The suits at NBC News apparently realized that they had a problem on their hands due to the firestorm surrounding the interview Megyn Kelly had with radio talk show host and conspiracy nut Alex Jones. Kelly’s Sunday night news magazine already suffered a huge drop in viewers from the first episode to the second, suggesting that audiences were not taking to the network’s new superstar. Many people in the executive suite do not want the headaches and criticism garnered by giving a conspiracy theorist a network platform. Page Six reports that emergency meetings are taking place at 30 Rock.
The flight of the advertisers
J.P. Morgan Chase is the only identified major advertiser to bail on the segment. However, a number of other companies, many of them local, it is said, have also pulled their ads. Since network television depends on selling commercial space to make money, this development is concerning. Even if the ratings are high, which next Sunday’s airing is likely to be, it wouldn’t matter if no one is buying commercial time.
What is so special about Alex Jones?
News networks interview evil people all the time. Megyn Kelly opened the first episode of her show with a one-on-one with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, unarguably a tyrant and a mass murderer, without a peep from social media.
Alex Jones has not killed anyone. He has expressed opinions that are bizarre and offensive. Yet, NBC and Kelly are getting more grief from the public than they would have gotten if, say, they had put the leader of ISIS on the air. It is possible that people fear that Jones' conspiracy theories may gain some traction if he is allowed to express them on a prestigious mainstream media network.
NBC decides to air the interview
After considering pulling the segment, the network seems to have decided to air it after all. That decision is likely a sound one, if for no other reason than that it's already in the can. It all depends on how Kelly, known for her tough, direct interviewing style, deals with her subject. If she lets Jones rant and rave about Sandy Hook being staged unchallenged, her credibility will take a hit, and she may wish she had stayed with Fox News.
On the other hand, if she hammers her subject without mercy, she will have done a service by exposing him for the nut that he is. An indication that the interview may be the latter is the fact that Alex Jones is calling for a boycott of his own network TV appearance, suggesting that he is not portrayed favorably in the interview.
