Saturday, October 06, 2012

NBC, Get with the Program

NBC has recently asked the Obama campaign to stop using footage of one of its talking heads reporting on what a think tank thinks of Romney's tax plan.  And yes, perhaps NBC has something of a copyright claim, and yes, perhaps NBC wants to avoid the impression that it is taking sides in the election.

But if you are a broadcast network built on the backs of licenses granted by the Federal Government allowing exclusive use of defined portions of the broadcast frequency spectrum in return for providing a minuscule bit of public service programming, then you need to expect that a political campaign for president is going to use footage of one of your reporters reporting on an issue of interest.  And then just shut up about it.