Op-Ed: NBC Features Golden Globes as News Not Entertainment

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Experts in the industry are criticizing NBC News for its plan to host the Golden Globe Awards as a news event rather than entertainment. NBC is calling this quickly arranged version of the award show a press conference. Few seem to be buying it.

Experts say it’s a blatant attempt to turn a profit and sidestep the Writers Guild strike. Writers may still picket the event, and the possibility seemingly angered the chief of the NBC entertainment division. "It feels like the nerdiest, ugliest, meanest kids in the high school are trying to cancel the prom,” said Ben Silverman, according to the L.A. Times. Mr. Silverman claims that NBC just wants to “keep the prom alive.”

Mr. Silverman may want to consider the fact that he is going to have to work with people he referred to as mean, ugly, nerds when the strike is over.

Advertisers, who regularly supply a profit of between 15 and 20 million dollars for NBC during the Golden Globes per Reuters, may also want to consider whether or not buying time slots during a controversial event is going to be a good move.

Few stars are expected to attend the event. NBC has decided that their live coverage will be exclusive. While others will be able to report the event, they won’t be able to do so until afterward.

While it may be interesting, and obviously there is going to be some coverage of an awards ceremony, some feel that NBC has gone too far. If you thought infotainment was creeping in with “news” about the escapades of Paris Hilton or the tragic tale of Anna Nicole Smith, you too may find this fluff disguised as news a little over the top.

Deborah Potter heads NewsLab, which is not for profit journalism training center. She formerly worked as a correspondent for both CNN and CBS News. In discussing why the Golden Globes were seen by NBC as deserving of an entire hour of coverage while the New Hampshire primaries only received an occasion blurb or update, Potter said it was “obviously” about money rather than news.

“It raises a lot of questions about what else might be for sale,” said Potter, per the L.A. Times.