During an interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski (1/25/12), NBC's Today host Ann Curry said this: Well, one of the key topics that we have been hearing a lot about is all of this concern about Iran. You know what's been happening, the concerns, the tensions in the Straits of Hormuz, the concerns about Iran's rise in its efforts, everybody believes, in creating nuclear power–not only nuclear power, but nuclear weapons. Are we headed, in your view, based on all you know, for war with Iran? Of course "everyone" doesn't believe that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. More to the point, no [...]
Sep
27
2011
Critics–and Questionable Sponsors–at NBC's Education Nation
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There's an interesting piece at the Huffington Post (9/27/11) by Joy Resmovits about what some critics of the corporate-backed NBC Education Nation conference are saying. Even though some are crediting NBC for a more balanced program than last year, not everyone's ready to give the network a passing grade: While some lauded the increased balance and depth at this year's Education Nation, retired New York City teacher and Grassroots Education Movement member Norm Scott gave [NBC News president Steve] Capus an earful on Tuesday. "People see an absence of the word 'class size' in these debates," he told Capus. "This [...]
May
20
2010
Covering Africa Through Celebrities, Exhibit Eleventy Million
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NBC reporter Ann Curry's fawning interview with actor Ben Affleck (NBC Nightly News, 5/19/10), about his celebrity activist work in the Congo, is downright embarrassing: CURRY: Why do you pick the place that people think is actually one of the worst places in terms of the number of atrocities, in terms of the level of suffering, one of the worst places on Earth? AFFLECK: I really do see tremendous hopefulness. I'm really moved by the power of folks to find solutions to their own problems. The Congolese sense of kind of strength and self-sufficiency and resilience. CURRY: And he's seen [...]
Mar
13
2009
Sensationalism Overwhelms Substance in 'Octomom' Story
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Women In Media & News guest blogger Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser's examination (3/12/09) of the "media firestorm" that "erupted… when Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets" shows that in initial "stories playing on the well-worn 'wow factor'"–like "the AP's piece, posted on Fox News' website, [that] bore a cutesy headline: '8 Is Definitely Enough'"–"basic information was missing: the mother's name, the doctor's name, and the specific medical treatment undergone," and "without that information, any medical ethics concerns remained wholly hypothetical." But then it turns out, eight wasn't enough. The story's focus morphed from medical oddity, to larger ethics questions, to gawking [...]
