ABC began touting a new 20/20 special by proclaiming, “It’s hard to believe…” tapes from O.J.’s deposition on the civil proceedings sat for 20 years or so and have never been seen. But they continued by saying they were going to air them, as part of their coverage about upcoming documentaries on A&E and LMN networks.
Turns out, there is a good reason it’s hard to believe. NBC’s Dateline started tweeting almost immediately with a copy of the picture shown by ABC next to one they’d used on Dateline previously being the same picture. They said those never before seen tapes, had aired on Dateline both in 1999 and 2014. Information from the tapes also aired in 2004.
Oops! ABC issued an immediate apology for their “exclusive” wording but invited people to still check out the 20/20 program because there would be some good stuff there. Considering the deposition with O.J. went on for days, there may well be footage, at least in the documentaries that has never aired before. But ABC has made a few claims to exclusivity lately that weren’t true.
Earlier in the week they had brought out the “exclusive interview” fanfare about an interview with the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli. However, the man had already been interviewed by both NBC and CBS.
It seems that ABC may need to up their research game a little. Because the question begs to be answered if they can’t get these details right, what else are they getting wrong.
Yes, we all know that actual news like what we knew before the age of social media has changed, and original or exclusive content is rare as hen’s teeth. But ABC is not a low-budget enterprise and should have a significant fact-checking team on the payroll.. The media has a responsibility to broadcast vetted information.
They can’t always guarantee perfection, but they need to be certain based on the information available. If a vlogger with Google is better than your research team, better fix it fast.
News is a competitive business and reporters sometimes get excited by the thought of being the first to break a story. ABC probably paid for those tapes through the nose because they thought they were getting something exclusive. You would think they would check the facts at that point, because, as they said. It’s hard to believe.
