednesday. "We've just heard through the grapevine that 'Dateline' was involved."
"'Dateline' is looking into this story," NBC said in a statement, according to conservative columnist and firebrand Michelle Malkin.
"We were intrigued by the results of a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll and other articles regarding increasing anti-Muslim sentiments in the United States.
"It's very early on in our newsgathering process, but be assured we will be visiting a number of locations across the country and are confident that our reporting team is pursuing this story in a fair manner," the statement said.
So, the gist of the story is: NBC's Dateline wanted to prove Americans harbor anti-Muslim sentiments, so NBC's newspeople were using "undercover Muslims" to provide the evidence. And we, the public, have to trust that NBC will fairly edit the segment. If there's no reaction, does anyone believe they'd air the segment?
What's next? NBC using "undercover NASCAR fans" to simulate uneasiness or worse when they see a dark-skinned, bearded man?
This isn't the first time NBC's news division got caught with their fingers in the fabrication cookie jar: In 1993, NBC's "Dateline" aired a story on exploding General Motors pickup trucks. The show alleged that the trucks were unsafe because upon impact they are liable to explode.
However, during their tests, they just couldn't get the darn test truck to explode for the camera. So they hooked up some hidden explosives and staged the segment. NBC didn't admit to the deception until threatened by a lawsuit and public ridicule.
When challenged over the accuracy of a test crash in the now famous Dateline NBC story on pickup trucks, NBC News President Michael Gartner avoided any admission of guilt: "We remain convinced that taken in its entirety and in its detail, the segment...was fair and accurate."
Gartner insisted the "sparking" devices NBC hooked to the GM truck were to "simulate sparks which would occur in a collision," so weren't misleading.
The next day, at the conclusion of the February 9, 1993 Dateline NBC, the story changed. Jane Pauley conceded "that what we characterized in the November Dateline segment as an unscientific demonstration was inappropriate and does not support the position that GM CK trucks are defective, according to the Media Research Center.
Specifically, NBC's contractor did put incendiary devices under the trucks to insure that there would be a fire if gasoline were released from the truck's gas tank." Added co-anchor Stone Phillips: "We deeply regret that we included the inappropriate demonstration in our Dateline report. We apologize to our viewers and to General Motors."
How sorry was NBC? On March 2, 1993 the same day Gartner resigned over the GM story, the network announced it was hiring Michael Moore, the producer-star of the movie Roger & Me -- a documentary that contained fabrications about GM, according to the Media Research Center.
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