Word: nbc
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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These developments occurred just as the Iranians finally began to consider letting outsiders see the hostages. Two NBC reporters were allowed to interview a captive Marine corporal, William Gallegos, 21, of Pueblo, Colo., touching off complaints from Administration officials and others about "TV diplomacy" (see PRESS). Despite Gallegos' assurances that "nobody's been mistreated," the interview heightened concern for the hostages...
...young Iranian's name (Behzadnia) was difficult to pronounce, so American journalists called him Yellow Jack et, after the color of his windbreaker. He approached the representatives of ABC, CBS and NBC in Tehran with a tantalizing prospect: an interview with one of the hostages at the U.S. embassy. But there were catches. The networks would have to submit their questions in advance, broadcast the program live (to prevent any editing) in prime time, and allow Iranian students to make statements and ask questions of their...
...three networks found the conditions unacceptable. They continued bargaining, but only NBC was able to work out a deal: a taped interview in prime time using an Iranian camera crew and resident NBC Correspondents Fred Francis and George Lewis. A student spokesman who called herself Mary would make unedited opening and closing statements, but the newsmen did not have to clear their questions in advance. Said Tehran Bureau Chief Walter Millis: "That way we could control the interview, and if it really went off the wall, we could kill...
...minutes of propaganda from "Mary," which would have cost a political candidate $32,000 at that hour, were rambling restatements of the students' positions. The broadcast produced front-page headlines across the country, but the substance of the interview was soon overtaken by controversy over whether NBC had let itself become a propaganda tool of the terrorists...
...broadcast was denounced by House Speaker Tip O'Neill as "regrettable and dangerous," and Congressman Robert Bauman of Maryland said NBC deserved the "Benedict Arnold award for journalism." NBC Washington Correspondent Ford Rowan accused his employer of "irresponsible journalism" and resigned in protest. The Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor questioned NBC's news judgment. CBS and ABC up braided NBC for violating a standard TV news canon against awarding terrorists an unedited platform for their views. "That is a right we don't even give the President of the United States," insisted CBS News...