Larry King entrevista a Tom Brokaw presentador y editor de "NBC Nightly News"
Larry King entrevista a Tom Brokaw presentador y editor de "NBC Nightly News" y da su opinion acerca del circo alrededor del caso.
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KING: What do you make of the fact that despite we've got a war on and major stories, the fascination with Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, Kobe Bryant?
BROKAW: Well, there's always been that fascination with what I call the underside of life. You know, people forget that when Sam Shepherd was on trial in Ohio, the case that later became the basis for "The Fugitive," that Dorothy Kilgallen and Walter Winchell were out there every day. The Lindbergh kidnapping trial at the height of the Depression fascinated everybody.
And now you have all these cable channels and tabloid newspapers and all-news radio going all the time, beating that drum constantly. I do think it's out of proportion, frankly. And I do worry about that, but I always trust the judgment of the American people to decide what's in their best interest. And when you look at the audiences, they seem to be intense, and the cable audiences especially go after those stories because they spike the audience, but in the larger universe, it really still is a fraction of the people who are eager for more serious information.
KING: So "Nightly News" rarely leads with one of these?
BROKAW: Well, we had an interesting choice a couple of weeks ago when the Michael Jackson story first broke. My competitors both led with it, and we did not. There was an important speech by President Bush in London. I was in Washington at the time. We had a pretty vigorous discussion, as you might expect, behind the scenes. And about 3:45 in the afternoon, I said, We're going to lead with the president. This is a much more important speech. We'll get to the Michael Jackson story. You can't ignore the fact that this high- profile celebrity had been accused of these very serious charges.
There's an old saying by Reuven (ph) Frank, who was one of the founders of NBC News, that you can't be above the news. But at the same time, you have to always keep it in some context. We've got a lot of big issues before this country, and it's our obligation, I think, especially on the "NBC Nightly News," to keep the country focused on those.
KING: And we'll focus on some of them, as well. Our guest is Tom Brokaw, the anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News," approaching his last year in that spot, and his "New York Times" best- seller, "A Long Way From Home," a terrific book, "Growing Up in the American Heartland." It's published by Random House, and it's now available in paperback. Great Christmas idea, too.
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Larry King entrevista a Tom Brokaw presentador y editor de "NBC Nightly News" y da su opinion acerca del circo alrededor del caso.
__________
KING: What do you make of the fact that despite we've got a war on and major stories, the fascination with Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, Kobe Bryant?
BROKAW: Well, there's always been that fascination with what I call the underside of life. You know, people forget that when Sam Shepherd was on trial in Ohio, the case that later became the basis for "The Fugitive," that Dorothy Kilgallen and Walter Winchell were out there every day. The Lindbergh kidnapping trial at the height of the Depression fascinated everybody.
And now you have all these cable channels and tabloid newspapers and all-news radio going all the time, beating that drum constantly. I do think it's out of proportion, frankly. And I do worry about that, but I always trust the judgment of the American people to decide what's in their best interest. And when you look at the audiences, they seem to be intense, and the cable audiences especially go after those stories because they spike the audience, but in the larger universe, it really still is a fraction of the people who are eager for more serious information.
KING: So "Nightly News" rarely leads with one of these?
BROKAW: Well, we had an interesting choice a couple of weeks ago when the Michael Jackson story first broke. My competitors both led with it, and we did not. There was an important speech by President Bush in London. I was in Washington at the time. We had a pretty vigorous discussion, as you might expect, behind the scenes. And about 3:45 in the afternoon, I said, We're going to lead with the president. This is a much more important speech. We'll get to the Michael Jackson story. You can't ignore the fact that this high- profile celebrity had been accused of these very serious charges.
There's an old saying by Reuven (ph) Frank, who was one of the founders of NBC News, that you can't be above the news. But at the same time, you have to always keep it in some context. We've got a lot of big issues before this country, and it's our obligation, I think, especially on the "NBC Nightly News," to keep the country focused on those.
KING: And we'll focus on some of them, as well. Our guest is Tom Brokaw, the anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News," approaching his last year in that spot, and his "New York Times" best- seller, "A Long Way From Home," a terrific book, "Growing Up in the American Heartland." It's published by Random House, and it's now available in paperback. Great Christmas idea, too.
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