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January 16, 1998
GE AND GERALDOVISION It's a not-so-happy new year at NBC News... ...according to colleagues who remember the goals and standards of a once-proud journalistic enterprise. A number of NBC staffers have contacted the Diary to say they don't know which is worse: the signing in December by top General Electric management of Geraldo Rivera as a news correspondent, or the deafening, traumatized silence among the network's journalists that has been the response to the move. This stupefied, heads-down reaction is in striking contrast to the aftermath of GE-appointed network president Bob Wright's bungled attempt to parachute another video shock-jock, Jerry Springer, into a commentator's chair at NBC's Chicago owned and operated station, WMAQ, less than one year ago (Reporter's Journal, June 11, 1997: Marginalizing the Sleaze Merchants). Most of the Chicago journalists sympathized with their anchor team's decision to quit rather than share airtime with a self-professed proponent of trash television. However at the network level, reporters, producers and other colleagues have largely accepted the ascension of Geraldo to the News Division's number two pay-slot -- and his grasp on some of the most prized air time on the main network and cable channel -- with a mute, dejected shrug of resignation. "It's another station on the long journey down market," sighs one veteran correspondent. "The truth is no-one's got enough faith and energy to yank the emergency chain to stop us going any deeper." Where's Geraldo's head, content wise ? Here's a sampling of recent topics on his syndicated talk show: Oct 7: Kid Criminals & Mothers Who Love Them Not to forget another of the accomplishments of the man who will now serve as The Today Show's legal correspondent: the two-episode mock TV trial of JonBenet's parents, who have not been charged with a crime. "An irresponsible, repugnant bit of stagecraft," wrote Howard Rosenberg in the L.A. Times. Tom Shales of the Washington Post said: "NBC News -- which has long since abandoned old-fashioned, nonprofitable values like dignity and decorum -- hired gonzo honcho Geraldo Rivera ... thus sickening many within and without the once-proud news division." Eventually Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw, who has in past condemned Rivera in the most vivid language while in the company of other journalists -- including this reporter -- broke silence. He insisted, as you might of an unwelcome intruder, that Rivera will not under any circumstances serve as a substitute anchor on Nightly. Not surprisingly, given Brokaw's staunch defence of GE management and policies in past, many NBC staffers have no sympathy with this sudden, rather transparent display of insecurity. "Tom's made himself wealthy as an apologist for GE, assuring the public and the critics that nothing's changed around here. Now he's feeling the heat because management has taken the next logical step into tabloid TV. He can't have it both ways." Neither can Brokaw be certain that Rivera won't sit in on Nightly, if the manner of his hiring is anything to go by. When the Prince of Trash TV and his agent couldn't get the deal they wanted from News Division President Andy Lack, they simply went over his head to Bob Wright and GE Chairman Jack Welch. As the evidence presented in RISK AND REDEMPTION reveals, GE management craves a TV product such as Rivera: profitable, with no principles that might trouble the parent company's controversial corporate agenda. No sooner had Wright and Welch become involved than Lack fell into line. Geraldo's arrival was assured, complete with a guarantee of more primetime main network specials than Tom Brokaw has written into his own contract. The next chapter in the drama ? Finding out exactly who and what Rivera will bring with him. "We're sure he's got some of his own people in the wings," says one former executive producer. "In my experience, this constitutes the most radical shift ever in what we do and who we are." Certainly Rivera's huge salary will strip further resources from NBC's newsgathering infrastructure, already diminished by the gradual desertion of hard news in favor of entertainment-oriented newsmagazine programming. But it will be the content and style of Geraldovision that will wrench the division even further off course -- more time and money for sensationalism means even less room for news correspondents and producers. In this atmosphere of recrimination and doubt, the best that can be hoped for is a complete failure. Trouble is, with its credibility further strained, and with its big brothers at the network, Entertainment and Sports, damaged by the loss of Seinfeld and football, NBC News might not recover from a crash-and-burn experiment with Geraldo. Only this is certain: Rivera won't lose, but broadcast journalism will. |
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