Apparently, there are now several reports bouncing around the Internet explaining what happened on the "Today" interview between Matt Lauer and his guest, Tim Robbins, on the April 14th program. As a viewer who watched the entire interview from beginning to (censored) end, I can affirm that NBC was aware of its interruption of Robbins' declaration of his political views (which I might add, were completely sensible and needlessly cut off). Whether this was a technical mistake or not, it is the responsibility of NBC to correct its actions, and apologize to its guest and its viewers alike for delivering only a partial interview that confirms the American media is blatantly self-censored and unable to deliver its new responsibly.
Randy offers some very insightful comments on the situation. As for myself, I have received several hundred hits in the past few days alone from visitors searching for any information relating to the interview. I have decided it is in my best interests to share my comments with NBC via several of their email addresses, partially as a way to express my concern to them, but also to attempt to understand this disturbing event (if I receive a response). Below is a transcript of my email:
To Whom It May Concern:
As a viewer of a number of NBC news programs, I have placed a considerable amount of trust in your network to responsibly report current events. However, after viewing last week's "Today," in which Matt Lauer engaged in heated conversation with guest Tim Robbins, my respect for your news reporting has decreased susbstantially.
I feel as if Matt Lauer's conversation with Robbins was contrived in such a manner to belittle his guest who, ironically, appeared on the show partially to explain his strained relationship with the Baseball Hall of Fame. Robbins, whose prelapsarian association with the cancelled event -- notably, his appearance in the film "Bull Durham" -- marks an important phenomenon in American culture, embodies a type of sensibility that is, at best, far too uncommon within the realm of celebrity: that is, his confidence to share his political views with the public without fear of backlash.
I feel as if Lauer intentionally urged Robbins to share his political opinions, only to be needlessly interrupted by what seems to be a blatant act of censorship on the part of NBC. Perhaps this interjection was accidental; if this is the case, an apology towards Robbins seems to be fair action. To my knowledge, NBC has not corrected the situation in any way, which confirms my feelings that the media, in general, is simply not capable of responsible news reporting. In these "uncertain" times, it is crucial that prominent networks such as NBC take an affirmative stance towards reporting truthful current events.
Shortly after the "Today" interview, I shared my thoughts on this very disturbing event on my personal weblog. As a result of my post, I have been bombarded by search engine referrals from online visitors searching for information pertaining to the Robbins / Lauer interview, the details of which seem to be suspiciously scarce on the Internet, including a number of prominent news reporters including CNN, Reuters, and The New York Times. Ostensibly, the amount of visitors to my site, which numbers nearly one thousand in just a few days, serves as evidence of how many viewers have been affected by this occurance.
I sincerely ask that you make the decision to responsibly handle the manner in which you deliver news, whether it be so-called objective news reporting, or allowing invited guests to enjoy their First Amendment rights when appearing on your programs.
As Randy points out on his post, there is a suspicious dearth of any information pertaining to the clip. Is the American media unabashedly self-censoring itself to protect its own political views?
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