NBC Spotlights The Truth Behind "Clean Coal"

The speeches made about "clean coal" during the campaign are long over, but the myth of "clean coal" persists. Both Obama and McCain are to blame for continuing it, but NBC actually did something to show the reality of where the technology is today. This edition of their "Green Week" was more than just showcasing the dreams of energy companies but a honest assessment what it is and where it's at.

From The Huffington Post:

Brian Williams began with a remarkable lead-in:

"Coal. While you might have heard the phrase 'clean coal' during the presidential campaign, it's actually an oxymoron. Wishful thinking. Coal does not burn cleanly and it's hugely expensive to make it burn that way..."

And Anne Thompson herself offers an equally honest lead-in:

"Coal: the fuel the world burns to make electricity. Plentiful and polluting. A major contributor to climate change."

She then profiles a $100 million CCS pilot project in Spremberg, Germany operated by Vattenfall. It is located adjacent to a what Thompson calls a "dirty coal plant." The pilot project apparently captures 95 percent of its CO2 emissions and stores the liquefied CO2 in giant tanks -- before it is trucked 200 miles away and pumped underground.

Thompson then notes that "this process could increase electric rates by 50 percent."

And the icing on the cake? A German environmentalist calling the burning of coal without CCS a "crime against the climate."

The one thing missing of course was talking about where the coal comes from in the first place, such as mountain-top removal that occurs in Applachia with maximum damage to the environment. Besides not talking about extraction, the segment did a fantastic job in telling us what the candidates did not. The great majority of coal plants do not have CCS and getting the technology to them will take decades. Meanwhile they'll continue to pollute our planet while the much more cost-effective and planet-friendly alternatives like sun and wind powerplants are cheated out of crucial investment dollars.

Please, let's leave the rest of the coal in the ground and get to work on projects that will give us a cleaner Earth and energy that is 100% renewable.

The Answer Is No

The "media" talked yesterday about the run up to the war and the failure to ask the tough questions of George Bush. The NBC/CBS roundtable below suggests that the Administration threatened to cut access if they did stories the Pentagon and the White House weren't nice to them. Hindsight may be clearer for these anchors, but this is suppposed to be journalism and they failed at their jobs, miserably.

Fox News Is Now Officially A Comedy Channel

Watch out Comedy Central, lookout late night TV, there is a new player in the laughs department of cable television. The new guy is none other than Fox News and they made a big splash last night covering, of all things, the media and in particular NBC. Their claim (swallow coffee and put down the cup first) is that the Peacock Network blurs the line between news and commentary. And who else would make that assertion on Fox but arch-conservative Laura Ingraham (with an assist from none other than Karl Rove).

From ThinkProgress:

Last night, Karl Rove appeared on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor” to discuss President Bush’s interview with NBC and accusations that the network distorted Bush’s comments. Rove and guest host Laura Ingraham quickly attacked NBC’s ethics:

INGRAHAM: Yes, well, Karl, this follows on, you know, on primary nights, big nights, when you’re with Brit and everybody here. Over at NBC, they have a couple of their, you know, commentator types Matthews and the like, sitting next to Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams. I mean, there is no line between news and commentary. It’s all blurred.

Rove added that the “journalistic standards of MSNBC, which are really no standards at all,” are now “creep[ing] into NBC.”

Now while I would usually introduce the pot to the tea kettle here, that wouldn't be fair, unless the pot can hold cubic tons and the tea kettle is one of those itsy bitsy designer models meant for a single cup. The two of them went on and on about NBC, seemingly ignoring the rampant hypocrisy that one of them works for McCain and won't mention it on air. This isn't even commentary on the news, its pure comedy, what else could it be (besides a disgrace to the institution of the fourth estate)?

Big Media Says Free Speech be Damned On The Internets

It really is a constant battle trying to save free speech against corporate America these days. Companies like AT&T, NBC, Verizon and a whole slew of them seem to have a never-ending thirst to see their customers be stripped of their rights from the First Amendment while using the Internet. The latest salvo concerns network-level filtering, a tool the corporations want to use in order to stop any possible "copyright infringement." What that really does is stop free speech like parody and the people's right to discuss specific pieces of content while online.

From The NY Times:

Network-level filtering means your Internet service provider – Comcast, AT&T, EarthLink, or whoever you send that monthly check to – could soon start sniffing your digital packets, looking for material that infringes on someone’s copyright.[...]

“We are very interested in a technology based solution and we think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this,” he said. “We recognize we are not there yet but there are a lot of promising technologies. But we are having an open discussion with a number of content companies, including NBC Universal, to try to explore various technologies that are out there.”

Internet civil rights organizations oppose network-level filtering, arguing that it amounts to Big Brother monitoring of free speech, and that such filtering could block the use of material that may fall under fair-use legal provisions — uses like parody, which enrich our culture.

Now why would media giants be so concerned about what goes on the Internet if they aren't going to make a dime anyways? Of course the writers of said content say otherwise, and helpfully explain the producers' excuses and the reality of new media, all in one wiki!

Perhaps they might want to add this net neutrality piece, showing that the networks really do care about every dime they make off the net, and the millions they are willing to spend to protect those shiny pieces of money.

A Million Dollar Disgrace

NBC just outbid ABC for the rights to the first post-prison interview of Paris Hilton. Besides the network taking a financial hit, the real losers are the rest of us. Sure, millions will tune in to hear the heiress tell her tragic tale of being locked up and blah, blah, blah. Yet, there is no real contribution to society from this interview. The real story is very short, she acted irresponsibly once, twice and kept doing it until the authorities finally had to lock her up for flagrantly disregarding the law.

Our media and subsequently our society is celebrity-obsessed to the point where real issues seemingly do not matter. Imagine if that million dollar payoff to a billionaire was invested in the news department. Network news hardly does the job they did in the past. Much of their news is either infotainment or regurgitated government propaganda. It's truly pathetic. The masses are too busy in their own lives and problems to notice and take much of what is thrown at them on the screens as fact.

When the Roman Empire began to fall, the majority of people were enthralled by games, too engrossed to care about what was beginning to tear their civilization apart. It was easier to watch games (as it is to see Paris Hilton sobbing) than to care and actually do something about the war-hungry Emperors that wasted the treasury on far-flung military conquest than shore up the homeland.

That Empire is long gone, but ours is still near its peak (or slightly past it). However, there is still time to salvage it. We need to wake up from the garbage shoveled at us on billboards and television screens and start to care about issues that truly affect us. Michael Moore stepped up with SiCKO, showing us how the HMOs would rather kill us than reduce their profit margins. Many advocacy groups fight against the degradation of the constitution and many other disgraces of the Bush Administration. The structure is there to fight, we just need more active citizens to fill the ranks and take back our democracy.

Jon Stewart Heading To NBC?

Comedy Central has helped to make Jon Stewart and The Daily Show a household name. For the last few years, those with cable have been able to see him mock politicians on the left and the right (though mostly on the right with good reason). Of course in the TV world, anything that can gather a huge following on cable has the chance to make the leap over to the networks. Now there are rumors that we could see that jump for the Daily Show.

From Newsday:

NBC Universal president and chief executive Jeff Zucker and NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chair Marc Graboff recently wined and dined the satirical news anchor and his agent, James Dixon, Broadcasting & Cable magazine reports.

A network source told the trade magazine that Zucker and Graboff didn't focus on pitching any specific role at the dinner meeting. "They just made their interest known in finding a way to do business together if Jon was ever available," says the source, who categorized the talks as "exploratory."

That slow and easy approach mirrors another of Zucker's high-profile courtships, his successful play to snare Meredith Vieira from "The View" to replace Katie Couric on the "Today" show.

"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" is a franchise at Comedy Central, and Stewart's deal is up in 2008. NBC is turning its attention to its own late-night future. The network has some major decisions to make in the wake of its announcement that Conan O'Brien is scheduled to replace Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" in 2009.

Don't worry yet Comedy Central, there's nothing in writing yet. Besides contemplating the future of CC's late night lineup (they'll still have Colbert), I am more concerned for the content. No one skewers politicians better these days than Stewart. The freedom that cable TV allows has helped to make the show such a huge hit. Moving to a network can cause serious censorship problems. In fact, Bill Maher had to find a new home at HBO in order to keep being "Politically Incorrect" after ABC kicked him off for being too controversial.

So while getting a brand new wide audience would be great for the Daily Show as it is now....would it still be the same with an NBC leash attached to it?

Imus Gets Suspended....So What?

It took five days and a story that wouldn't die to get Don Imus suspended for two weeks following his blatantly racist remarks about the women's basketball team at Rutgers University. The coach condemned him, Al Sharpton condemned him, Jesse Jackson condemned him and so did many people here on the left. However, NBC/CBS's response does not even come close to being adequate.

Lets face facts, Imus will never be fired, even if he deserves it (and he certainly does). What really counts to his corporate masters is ratings and money. As long as Don brings in cash he can say whatever the hell he wants. He has apologized for remarks like this before. Swore he would never do it again. Blah blah blah. The truth is that Imus can apologize all he wants but with his history, it isn't hard to say that he believes what he says.

Don Imus is only a small part of the problem. He is an example of the racist attitudes that linger under the surface for a large portion of America. The microphone gives his kind the power to voice what is underneath the facade and that is why so many people listen to him. Our corporate society allows this stuff to manifest because it is profitable for them. The greed and the bigotry go hand in hand. Perhaps if the networks would place ethics before profit, we could sever one of those hands and start to work on the real problem.