Darkefang
01-25-05, 07:45 AM
I'm surprised to see that this hasn't been mentioned yet. Now we just have to hope that Bush nominates someone a little more moderate to replace him. Of course, who knows, they might appoint Ralph Reed to the post.
The FCC is trying to decide whether to slap NBC with an indecency fine over its broadcast of the Summer Olympics from Athens, after receiving just nine complaints about viewers being subjected to ancient Greek nude statues and a frolicking toga couple during the opening ceremony, as well as the use of the **** Cheney word by a volleyball player during a live broadcast of competition.
Yeah, we have to make sure we don't have any statue nudity or people wearing togas on TV. And did they mike the guy who cursed, or were we just able to read his lips? I love how 9 people out of a nation of 350 million can complain about something that the rest of us had no problem with, and probably end up getting it taken off the air.
So for the next Olympics, are we going to use the black boxes over the nude statues? Or will we cover them with giant blankets?
FCC Change Brings On a Peacock Strut; [FINAL Edition]
Lisa de Moraes. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Jan 22, 2005. pg. C.01
Michael Powell's decision to step down as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has given NBC hope, Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal Television Group president, told television critics at Winter TV Press Tour 2005 here on Friday.
Zucker also took a shot at CBS News, saying that the botched report about President Bush's National Guard service could never happen at NBC News, and that the "abdication of responsibility" by Dan Rather, who had delivered the report during an edition of "60 Minutes Wednesday," was "shocking."
Zucker called Powell's resignation "an important step" that gives NBC "hope that there can actually be a new agenda at the helm of the FCC."
He hopes the move will "bring some common sense and some uniformity to the issues of indecency that just have not had any semblance of uniformity at the FCC."
Some critics tried to rain on Zucker's parade, noting that the same administration that had named Powell chairman of the agency will get to pick his successor.
"On the issue of decency, isn't it conceivable that it might be even more oppressive in the future?" one asked.
"Worse than the statues at the Olympics," quipped NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, who was sharing the stage with Zucker.
The FCC is trying to decide whether to slap NBC with an indecency fine over its broadcast of the Summer Olympics from Athens, after receiving just nine complaints about viewers being subjected to ancient Greek nude statues and a frolicking toga couple during the opening ceremony, as well as the use of the **** Cheney word by a volleyball player during a live broadcast of competition.
"The key thing we're looking for is some uniformity," Zucker said. "Right now it has appeared that everything has been dealt with so indiscriminately and differently in each case. . . . If everyone understood what the rules were, that would be a step in the right direction."
On the discredited story about President Bush's National Guard service, Zucker said that CBS hadn't learned from NBC News's mistake of more than a decade ago.
NBC News admitted in early 1993 than it had used incendiary devices to make sure a fire would break out in a General Motors pickup truck for a November '92 "Dateline" story about charges the truck was unsafe because of the location of the gas tank.
Afterward, the news division put in place "an enormous number of safeguards," said Zucker, who oversees all of the news programming at the NBC broadcast as well as at cable networks CNBC and MSNBC. The "biggest shock" to NBC about the recent CBS News debacle, he said, "is that none of those safeguards were in place there.
"The degree to which responsibility was abdicated on a piece about the president of the United States, six weeks before the election, is something that would have never been done by a Tom Brokaw or Brian Williams," Zucker said. "And the lack of involvement on a piece of that magnitude was shocking."
"You mean by Rather?" one critic asked.
"I do," Zucker said.
Rather had "an incredibly illustrious career," he said. "It's very unfortunate this is the final piece of the story."
Three CBS News executives have been asked to resign and the producer was sacked after an independent panel determined that the story was rushed onto the air without proper vetting of documents used in the report. Rather, who, according to the panel, was stretched too thin and did not appear to have seen the report before he anchored the broadcast, announced in November that he would retire in March.
CBS executives and Rather continue to insist that his sudden announcement, just a few weeks before the panel's findings were released, had nothing to do with the inquiry. Which is easy to believe if you were born yesterday.
Asked to comment on a report that CBS News is wooing NBC "Today" show co-anchor Katie Couric to replace Rather on the "CBS Evening News," Zucker, who served as "Today" executive producer for a decade, joked that "if CBS goes after Katie Couric, we're going after Julie Chen."
"The Early Show" co-anchor recently married Leslie Moonves, who oversees CBS.
Zucker told the TV critics that NBC's contract with Martha Stewart to star in a syndicated daytime show also calls for her to return to "Today" twice a week -- perhaps the first time a convicted felon has become a regular on an NBC News program.
Zucker would not rule out a prime-time role for Stewart and ducked questions as to whether she might be given a role on NBC's reality series "The Apprentice," in which contestants vie for a "job" with Donald Trump's empire. Zucker said Trump has been signed to do two more editions of the show after the current edition, which debuted this week.
It appears that it's the best of times and the worst of times at NBC, according to Zucker and Reilly. On the one hand, the network is having a tougher season than executives expected, Reilly said. The network is in fourth place in prime time among the 18- to 49-year- olds that the NBC suits say is the only measure they take note of and the only way they sell their prime-time lineup.
On the other hand, they've had a great fall. Five of NBC's eight new shows are doing incredibly well, and we're really in an era of "three-network parity" among CBS, ABC and NBC. That is, if you strip out sports, which, apparently, we're supposed to do now because, as Reilly put it, that's "the way we sell the network and the way we measure the network."
Zucker said he understood why reporters include sports programming when they write about the broadcast networks' prime- time performance. But prime time without sports "is what the business is based on, the everyday business," he said. Sports programming is sold separately, the NBC execs explained. Good to remember next time NBC broadcasts the Olympics.
"And so, you have two stories here; you have a business and you have this story which you all write, and we get that," Zucker said.
"We're not trying to pretend that we're in first place among that parity," he said, which was a relief. "But this is so close that, you know, it's really a whole new era for network television."
The FCC is trying to decide whether to slap NBC with an indecency fine over its broadcast of the Summer Olympics from Athens, after receiving just nine complaints about viewers being subjected to ancient Greek nude statues and a frolicking toga couple during the opening ceremony, as well as the use of the **** Cheney word by a volleyball player during a live broadcast of competition.
Yeah, we have to make sure we don't have any statue nudity or people wearing togas on TV. And did they mike the guy who cursed, or were we just able to read his lips? I love how 9 people out of a nation of 350 million can complain about something that the rest of us had no problem with, and probably end up getting it taken off the air.
So for the next Olympics, are we going to use the black boxes over the nude statues? Or will we cover them with giant blankets?
FCC Change Brings On a Peacock Strut; [FINAL Edition]
Lisa de Moraes. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Jan 22, 2005. pg. C.01
Michael Powell's decision to step down as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has given NBC hope, Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal Television Group president, told television critics at Winter TV Press Tour 2005 here on Friday.
Zucker also took a shot at CBS News, saying that the botched report about President Bush's National Guard service could never happen at NBC News, and that the "abdication of responsibility" by Dan Rather, who had delivered the report during an edition of "60 Minutes Wednesday," was "shocking."
Zucker called Powell's resignation "an important step" that gives NBC "hope that there can actually be a new agenda at the helm of the FCC."
He hopes the move will "bring some common sense and some uniformity to the issues of indecency that just have not had any semblance of uniformity at the FCC."
Some critics tried to rain on Zucker's parade, noting that the same administration that had named Powell chairman of the agency will get to pick his successor.
"On the issue of decency, isn't it conceivable that it might be even more oppressive in the future?" one asked.
"Worse than the statues at the Olympics," quipped NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, who was sharing the stage with Zucker.
The FCC is trying to decide whether to slap NBC with an indecency fine over its broadcast of the Summer Olympics from Athens, after receiving just nine complaints about viewers being subjected to ancient Greek nude statues and a frolicking toga couple during the opening ceremony, as well as the use of the **** Cheney word by a volleyball player during a live broadcast of competition.
"The key thing we're looking for is some uniformity," Zucker said. "Right now it has appeared that everything has been dealt with so indiscriminately and differently in each case. . . . If everyone understood what the rules were, that would be a step in the right direction."
On the discredited story about President Bush's National Guard service, Zucker said that CBS hadn't learned from NBC News's mistake of more than a decade ago.
NBC News admitted in early 1993 than it had used incendiary devices to make sure a fire would break out in a General Motors pickup truck for a November '92 "Dateline" story about charges the truck was unsafe because of the location of the gas tank.
Afterward, the news division put in place "an enormous number of safeguards," said Zucker, who oversees all of the news programming at the NBC broadcast as well as at cable networks CNBC and MSNBC. The "biggest shock" to NBC about the recent CBS News debacle, he said, "is that none of those safeguards were in place there.
"The degree to which responsibility was abdicated on a piece about the president of the United States, six weeks before the election, is something that would have never been done by a Tom Brokaw or Brian Williams," Zucker said. "And the lack of involvement on a piece of that magnitude was shocking."
"You mean by Rather?" one critic asked.
"I do," Zucker said.
Rather had "an incredibly illustrious career," he said. "It's very unfortunate this is the final piece of the story."
Three CBS News executives have been asked to resign and the producer was sacked after an independent panel determined that the story was rushed onto the air without proper vetting of documents used in the report. Rather, who, according to the panel, was stretched too thin and did not appear to have seen the report before he anchored the broadcast, announced in November that he would retire in March.
CBS executives and Rather continue to insist that his sudden announcement, just a few weeks before the panel's findings were released, had nothing to do with the inquiry. Which is easy to believe if you were born yesterday.
Asked to comment on a report that CBS News is wooing NBC "Today" show co-anchor Katie Couric to replace Rather on the "CBS Evening News," Zucker, who served as "Today" executive producer for a decade, joked that "if CBS goes after Katie Couric, we're going after Julie Chen."
"The Early Show" co-anchor recently married Leslie Moonves, who oversees CBS.
Zucker told the TV critics that NBC's contract with Martha Stewart to star in a syndicated daytime show also calls for her to return to "Today" twice a week -- perhaps the first time a convicted felon has become a regular on an NBC News program.
Zucker would not rule out a prime-time role for Stewart and ducked questions as to whether she might be given a role on NBC's reality series "The Apprentice," in which contestants vie for a "job" with Donald Trump's empire. Zucker said Trump has been signed to do two more editions of the show after the current edition, which debuted this week.
It appears that it's the best of times and the worst of times at NBC, according to Zucker and Reilly. On the one hand, the network is having a tougher season than executives expected, Reilly said. The network is in fourth place in prime time among the 18- to 49-year- olds that the NBC suits say is the only measure they take note of and the only way they sell their prime-time lineup.
On the other hand, they've had a great fall. Five of NBC's eight new shows are doing incredibly well, and we're really in an era of "three-network parity" among CBS, ABC and NBC. That is, if you strip out sports, which, apparently, we're supposed to do now because, as Reilly put it, that's "the way we sell the network and the way we measure the network."
Zucker said he understood why reporters include sports programming when they write about the broadcast networks' prime- time performance. But prime time without sports "is what the business is based on, the everyday business," he said. Sports programming is sold separately, the NBC execs explained. Good to remember next time NBC broadcasts the Olympics.
"And so, you have two stories here; you have a business and you have this story which you all write, and we get that," Zucker said.
"We're not trying to pretend that we're in first place among that parity," he said, which was a relief. "But this is so close that, you know, it's really a whole new era for network television."