Former Detroit Lions general manager Matt Millen, fired after the franchise went 31-97 in his eight years, popped up on NBC as a guest analyst during the Super Bowl pregame show. The NBC affiliate in Detroit, WDIV, did not take kindly to Millen’s appearance and inserted a crawl across the screen. Talk about a station with journalistic ethics:
Matt Millen was president of the Lions for the worst eight-year run in the history of the NFL. Knowing his history with the team, is there a credibility issue as he now serves as an analyst for NBC Sports?
on Feb 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 PM
If they would have had a “contact us at…” after their statement, then I’d have no problem with this.
But since they didn’t, it was more of a statement and I definitely question their ethics and integrity.
on Feb 3rd, 2009 at 2:14 PM
It looks like the clip should’ve been longer — it seems the crawl was a promo for their local sportscast where that issue was going to be discussed later that night.
on Feb 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Ethics? It was a statement of fact. The Lions under Millen were the worst team in the NFL. Give me a break… Millen was responsible for an 0-16 season. his track record while in Detroit was the worst in the NFL.
on Feb 3rd, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Was that actually from the station or was it from a viewer? Many stations, trying to be “interactive,” allow viewers to post comments to the station’s website that are then run on that “crawl” or even read by the talking heads during certain programs or events.
on Feb 3rd, 2009 at 6:20 PM
This crawl was placed on it by the station and it ran every time Millen appeared. This is the only clip I have found so far, but it has been written up by the Detroit media.
on Feb 3rd, 2009 at 7:21 PM
I was in Tampa covering the Super Bowl, but got home to Detroit today. After hearing about it yesterday morning, I checked in with my people back here and it was used as a promotional tool to drive viewers to ClickonDetroit.com (the station’s website) to blog and interact. The postings, etc. then were used on newscasts later Sunday and early Monday morning. Fortunately, I work for their competitor.
on Feb 4th, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Wasn’t watching that channel but I would’ve switched over had I known. The only problem I have with the crawl is that I saw no mention of Wm. Clay Ford.
Ethics my @ss what’s ethical or honorable about a half-witted old plutocrat running an NFL franchise like a set of toy trains?
on Feb 5th, 2009 at 9:48 PM
I’m a Motown area resident — have been a Lions fan all my life — the oafish Millen gets all he deserves. My hat’s off to the folks at channel 4 who came up with this “tribute.” Yep, it’s too bad that Mr. Ford wasn’t called out as well…