NBC to Probe Crash Report
NBC News President Michael Gartner told his staff Friday that the network has hired two outside lawyers to investigate the “Dateline NBC” report that provoked a defamation lawsuit from General Motors Corp.
“We must move on,” Gartner said.
“We cannot let ourselves be defined by 57 seconds,” he said, a reference to the Nov. 17 “Dateline NBC” sequence in which a GM pickup truck was rigged with incendiary devices that burst into flames in a broadside crash.
NBC spokeswoman Tory Beilinson confirmed that the meeting had taken place.
GM sued NBC on Monday. The network settled the lawsuit Tuesday with a detailed, on-air “Dateline NBC” retraction and apology to GM. No disciplinary action against the responsible “Dateline NBC” staffers has been announced.
Gartner packed all NBC News staffers into a large conference room at the network’s mid-Manhattan headquarters for Friday’s meeting. NBC’s foreign and domestic bureaus were linked by telephone.
The hourlong session included a question and answer period.
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