From Breitbart/AP:
During its live coverage of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, NBC did not tell viewers that a giant balloon had caught on a street lamp and injured two sisters.
At the point in the broadcast when the “M&M’s Chocolate Candies” balloon was supposed to have crossed the finish line, announcers Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Al Roker stuck close to their scripts and the network ran footage of the balloon from last year’s parade.
Couric told the audience they were seeing old footage and bantered with Lauer and Roker, but there was no further mention of the accident.
An NBC spokeswoman said Friday that producers knew something had happened with the balloon but didn’t know exactly what.
“There was no further comment on air at that point in time because we did not have further information,” said Cameron Blanchard, a spokeswoman for NBC’s entertainment division, which is responsible for the parade broadcast.
The accident happened in Times Square, where the balloon’s tethers became entangled on the head of a street lamp and knocked part of it off.
Sarah and Mary Chamberlain, 11 and 26, were hit by the debris. Sarah needed nine stitches to her head, and Mary, who uses a wheelchair, suffered a bump on her forehead.
For the Pajamas Media “liveblog” of parade coverage, we all tuned in to CBS (they were the only ones live on the west coast)—who during its broadcast showed a quick shot of the felled lamp head, then went back to concentrating on the parade proper. I guess the CBS producers—and the producers at NBC too, we’re now finding out— figured anybody willing to get up early enough (6am west coast time) to watch this choreographed mishmash of giant flying condoms and baton-twirling band geeks in sparkle eyeshadow, wouldn’t be much interested in the cracked skull of an eleven-year-old girl.
Might ruin people’s Thanksgiving having to think about that all day…
(h/t Dan Riehl; previous coverage here)
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update: The NY Daily News weighs in.
a
? I’d get outta bed to watch that. It’s just that the
would probably put me off getting my oats…
Love on y’all,
Roberta (with the lovely long thighs)
Should they have reported the incident, though? Or were the comments on Pajamas Media about possibly live-blogging the death of someone and doing ‘parade snuff’ an example of better reporting?
Ann would have broadcast the TRIAGE. Because the people have a right to know.
Wasn’t this show a production of NBC entertainment, not NBC news? Why would they stop a three hour commercial to show a balloon accident? It wouldn’t fit into the show’s theme.
TW: making. Mountain, molehill.
Matt, harrison:
Little backstory might be in order here. Jeff and some others cracked wise about the parade coverage for Pajamas Media. While they were watching and commenting on the parade coverage the show they were all watching showed a balloon smack into a light pole.
The coverage pretty much ignored it, the assembled bloggers made a couple comments about it. Jeff expressed concern by saying something along the lines of “I didn’t sign on to do parade snuff.” But there really wasn’t that much to say given the coverage and the fact they were just there to make fun of the coverage.
Enter a blogger named Ann Althouse who put up a post using after the fact information (a girl got hurt apparently) to imply that the assembled bloggers knew more than they did and were essentially laughing at a little girl getting hurt.
Jeff tried to get her to correct. Her reaction has been across the board and has now seemed to stop at, “All I said was ‘Yikes’”. The problem with that is that Yikes was an empty word filled in with her setup of after the fact information about a girl being hurt juxtaposed with a real time jokefest that couldn’t (by the laws of physics) have taken this information into account. Because they didn’t have it.
This post by Jeff shows that the television coverage by a different network totally ignored the incident altogether. Also, there is a bit of a question regarding why you wouldn’t send a camera over to see if anyone got hurt if you had cameras on the scene.
Sorry to bore you, just a bit of backstory.
upon reflection, I am a bit disappointed in Jeff and the whole PJM ‘live blog’ kerfuffle.
Jeff should have been able to access the traffic light cams using the PJM-hacked codes and grabbed live footage from them.
Based on that Jeff could have put out a bleg for an NYC live-blog reader to scan NYC emergency response frequencies and glean whether or not a serious injury had occured.
At a minimum, Jeff could have put down his mimosa long enough to find and contact the Trauma center for that area and determine if anybody had been brought in as a result of the incident.
…..
I’m sure had Ann been around for the Hindenburg disaster, she’d have said something like:
You know, the guy was just standing there *talking about what he was seeing* … no mention that hydrogen was highly flammable, no concern about gusting winds, no mention of static discharge potential, or tany background information about the geopolitical situation in Germany which may bring up the possibility of sabotage.
Frankly, just suspecting that anyone was hurt at all showed insight.
I would have thought that if a girl needed stitches and a woman was hit on her head badly enough to get a bump, CBS would have reported “UP TO 10,000 CRUSHED IN BALLOON DISASTER—HORDES OF CANNIBALS RACE SOUTH FROM HARLEM—FEMA STILL NOT ON SCENE 30 SECONDS AFTER DISASTER.”
Ain’t this horse dead, yet?
Well, excepting that NBC feels the only news that should be reported out of Iraq is the ‘bad news’ about injuries and loses. NBC never feels that school openings or hospital openings or the delivery of fresh water where they never had it before… Or new power stations. NBC won’t report 200,000 people in Jordan protesting Zarqawi.
But when it comes to reporting in the states only good things should be reported and we gloss over the injuries… because of the hypocrisy!
Billy Young, has Ann corrected, yet? I just checked, nope.
It’s easy to say give it a break when it’s someone else who was smeared. Jeff’s actually showing quite a bit of restraint here. This is only the second post on the matter if you count the update on the post that plugged the Pajamas event as the first.
Process brings up a good point. Why doesn’t anyone ever report the good news about Ann Althouse’s bizarre troll-baiting meltdown? For instance… her law school is still open and admitting women… and… she got a big spike in traffic that probably created more trolls than it eliminated… uh.. and her blogospheric reputation is probably at its lowest point ever…
But would you rather PJM’s parade liveblogging go unchastized???
When the UN takes over the internet, we’ll just petition for a quota on blogging law professors. One – Glenn.
On second thought…
Seriously, she did post some nice pictures last summer. She’s got a way to go before she hits Ivins/Dowd/Thomas levels of bile. Maybe she’ll get over it.
I, for one, am terribly disappointed in PM’s coverage of the “great Thanksgiving baloon disaster”. Never mentioned was the long term impact on poor black people. Nor the obvious Jew conspiracy. I expect MSM to be late, but expected more from PM.
Why didn’t PJM have someone on scene to apply direct pressure, or maybe a cold compress?
It’s a failure, I tell ya!
Hmmm.
Ann Althouse; irascibility exceeding credibility.
Hmmm.
Anybody else get the impression that the real reason why Althouse is so pissed off is because she wasn’t included in the whole PajamasMedia nonsense?
…were any animals injured during the parade? I mean to say, I think PETA will be doing some serious damage to those balloons if there were… (and yes, that IS how you spell baloons)
xxx
Roberta
word verication task: position
hmmm, think I can menage that…
jo/bh,
Thanks for the back work but I followed both the fine live-blog (I’m an old fan of quality snark) and the nutty Althouse response. The point I was trying make was I wouldn’t expect NBC Entertainment to stop the parade coverage, basically a commercial for Macy’s and the latest Broadway shows, to spend time on an accident with a balloon. The play doesn’t stop because someone slipped in the aisle or fell backstage.
Further, there’s no way the crack team at PJ could have reported any more than they did because it wasn’t being said on the TV.
harrison, cool, I hear you.
“The play doesn’t stop because someone slipped in the aisle or fell backstage.”
No, Harrison, but if the plays I’ve been to at our local church hall are anything to go by, they could certainly benefit from a few such occurences. Or any occurences at all, actually, if truth be told. I can’t see precisely what the local council thinks a dozen senile old Welsh biddies with one hearing aid between them are going to GET out of an evening of Samuel Beckett translated into the original Swahili, personally. But then, that’s New Labour all over, if you ask me. All style, no C-O-N-T-E-N-T!!
xxx
Roberta
word verification test: develop
Blimey, that’s SOOOOO aesy!!
but if the fire alarm goes off? whole other story. stupid elevator. i’ve also had one performance delayed for heart-attack.
A plot by the Zionist/infomercial/hyperbolic cabal to trick NBC News/Captain Crunch/interpol/the Hooterville Gazette and blind them to the plans of Bush/Gnomes/Swiss Army to illegally candy coat NYC while Macy’s/Mr. Haney/international lingerie cartel profits go unfettered.
Times Square is after all just a metaphor/potfor/cheap substitute for the Saudi/Hefner/Nosfetaru sex and opium dens frequented by Pat Robertson/Slim Whitman/Lucy Van Pelt in their efforts to divert attention from the real attrocities.
I like the cut of this Dr B Moe’s jib.
“I’m not worried about blogs overtaking print journalism. If it weren’t for print journalism, what would bloggers have to write about?”  Maureen Dowd
Now we know. They can watch TV.
Anybody else get the impression that the real reason why Althouse is so pissed off is because she wasn’t included in the whole PajamasMedia nonsense?
Ed, one of the things that strikes me oddd about the whole thing is that she actually was included in the invitations, wrote a fairly reasonable post back in the day about why she chose not to join, and went on with her life.
Gosh, I gotta say….this stuff and the crap at Althouse’s blog just makes me feel so young! I feel like I’m in high school ALL over again
))))
It’s like coming home for Christmas! All the petty bickering, all the hurt feelings. Gee, it’s just all so comforting and familiar.
Listen, there’s a reason I don’t read the Daily Kos, or The Huffington Post. I read right-of-center blogs for the same reason I read blogs in english. It’s the only thing I understand, see? It’s the reason I hit the “translate this page” button on google.
So y’all need to quit yur bitchin and go back to blogging, or so help me God I’ll go someplace else.
That is all.
Did we miss you before we knew you were here?
“For the Pajamas Media “liveblog†of parade coverage, we all tuned in to CBS (they were the only ones live on the west coast)â€â€who during its broadcast showed a quick shot of the felled lamp head, then went back to concentrating on the parade proper. “
wow. what a way to take on the MSM!
Wow, what a way to miss the point—which is that we were blogging the MSM coverage!
Seriously, actus. There’s nothing more pathetic than a bad troll. You’ve gotta work on your game, man.
“Wow, what a way to miss the pointâ€â€which is that we were blogging the MSM coverage!”
Of a parade. You’re on to their perky coverups!
How did you know what happened that CBS didn’t show you?
Tell me, actus. Are you, y’know…slow?
We blogged the coverage of the parade, to poke fun at the blow-dried anchors and the perky c-list celebs trying to convince the world that they were having a good time in the cold watching giant marketing balloons and flatbed trucks topped with plastered paper turkeys roll by.
It was supposed to be fun and lighthearted. Only a handful of quite persistent idiots don’t seem to be able to get that.