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Faulking Around - Jun 20, 2005 - Printable Version
- Dateline Stockgate Expose': "Could Air Any Time"
by Mark Faulk
Yeah, I know what you're all thinking. "Where have we heard that before?" I'll answer that one: you've heard it from Dateline, you've heard it from The Faulking Truth, you've heard it from Financial Wire, hell, you've probably heard it from the guy down at the barber shop. Let's recap: From a variety of sources, some of them inside the show, some of them participants in the interviews, some of them friends of friends of someone inside the show (and of course, the guy down at the barbershop), we've heard, and dutifully reported to our readers, that the Dateline Stockgate story would air:
"Sometime in August" (that was June, 2004)
"the Dateline story is imminent" and "in the next two to three weeks" (from October, 2004)
"There is a "90% chance that it will air before the Presidential election on November 2nd."
"There is a chance we'll air before the election, but also a chance that we won't. I'll let you know when I know." (Dateline producer Sharon Hoffman....in early October, 2004. Obviously, it didn't air before the election.....at least not THAT election.)
"The story is definitely still ongoing, and your readers will be among the first to know the airdate." (Hoffman again, always the diplomat.)
"Sometime in the next few weeks" (that one was in early January)
"Sunday, April 10." (Sharon Hoffman's reply to an email from Dave Patch that asked simply, "Any confirmed date yet?" That was on March 28th)
Lo and behold, there it was.....the news we had all been waiting for:
"FINALLY! Dateline to Air Stockgate Segment April 10th"
But wait, not so fast (okay, granted, there's nothing fast about this story):
Dateline Stockgate Update: POSTPONED YET AGAIN!
"Special segments that aired at the time of the Pope's death have caused a major reshuffling of the entire Dateline schedule." (From a Dateline representative, April 6th)
"It has been a very busy news cycle, and Dateline is always subject to change." (Hoffman again, April 6th)
Then, instead of the Stockgate segment, on April 10th, they aired (are you ready for this one?) an interview with "American Idol" Ruben Studdard. Busy news cycle, indeed.
"All of Dateline's programming is subject to changing airdates, and things move on our schedule all the time. Our piece on short selling -- which we have not ever given an official airdate -- is currently in the works as we continue our reporting, and we will make an announcement about its airdate when we have one." (Email from Sharon Hoffman, April 8th)
After that, we decided to try a different approach:
Dateline, NBC, and GE: LET THE BOYCOTT BEGIN!
"THE STOCKGATE SEGMENT WAS CONFIRMED, and your implication that it was all a big mix-up is both condescending and misleading. And your decision to blame it on "a very busy news cycle" (because of the death of the Pope, Prince Ranier, and Terry Schiavo), and then replace it with an interview with "American Idol" Ruben Studdard? Well, even you must realize how ludicrous that it."
Let's see: sometime in August (2004), imminent, before the election (or maybe not), sometime in the next few weeks, April 10th, NOT April 10th (busy news cycle, Pope died, Terry Schiavo won't die, yada, yada), and finally......"We will make an announcement about its airdate when we have one". Yup. That pretty much brings us up to date.
Now, for the update on the update about the update of the news that Dateline is planning to air an expose' that could "blow the roof off this scandal" (drumroll please):
By Mark Faulk
June 20, 2005
It's still on! In an interview with The Faulking Truth this morning, Sharon Hoffman dispelled rumors that their Stockgate expose' has been permanently shelved. "We are still definitely planning to air the segment", said Hoffman, who also told us that it "could air any time." So, there you have it. I know it's not much, but at least she refuted the rumors that have run rampant that the story had been killed altogether (We even mentioned it once or twice ourselves.....hey, this is the internet, we don't have Dan Rather's crack team of investigative researchers to confirm every single thing we hear).
According to Hoffman, "There's a lot of speculation about reasons that it hasn't aired, and most of it is not accurate." She wouldn't comment on the socalled "political pressure" that had supposedly been exerted on Dateline, but she did reiterate her earlier statment that "there are no nefarious reasons for it not airing."
In response to my question as to whether or not the segment is completed, she told me that "It's complete up to the present, but we'll continue to update it until it airs."
I called her back in an attempt to get her to tell me that once it airs, "it would be worth the wait", but she wouldn't bite. Instead, she told me, "No comment on that, but nice try." (Thanks, Sharon)
As far as our reader's concerns, she had this to say: "I don't begrudge anyone their frustration, and I understand that everyone is very passionate about this, and they have a right to be."
I also couldn't get her to admit that she was as frustrated as we all are about the delays (I told you she's a diplomat), but she did tell me that she had no control over scheduling. Oh what the hell, I'll say if for her.....Hoffman has spent thousands of hours putting this show together, and has obviously poured her heart and soul into it, she has to be frustrated.
On that note, and because I'm really beginning to like Hoffman (or "Sharon", as I like to call her), I'm asking our readers to go easy on her.....I truly believe that she's on our side (I hope I'm right about that). Instead, email and bug the guys above her, and tell them to get off of their collective executive asses and TELL THE STORY!
And that (until the next update, anyway) is the Faulking Truth.....
Tell Dateline what you think about this issue:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3303518/
Call them at 212-664-4444
Kathleen.Lorenz@corporate.ge.com
Jeffrey.Immelt@corporate.ge.com
Randy.Falco@nbc.com
Sonia.Small@nbc.com
Anna.Perez@nbc.com
Jay.ireland@nbc.com
Kathy.Bayer@nbc.com
Bob.Wright@nbc.com
Dateline@NBC.com
Sharon.Hoffman@nbc.com
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http://banking.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Information.Membership
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http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/committee.htm
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