Posted on 04/08/2006 10:02:16 PM PDT by LdSentinal
Here's what now passes for "news gathering" at the NBC television network in the brave, and still relatively new, world of 24/7 electronic news broadcasting: Last weekend, a crew working for the NBC News magazine program "Dateline" showed up in Martinsville, Va. for the NASCAR stock car races. With the crew were some "Muslim-looking men" - whatever that means - as part of a "Dateline" effort to show how people in this country would react to "Muslims" in their midst.
In a recent statement, NBC News said it was pursuing the issue because it was "intrigued by the results of a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll and other articles regarding increasing anti-Muslim sentiments in the United States."
So, what happened at Martinsville Speedway?
Nothing. To the everlasting credit of the NASCAR Nation, not a curse word was uttered, not a punch was thrown, not a thing happened.
If you're a born-and-bred Southerner like me, you know in your deep-fried bones that's not the result the "Dateline" crew was hoping it would get.
No, you can bet the "Dateline" crew was expecting one thing, and one thing only: They were convinced they'd come away from Martinsville Speedway with video of their "Muslim" marks being beaten by a bunch of tire-iron-wielding, gap-toothed, trailer-dwelling, drunken mouth-breathers in wife-beater T-shirts.
Despite all its high-minded posturing that it simply was intrigued by a poll, NBC News was doing nothing more in Martinsville than looking for a video clip that would confirm its own prejudices. The "Dateline" crew was looking not to report the news, but to create some news.
Elsewhere in its statement on the "Dateline" story, NBC said, "It's very early 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."
Fair enough, as far as "pursuing this story" goes.
But, of course, the proof of NBC's "fair manner" won't be made manifest in its pursuit of the story.
The proof of the network's stated commitment to fairness will be in its editing and presentation of the "Dateline" piece, if it ever makes it to the airwaves.
It will be interesting to see if the "Dateline" segment producers are willing to air footage of their "Muslims" in Martinsville. It's not likely to be particularly exciting. According to Ramsey Poston, managing director of corporate communications for NASCAR, as quoted in the online version of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, the crew and the men "walked around, and no one bothered them."
It also will be interesting to see where else the "Dateline" crew decides to take its "Muslim" men. Will they, for instance, be willing to take the men to a polo match, a Mercedes-Benz dealership or any other supposedly "upscale" location, and air, unedited, the footage they gather?
Will they be willing to take the men, unannounced, into their own neighborhoods, and air that footage unedited?
It's too bad the "Dateline" crew didn't take a little time to poke around in the NBC newsroom before embarking on this story. It wouldn't have taken them long to realize the wrongheadedness of their apparently ill-hidden preconceptions regarding NASCAR fans.
As it happens, Brian Williams, anchor of the network's nightly newscast - and hardly a part of the demographic the "Dateline" crew clearly expected to find in Martinsville - is a deep-dyed NASCAR fan.
Here's Williams responding to a question during an interview by NBC's Lester Holt about his affinity for NASCAR: "I will watch anything go around in a circle. ... I love the car racing. ... I just have always loved it. I love the smell of it, the sound of it."
So do a lot of people.
And here's a news flash: That doesn't automatically make them simple-minded bigots.
We're not supposed to believe the "Muslim Terrorist" stereotype...but we are supposed to believe the "Bigoted American" stereotype.
NBC should dress a bunch of guys in Confederate tee shirts and follow them to Yale/Hollywood/San Francisco and record the open minded, tolerant reactions of the lefties living there.
NBC = race-baiting.
A 500 pound woman ( or I guess a man could do it ) in a burka walking around at liberal gatherings ( peace protests, NBC company picnic ) with a video camera inside the burka recording the reactions.
Burka-cam.
We need someone with the balls, equipment, and time to do exactly that, a la Michael Moore. It would not be difficult. That could just be the start. How about send a bunch of minority homeless types into George Soros' or Barbara Striesand's neighborhood. Really, the possibilities are endless.
I don't care who you are, that there's funny.
What's really stupid about this, of course, is that NBC has a CONTRACT with NASCAR to televise races. Those races bring in a hefty amount of advertising revenue for NBC. So, in their effort to belittle their OWN VIEWING AUDIENCE as racists, the liberal race-baiters at NBC try to invent a story that doesn't exist.
Thank you, NASCAR fans, from someone who cares little for the sport, for not taking the bait.
Thanks. Who runs these newspapers? Geographically challenged idiots? I assumed it was Athens, GA but I had to finally go to the "contact us" icon to find out what state it was in. Great website, but they should tell you where they are for pete's sake.
yup to #28 , however ,... I wuz hopin' NBC would deploy their FAKE MUZZIES...
... to P Diddy's big ol' Hamptons party [!!?!!]
... or just stoll around some of those Hamptons lanes when Bubba is visiting [HEHEHE]
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Being Souther bred, born and raised, I could have told them that Southern folk (real Southern folk) are tolerant. You leave them alone and they will leave you alone.
"a bunch of tire-iron-wielding, gap-toothed, trailer-dwelling, drunken mouth-breathers in wife-beater T-shirts."
...not that theres anything wrong with that! (Leave my family out of this!!)(I guess it could be my 30th high school reunion....and most went to college..HAHAHAH)
WTF? I don't wear wife beater t-shirts!
Maybe it has something to do with NBC losing the TV contract for NASCAR?!
Is that so?? Hmmm. The plot gets thicker.
Hey, NASCAR. I hope the words "Food Lion" ring a bell with you.
Even better.
Have a woman dressed in a very conservative manner wearing a somewhat large crucifix come into NBC's headquarters to apply for a job -- with a hidden camera to record what happens.
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