The new Pravda
Posted on 11/26/2005 12:00:25 PM PST by wagglebee
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.
Couric told the audience they were seeing old footage and bantered with Lauer and Roker, but there was no further mention of the accident.
An NBC spokeswoman said Friday that producers knew something had happened with the balloon but didn't know exactly what.
"There was no further comment on air at that point in time because we did not have further information," said Cameron Blanchard, a spokeswoman for NBC's entertainment division, which is responsible for the parade broadcast.
The accident happened in Times Square, where the balloon's tethers became entangled on the head of a street lamp and knocked part of it off.
Sarah and Mary Chamberlain, 11 and 26, were hit by the debris. Sarah needed nine stitches to her head, and Mary, who uses a wheelchair, suffered a bump on her forehead.
Their father, Stephen Chamberlain, called it a freak accident and said the family didn't plan to sue. He said his daughters are looking forward to the special VIP seating Macy's offered them for next year's parade.
"They are remarkable young ladies," Macy's spokeswoman Elina Kazan said. "We're very sad they were injured."
The street lamp had been among those replaced following a similar incident in 1997 that seriously injured two people. The old lamp posts had arms that extended over the parade route. The new posts are lighter and smaller.
NBC is still trying to figure out a way to spin the story so they can blame President Bush.
Why not 'entertain" the kids some other way, or, better yet, let them learn to entertain themselves.
They said that they were showing older video of the M&M's balloon due to "weather issues"...
Totally agree.
[Their father, Stephen Chamberlain, called it a freak accident and said the family didn't plan to sue. He said his daughters are looking forward to the special VIP seating Macy's offered them for next year's parade.]
This is admirable. I hope that they stay with their decision not to sue after they are contacted by every ambulance chasing lawyer who gets their phone number.
Some years ago I broke my leg while slipping on ice on a commercial property and I was pestered for months by lawyers promising me "payment for your injuries".
Remind you of the live West Wing, where they had an MSNBC reporter performing as an actor?
-PJ
That's how they'll behave during the next 9/11... they'll use footage from the first.
It can't be too difficult to get a camera crew out to TIMES SQUARE, where the accident occurred. Heck, use a traffic camera feed if you can't get a crew there.
NBC can treat the parade as an entertainment event, if they want. But when they use "reporters" from their news division to cover the parade, their "reporters" look like fools if they're not reporting the real news of what happened during the parade they're covering. And showing a picture from the year before is just stupid, even if they acknowledged it.
Did he? I wouldn't think so. I don't think Edwin Newman's spots were in the same vein. He wasn't playing Anchor Edwin Newman so much as he was playing, Edwin Newman, that guy who was an anchor. I can't imagine Sawyer is fully retired from the news business. But even so, I think there's a subtle but profound difference that does not put broadcast journalism in a good light.
I remember when it came time for the M&M balloon to show up, Coric said something like the balloon could not be in the parade and they ended up showing past film footage of it.
Aparently there is a LOT of stuff that NBC does not report on. Question is, what do they have against the people who got hurt and why cover it up?
Maybe when she heard the parents weren't going to sue that also helped her ignore it. She's a mess.
You mean it's NOT Bush's fault? Somehow?
;)
Typical couric and lauer, can't report the truth even when it's sitting right in front of them, instead they throw up coverage from last year, how typically leftist and predictable of couric.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.