NBC vows to air interview with ‘conspiracy theorist’
Pelley signs off CBS evening news
NEW YORK, June 17, (Agencies): NBC News said it has vowed to go ahead with Megyn Kelly’s report on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Sunday despite his “efforts to distract and ultimately prevent” its airing.
The network said that it remains “committed to giving viewers context and insight into a controversial and polarizing figure, how he relates to the president of the United States and influences others, and to getting this serious story right.”
Jones, a radio host, has alleged the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax, upsetting the victims’ families, and Connecticut’s NBC affiliate said Friday it’s not going to air Kelly’s report on him. In an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press, NBC Connecticut staff members were told station executives made the decision after listening to concerns from employees, Sandy Hook families and viewers and considering “the deep emotions from the wounds of that day that have yet to heal.”
The story, scheduled to air Sunday evening, has NBC being buffeted from both sides. Jones has said he believes it will be a “fraud,” and he said he would release an unedited version of the interview that he recorded. So far, he’s only released snippets of a supposed conversation with Kelly, which could not be independently verified.
Lawyers who represent 12 people who lost loved ones in the 2012 massacre urged NBC News officials not to air the interview. The families say they’ve been hurt by Jones’ claim that the shooting, in which 20 first-graders and six educators were killed by a young man with a rifle, was a hoax.
The report is likely to have devastating human consequences, the families wrote to NBC.
“Airing Ms. Kelly’s interview implicitly endorses the notion that Mr. Jones’ lies are actually ‘claims’ that are worthy of serious debate, and in doing so it exponentially enhances the suffering and distress of our clients,” lawyers Josh Koskoff and Katie Mesner-Hage wrote.
Kelly has called Jones’ claims “personally revolting,” but she said she believes there’s a value in exposing what he says to the American people.
An interview with at least one parent of a child killed at Sandy Hook will be part of NBC’s report on Sunday, according to a person familiar with the reporting who could not be identified because the person was not authorized to discuss it.
NBC News Chairman Andy Lack told the AP that the story on “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” will be edited with the sensitivity of its critics in mind.
Kelly, who interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin on the June 4 premiere of “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly,” said on Twitter that President Donald Trump has praised Jones and been on his show.
Scott Pelley could have spent his last stint behind the anchor desk on “The CBS Evening News” looking back. Instead, he chose to set his gaze forward.
Pelley, who succeeded Katie Couric in the role in 2011, spent little time talking to viewers about the decision to have him step down Friday evening as he delivered headlines about a collision involving a US ship near Japan and introduced segments featuring correspondents like Nancy Cordes, David Martin, and Erin Moriarty. But the venerable evening newscast devoted a good chunk of its 20-plus on-air minutes to a report showing Pelley in Syria working on behalf of “60 Minutes,” where he will now be spending the bulk of his time. And Pelley tipped his cap to CBS News staffers around the world who supplied so much of the reportage that filled the program — and who would continue to contribute to the show after he was gone.
The venerable CBS Sunday newsmagazine will get Pelley’s sole focus in the months ahead, part of a decision by CBS News management to shake up the evening broadcast and set it on a new course. Pelley is leaving without a formal successor designated — a rarity in TV-news circles, where the evening news is still regarded as one of television’s signature elements, despite the steady erosion of viewership in recent decades. Anthony Mason will serve as an interim anchor of “CBS Evening News,” but CBS has not signaled who Pelley’s replacement might be.
The program’s ratings rose under Pelley’s tenure to their highest point in the last decade, but, ultimately, viewership remained behind that of its competitors, ABC’s “World News Tonight” with David Muir and NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” with Lester Holt. For the week ended June 5, for example, “CBS Evening News” lured an average of 1.19 million viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, the demographic most desired by advertisers in news programs. NBC’s “Nightly News” captured an average of 1.68 million, while ABC’s “World News” attracted an average of 1.647 million viewers.
“This is my last broadcast of ‘The CBS Evening News,’” Pelley said in the program’s final 90 seconds. “We hope this has been something of a lighthouse for you, to help you with your bearings in a stormy world. To the men and women of CBS News, my profound gratitude. Your nights away from your families, your 12-hour days, the days you risked your life to bring light into the world, leave me humbled. Our audience can and should take your work for granted, but I know the measure of your sacrifice. James Madison once wrote that freedom of the press is the right that guarantees all the others. The stakes are that high. You are the best we have. Monday, Anthony Mason will be here, backed by the same team that has carried me these six years. The broadcast will be better than ever and I’ll be at ‘60 Minutes.’”
His last words to viewers: “Goodbye, and good luck.”
Pelley had time Friday to show off some of the writing skills that have brought him new attention since Donald Trump was elected as president of the United States. On other nights, Pelley might raise eyebrows by uttering such statements as “It has been a busy day for presidential statements divorced from reality,” as he did in the wake of a Trump temper tantrum earlier this year. But on Friday, he also showed off deft word play: “Amazon bought Whole Foods for a price that should qualify for free shipping,” he quipped while introducing one of the day’s biggest business stories. “The tweet from the President this morning was more of a squawk,” he said, describing a Trump tweet-storm that raged earlier in the day.
Pelley, who got his start in the journalism business as a copy boy while a teenager for the Lubbock, Texas, Avalanche-Journal, is known for his devotion to enterprise reporting, particularly overseas. The “Evening News” gig has not been without its sacrifices. For a few years, as he worked to contribute pieces to “60 Minutes” while anchoring the newscast, Pelley gave up a favorite hobby: sailing. In his now-abandoned office suite at the “Evening News” studios in New York, Pelley sat in front of a giant blue-tinged painting of a sailboat, a piece of art commissioned by his wife, Jane. Pelley had picked up the pastime again as he found ways to balance his duties. After tonight’s broadcast, he may find a little more time for the ocean, whenever he’s not working on the “60 Minutes” clock.
CNN said it intends to continue flouting the typical conventions of TV’s morningnews programs with its “New Day,” a show executives said Thursday morning is built to hold newsmakers accountable rather than ease viewers into the A.M. with soothing tones and cross-staff chatter.
“‘New Day’ is there to hold both sides accountable,” said Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, at a press event Thursday. “We are doing the straightest news program on the straightest news channel.” “New Day” saw its audience rise 50% in the first quarter of 2017 among viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 - the audience most coveted by advertisers in news programming - and 27% overall. Zucker said the program has helped CNN generate the biggest audience it has ever had between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. The program is preceded by the early-morning news program “Early Start.”
But “New Day” is not nearly as light or fluffy as the scrambled eggs many of its viewers likely consume as they watch. Instead, co-hosts Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota spend a lot of time pressing politicians and other guests to move off prepared talking points and answer tough questions. In recent days, for example, Cuomo had a heated toand-fro with Sebastian Gorka, a White House national security aide, over President Trump’s proposed travel ban. “What you’ve just spun is classic fake news,” Gorka said during a minutes-long conversation. ““I don’t think it’s spin,” Cuomo retorted. “I think that it’s a little bit of logic that you’re having a tough time dealing with.”
Camerota and Cuomo acknowledged that members of the Trump administration have been reluctant to appear on the program. One challenge, Camerota suggested, is that White House officials seem unable to keep pace with a President who is likely to change his mind or pivot to a new policy at a moment’s notice. “I don’t expect them to be able to channel the President,” she said. “I’ve changed my expectations.”