Obama endorsing NBC

[srellim234]

Recently we've been subjected to a series of commercials here for NBCUniversal, which includes a whole host of stations. Among those are NBC News and CNBC. Multiple celebrity shots speaking one line each are featured during the ads. President Obama is one of the celebrities in multiple commercials.

I have a serious problem with the President of the United States doing commercials and endorsing any private business, especially a news organization.

[bigbadberry3]

You aren't alone in seeing the problems this creates but welcome to the 21st century.

[AZhitman]

Imagine if he had endorsed Fox News.

[IBCoupe]

File footage or what? I haven't seen them, but will Google search.

[srellim234]

Not file footage. One is to the effect that "You have a right to know" or "You have a need to know". I'm not sure which. The spots I have noticed look like they gave each celebrity a one line script or phrase to read into the camera.

Clearly not file footage and clearly ads for NBCUniversal.

[IBCoupe]

I can't find anything on Google.

[mattblancarte]

I haven't found it anywhere, either. Interested to see if this NBC ad is really as OP describes.

[srellim234]

I looked a little deeper into it. The program is "The more you know" by NBCUniversal. Online I found the ads here

http://www.themoreyouknow.com

The ad I saw that I was commenting on is viewable if you click on the top figure of the third column (just to the right of the viewing box). It starts with Joe Scarborough from MSNBC talking and goes through multiple people. The President appears with 6 seconds left in the commercial.

I will concede that a lot of those commercials on that site have decent messages but not all and they are still endorsements promoting NBCUniversal.

[n00b240]

Im not sure how you think this is an endorsement of NBC?

[srellim234]

Using newspeople, actors and political commentators from various NBC network shows, they then throw the President into the mix. Prior to the President's appearance the ad turns into a commercial when the statement is made " ...for close to 25 years we've been talking about the most important social issues..." and the commercial finishes with a clear presentation of the "The More You Know" and "NBCUniversal" logos. The entire program is a promotion of a private enterprise and/or program. A visit to the NBCUniversal website shows the companies under the umbrella, including NBC News. If the commercials ran without the NBC name so prominently displayed it wouldn't bother me as much. Likewise, if the ads had stated "This is a public service announcement paid for by NBC" I'd be fine with it. But it isn't.

The President of the United States needs to make sure he isn't perceived as promoting one news organization over another by appearing in anything other than file footage. Not what's happening here.

[IBCoupe]

NBC has been making "The More You Know" PSA's for decades. They always feature celebrities of some sort making public advisements. At the bottom left of your link, President Obama's contributions are highlighted: "PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA WITH A MESSAGE FOCUSING ON PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY IN EDUCATION."

"You have a need to know" kind of makes sense as a non-endorsement of the network, doesn't it? And when ABC or CBS or FOX start a program like The More You Know, which started in 1989, and then President Obama snubs them, I'll entertain your claims of endorsement.

Keep this in mind, too:

In 2010 and 2011, US president Barack Obama participated in the campaign, each time encouraging parents to be more involved in their children's educations.[2][3] Several past presidents have also participated, including President Bill Clinton and President George H. W. Bush.[4]

Here are some other examples:
http://video.adultswim.com/family-guy/t ... -know.html

[srellim234]

Then drop the prominent display of the NBC logo, display only the "More You Know" logo or state that it is a public service announcement.

[mattblancarte]

It feels like a stretch to go after Obama for this. For all the things he's done that I disapprove of, this doesn't even fall into the same spectrum.

He's certainly not endorsing the network directly with his words... Perhaps you could look at it as the President embracing a very successful private sector public program.

I think IB's find that shows the past two POTUS' participation seals the deal. It's a non-issue, and more than likely will become somewhat of a tradition for each subsequent POTUS.

[szh]

I have to agree ... reading into these PSA's a "real" endorsement of NBC by President Obama, is a bit too far of a stretch.

Z