NBC News President Steve Capus was throwing punches at the parent company of Fox News in Washington Thursday night as he accepted the “First Amendment Leadership Award” from the Radio-Television Digital News Foundation.
Broadcasting & Cable magazine reported he said breaking news must not come at the expense of breaking the public trust. Capus declared that the news must be “accurate, even-handed, and indeed, ethical.” Since when have NBC and MSNBC been “even-handed”?
Capus said it was not just what was reported, but how. "We must be accurate, even-handed, and, indeed, ethical. In the news business we are often presented with options of shortcuts for taking advantage of a situation when it's presented of breaking the news first. And, let's be honest, it is exciting to get exclusive information or the first interview. But under no circumstances is it worth the cost of breaking public trust. Trust is what news organizations live and die by, and it takes an unwavering commitment from every employee to keep that trust alive."
B&C recounted that in an audience of journalists, Capus “did not mention News Corp. by name, but he did not have to.” Their loathing of Rupert Murdoch and his news outlets is practically required for employment.
"Last fall," he said, "we witnessed a frightening example of a news organization allegedly abusing the privacy rights of citizens in order to access information on their cell phones. Regardless of how this all went down," he said, "it was a scary example of what can happen when we lose sight of ethical journalism and the importance of trust."
Speaking of putting inaccurate junk on the air, let’s revisit last December, when Capus was reportedly furious at MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts reading Mitt Romney into the Ku Klux Klan. Mediaite reported:
An NBC insider tells Mediaite that NBC News President Steve Capus addressed this story this morning at an editorial meeting, and stressed the need for accuracy, fairness, and caution before proceeding. Capus is reportedly furious at the way the story was handled...On Hardball tonight, host Chris Matthews issued a public apology to the Romney campaign for the “appalling judgment” used in reporting this story.
“During the 11AM hour on MSNBC,” Matthews said, “we reported on a blog item that compared a phrase used by the Romney campaign to one used by the KKK in the 1920s. It was irresponsible and incendiary of us to do this and showed an appalling lack of judgment. We apologize to the Romney campaign.”
B&C also reported that Capus pledged to shine a light on the government. What? As if NBC and MSNBC have been deeply investigating the Obama team:
Capus said it was a time to lead the news business into a new golden age, one that "shines the light on the dark recesses of government" including how decisions are made, how money is spent and who benefits. He said that it was especially important in an election year to pay attention to campaign promises and report fairly and accurately so voters know who and what they are voting for.
