Newsflash to Tom Brokaw: Al Gore did not win the Oscar
Filed by Richard on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 10:32 am
I love Al Gore. I’m a HUGE supporter of him and a big believer in his efforts to highlight the effects of climate change.
I also cringed at the the successful efforts in the 2000 election to paint him as a serial credit-taker (“I invented the internet” etc.), when it was clear that he was not, in fact guilty, of taking the credit he had been accused of.
So it pained me to watch Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw this morning, with Al Gore as a guest. In the recorded introduction Brokaw said of Gore “he has since focused on his environmental crusade, winning an Oscar for his documentary, ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ as well as the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.”
Umm… Newsflash to Brokaw at NBC news: Davis Guggenheim won the Documentary Feature Oscar for his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” which featured Gore. Gore didn’t win the award any more than Robert McNamara won the Oscar for “The Fog of War” (directed by Errol Morris and featuring McNamara).
So at this point in the show, I’m just disappointed in NBC and Brokaw for their poor fact-checking.
Then, Brokaw introduced Gore live. “Nobel laureate, Oscar winner. Crusader for conservation of energy…” While Brokaw was saying this, the camera was focused on Gore. He bowed his head down slightly like an elder statesmen to acknowledge the credits that Brokaw was extending his way… but he doesn’t bother to correct Brokaw when he described his “Oscar win.”
Ugh. This is very disappointing; This isn’t even nuanced. Gore did not win the Oscar. He could have quickly corrected Brokaw and moved on, but he didn’t bother.
I can see why NBC and Brokaw made the mistake: Do a quick Google search on “Al Gore” and “won the Oscar” or “Oscar winner” and you’ll get about 100,000 pages returned. do the same for Davis Guggenheim and you’ll get less than 10,000 pages.
But come on Al! Brokaw was speaking right to you on national TV. You had an obligation to correct the guy! Stop giving ammunition to your critics.
Full text and clip of Guggenheim’s acceptance speech at the Oscars (he invited Gore on stage to also say a few words).
Download the Meet the Press Podcast from iTunes (the offending parts are all in the first two minutes).
