Zucker grasps at straws, urges Williams to blog

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on April 20th, 2005

According to a Reuters report, NBC President Jeff Zucker said “entering the generally opinionated world of blogs might be one way television networks could keep their grip on viewers who increasingly use the Internet for news.”

“I don’t know why Brian Williams isn’t blogging right now,” Zucker said of the anchor of NBC’s top-rated evening news program who took the helm after veteran journalist Tom Brokaw stepped down in December. “We should be looking for a more interactive component … and be experimenting more.”

To paraphrase Robert Blake from his Barbara Walters interview, “Where has Jeff Zucker been for the last two years?” He’s just getting around to exploring blogs and interactivity now? Glug, glug, glug… He’s also telling the assembled that he wants Katie Couric to blog as well. (On the same day that Drudge is reporting that Today fired their executive producer and that Couric is grumpy about having to wake up early. How long before that blog of Katie’s is written by an intern? Within days, it’d be about as genuine as that autographed 8 X 10 that NBC’s publicity department spits out for Couric’s fans.)

As bloggers, we know exactly why Brian Williams isn’t blogging right now– Blogging takes a lot of time and commitment. And, if a blog doesn’t have a little more than a whiff of authenticity and personal attitude, it’s about as must-read as a press release. Of course, this all has nothing to do with standup (but everything to do with blogging)… and, as we run a blog (and enjoy making fun of television executives on occasion), we feel justified in including the above observations in a blog about standup.

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