Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Bob Costas Interviews Jerry Sandusky About Penn State Scandal On NBC
NEW YORK -- NBC worked feverishly to spread the word about Bob Costas' exclusive interview with former assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, who is accused of sexually assaulting boys, even as the two men were still on the phone together.
Their talk, broadcast Monday on the "Rock Center" newsmagazine, was part of a remarkable evening of news interviews on broadcast TV. It competed directly with Diane Sawyer's interview with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on ABC, which was ABC's most-watched news show since the summer.
The riveting interview with Sandusky, who is accused of sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period, was a surprise even to Costas. The veteran NBC Sports anchor was in a Manhattan studio for an interview with Sandusky's lawyer, Joseph Amendola, when the lawyer said, "What if I can get Sandusky on the phone?" Costas said Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"I'm thinking, `I wonder from your standpoint whether that's the smartest thing to do,' but at the same time, sure if you want to do it. Let's get him on the phone," said Costas, who declined an interview request with The Associated Press through a spokeswoman.
About 10 or 15 minutes later, the interview began.
NBC immediately faced a challenge in how to publicize an interview with three hours' notice, particularly given that few people watch NBC's prime-time lineup. The interview was taped starting about 6:30 p.m. EST, and while it was still happening, a producer called to a nearby studio where Brian Williams was anchoring "Nightly News" to make sure Williams promoted it before he got off the air, said Rome Hartman, "Rock Center" executive producer.
"Rock Center" staffers also began tweeting quotes from the interview almost as soon as they left Sandusky's mouth, and the show's blog was updated. A video clip of the interview was posted online by about 7:30 p.m., with all TV networks given permission to use it.
Ultimately, "Rock Center" was seen by 3.87 million viewers, Nielsen said, well behind the 13.4 million people who watched the well-promoted interview with Giffords. That still beat the 3.46 million people who watched "Rock Center" the previous Monday, and clips of the interview were widely disseminated and discussed on Tuesday.
With countless journalists looking to speak to Sandusky, it's not clear why Costas was chosen. Perhaps his work in sports made him a more familiar and comfortable choice for a man who was Joe Paterno's top defensive assistant for many years at Penn State.
As television, the interview was minimalist: Phone interviews are rarely seen on TV because of the lack of video. NBC ran some still pictures of Sandusky, but otherwise the camera focused largely on Costas' face.
Costas was blunt, often uncomfortably so.
"What about Mike McQueary, the grad assistant who in 2002 walked into the shower where he says in specific detail that you were forcibly raping a boy who appeared to be 10 or 11 years old?" Costas asked. "That his hands were up against the shower wall and he heard rhythmic slap, slap, slapping sounds and he described it as rape?"
Sandusky answered that it was false.
Costas also asked specifically about touching boys' genitals and performing oral sex.
"There's no way to sanitize it," Hartman said. "If you do, you do a disservice to the viewers."
Perhaps the most arresting moment came when Costas asked Sandusky if he was sexually attracted to underage boys. Sandusky at first repeated the question, then said: "I enjoy young people. I love to be around them," before denying sexual attraction.
Bob Costas Interviews Jerry Sandusky About Penn State Scandal On NBC
"I'll let the viewer infer what they want from that, but it was somewhat odd," Costas said on "Morning Joe."
Dona Hayes, chairwoman of Syracuse University's broadcast and digital journalism program, said she thought Costas did an outstanding job with the interview.
"He was respectful of the ongoing legal process, but at the same time he asked the pointed questions that echoed what many fair-minded people, in Costas' words, were thinking and asking," Hayes said.
Costas didn't sensationalize, attack or dismiss Sandusky, wrote Jeff Labrecque of Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday. "He stuck to the facts, and let Sandusky's words – and silences – do his work for him," he said.
It could be a defining moment for the Williams-hosted "Rock Center," in only its third episode and struggling in the ratings.
"This helped put us on the map," Hartman said. "It's not as if we were flying under the radar, but you need to give people a reason to watch if you're a new program."
Monday, November 14, 2011
Justin Timberlake on Marine Corps Ball: ‘I knew I would have an evening that I wouldn’t forget’
Justin Timberlake is a man of honor.
After the singer-turned-actor attended the Marine Corps’ 236th Birthday Ball in Richmond, Va., Sunday, he took to his blog to describe the event as “one of the most moving evenings I’ve ever had.”
It was especially magical for his date. Last summer, Cpl. Kelsey De Santis posted a sassy video on YouTube asking Timberlake to attend the ball on her arm. She had been inspired by his “Friends With Benefits” co-star Mila Kunis accepting another Marine’s invite to a similar Nov. 18 event.
While Timberlake is currently dating on-again girlfriend Jessica Biel, De Santis was open to all the possibilities.
“Of course, I’m single!” she joked when “Access Hollywood” recently asked about her relationship status. “I don’t know [if a kiss will happen]. I guess that’s all up to JT and what his plans are.”
Always the gentleman, Timberlake, 30, would never kiss and tell. Instead, he gushed about how grateful he was to De Santis.
“Thank you Corporal Kelsey De Santis,” Timberlake wrote on his blog. “Thank you for inviting me. And, thank you for being my hero.”
Timberlake then spread his love around to all the Armed Forces.
“I’ve always felt like they offered us the opportunity to live our lives freely without the fear that so many other nations have to endure still to this day,” blogged Timberlake. “And, they do it without asking for anything in return. I had this very feeling walking into this dinner. So, to say I was stoked to be there would be more than accurate.”
He was also humbled.
“It was a surreal moment to be in that room with so many of our great Marines who have such a different type of connection to those stories,” Timberlake wrote about watching a tribute with the Marines that included footage from Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
“I glanced around the room at young men and women, spouses and soldiers … At kids way beyond their years, really … All so deeply entwined,” he wrote. “Not just by battle, even though we who have never endured anything remotely close to those experiences and have NO position to comment on … But, by having such life changing experiences through them and to not ever waver in their love and respect for our homeland.”
While those in attendance undoubtedly will always remember the ball, the star will too.
“I knew I would have an evening that I wouldn’t forget … Something I could tell my friends about,” Timberlake said. “What I didn’t know was how moved I would be by the whole experience
David Nelson did his best to avoid an awkward situation on Sunday November 13 .
After catching a three-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to put the Buffalo Bills on the scoreboard, 21-7, Nelson first celebrated with his teammates in the end zone, then went to the sideline and handed the ball to his girlfriend -- who happens to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
"It was a special moment to share with her," Nelson said of Kelsi Reich, who is in her fourth season as a Cowboys cheerleader. "I didn't want it to be awkward."
Nelson's gesture thrilled Reich, who tweeted after the 44-7 Cowboys win: "What a special day today was! I feel so blessed & so proud of @DavidNelson86! Thanks for my game ball, I wont let go of it :) happiest girl!"
Some of Nelson's Twitter followers approve of the move as well, calling it "classy" and "adorable."
But Nelson also is receiving his share of backlash, with tweets such as "you embarassed Buffalo and its fans by celebrating down 21-7 w that ... skit ... act like you care about the game!" and "You can showboat when ur up 30 points, not down 2 td's on the road."
Nelson, who is from Wichita Falls, Texas, (about two hours from Cowboys Stadium) has been pretty low-key with his responses to the haters, saying things such as "I respectfully disagree" and "check the game film. I played my tail off. I wanted that win more than anything."
But just in case that didn't shut them up, he also retweeted this photo of beaming Reich holding the game ball, which she captioned "Happiest girl in the world! :)"
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Andy Rooney dies at 92
By Associated Press
NEW YORK - Andy Rooney so dreaded the day he had to end his signature "60 Minutes" commentaries about life's large and small absurdities that he kept going until he was 92 years old.
Even then, he said he wasn't retiring. Writers never retire. But his life after the end of "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney" was short: He died Friday night, according to CBS, only a month after delivering his 1,097th and final televised commentary.
Rooney had gone to the hospital for an undisclosed surgery, but major complications developed and he never recovered.
"Andy always said he wanted to work until the day he died, and he managed to do it, save the last few weeks in the hospital," said his "60 Minutes" colleague, correspondent Steve Kroft.
Rooney talked on "60 Minutes" about what was in the news, and his opinions occasionally got him in trouble. But he was just as likely to discuss the old clothes in his closet, why air travel had become unpleasant and why banks needed to have important-sounding names.
Rooney won one of his four Emmy Awards for a piece on whether there was a real Mrs. Smith who made Mrs. Smith's Pies. As it turned out, there was no Mrs. Smith.
"I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn't realize they thought," Rooney once said. "And they say, 'Hey, yeah!' And they like that."
Looking for something new to punctuate its weekly broadcast, "60 Minutes" aired its first Rooney commentary on July 2, 1978. He complained about people who keep track of how many people die in car accidents on holiday weekends. In fact, he said, the Fourth of July is "one of the safest weekends of the year to be going someplace."
More than three decades later, he was railing about how unpleasant air travel had become. "Let's make a statement to the airlines just to get their attention," he said. "We'll pick a week next year and we'll all agree not to go anywhere for seven days."
In early 2009, as he was about to turn 90, Rooney looked ahead to President Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration with a look at past inaugurations. He told viewers that Calvin Coolidge's 1925 swearing-in was the first to be broadcast on radio, adding, "That may have been the most interesting thing Coolidge ever did."
"Words cannot adequately express Andy's contribution to the world of journalism and the impact he made - as a colleague and a friend - upon everybody at CBS," said Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp. president and CEO.
Jeff Fager, CBS News chairman and "60 Minutes" executive producer, said "it's hard to imagine not having Andy around. He loved his life and he lived it on his own terms. We will miss him very much."
For his final essay, Rooney said that he'd live a life luckier than most.
"I wish I could do this forever. I can't, though," he said.
He said he probably hadn't said anything on "60 Minutes" that most of his viewers didn't already know or hadn't thought. "That's what a writer does," he said. "A writer's job is to tell the truth."
True to his occasional crotchety nature, though, he complained about being famous or bothered by fans. His last wish from fans: If you see him in a restaurant, just let him eat his dinner.
Rooney was a freelance writer in 1949 when he encountered CBS radio star Arthur Godfrey in an elevator and - with the bluntness millions of people learned about later - told him his show could use better writing. Godfrey hired him and by 1953, when he moved to TV, Rooney was his only writer.
He wrote for CBS' Garry Moore during the early 1960s before settling into a partnership with Harry Reasoner at CBS News. Given a challenge to write on any topic, he wrote "An Essay on Doors" in 1964, and continued with contemplations on bridges, chairs and women.
"The best work I ever did," Rooney said. "But nobody knows I can do it or ever did it. Nobody knows that I'm a writer and producer. They think I'm this guy on television."
He became such a part of the culture that comic Joe Piscopo satirized Rooney's squeaky voice with the refrain, "Did you ever wonder ..." Rooney never started any of his essays that way. For many years, "60 Minutes" improbably was the most popular program on television and a dose of Rooney was what people came to expect for a knowing smile on the night before they had to go back to work.
Rooney left CBS in 1970 when it refused to air his angry essay about the Vietnam War. He went on TV for the first time, reading the essay on PBS and winning a Writers Guild of America award for it.
He returned to CBS three years later as a writer and producer of specials. Notable among them was the 1975 "Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington," whose lighthearted but serious look at government won him a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.
His words sometimes landed Rooney in hot water. CBS suspended him for three months in 1990 for making racist remarks in an interview, which he denied. Rooney, who was arrested in Florida while in the Army in the 1940s for refusing to leave a seat among blacks on a bus, was hurt deeply by the charge of racism.
Gay rights groups were mad, during the AIDS epidemic, when Rooney mentioned homosexual unions in saying "many of the ills which kill us are self-induced." Indians protested when Rooney suggested Native Americans who made money from casinos weren't doing enough to help their own people.
The Associated Press learned the danger of getting on Rooney's cranky side. In 1996, AP Television Writer Frazier Moore wrote a column suggesting it was time for Rooney to retire. On Rooney's next "60 Minutes" appearance, he invited those who disagreed to make their opinions known. The AP switchboard was flooded by some 7,000 phone calls and countless postcards were sent to the AP mail room.
"Your piece made me mad," Rooney told Moore two years later. "One of my major shortcomings - I'm vindictive. I don't know why that is. Even in petty things in my life I tend to strike back. It's a lot more pleasurable a sensation than feeling threatened."He was one of television's few voices to strongly oppose the war in Iraq after the George W. Bush administration launched it in 2002. After the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, he said he was chastened by its quick fall but didn't regret his "60 Minutes" commentaries.
"I'm in a position of feeling secure enough so that I can say what I think is right and if so many people think it's wrong that I get fired, well, I've got enough to eat," Rooney said at the time.
Andrew Aitken Rooney was born on Jan. 14, 1919, in Albany, N.Y., and worked as a copy boy on the Albany Knickerbocker News while in high school. College at Colgate University was cut short by World War II, when Rooney worked for Stars and Stripes.
With another former Stars and Stripes staffer, Oram C. Hutton, Rooney wrote four books about the war. They included the 1947 book, "Their Conqueror's Peace: A Report to the American Stockholders," documenting offenses against the Germans by occupying forces.
Rooney and his wife, Marguerite, were married for 62 years before she died of heart failure in 2004. They had four children and lived in New York, with homes in Norwalk, Conn., and upstate New York. Daughter Emily Rooney is a former executive producer of ABC's "World News Tonight." Brian was a longtime ABC News correspondent, Ellen a photographer and Martha Fishel is chief of the public service division of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Services will be private, and it's anticipated CBS News will hold a public memorial later, Brian Rooney said Saturda
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