Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 10, 1993 TAG: 9302100249
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
NBC APOLOGIZES TO GM, VIEWERS FOR RIGGED PICKUP TEST EXPLOSION
NBC News announced Tuesday that it had settled a defamation lawsuit brought by General Motors Corp. over the network's "demonstration" of a fiery pickup truck crash on its "Dateline NBC" program."We acknowledge and take responsibility for the problems GM has identified in the demonstration crash," said Stone Phillips, the program's co-anchor.
"We deeply regret we included the inappropriate demonstration in our `Dateline' report. . . . We apologize to our viewers and to General Motors."
In a statement from GM lawyer Harry Pearce, the automaker said NBC had agreed to pay for the costs of the GM investigation.
"In view of NBC's announcement, and because it is our business to design and manufacture great cars and trucks and not to be preoccupied with litigation, we are tomorrow dismissing the defamation suit that we brought Monday.
"With this matter behind us, we trust that the safety record of our 1973-87 full-size pickup trucks will be fairly and objectively examined," Pearce said.
"We're confident our position that these vehicles are safe will be upheld when the ongoing investigation is concluded."
Media watchers had commented that NBC News made a mistake in not telling viewers it had rigged a pickup truck with incendiaries.
"I think any kind of enhancement of a test, of an event, shouldn't be done in the first place," said Steve Powers, co-author of "How to Watch TV News" and a longtime TV newsman. "The camera can lie and the viewer should be warned when there is a manipulation of the image."
NBC's report on GM's "sidesaddle" tank design aired Nov. 17. Last week an Atlanta jury awarded $105.2 million to the parents of a teen-age boy killed when his GM pickup exploded in flames.
GM also had filed a lawsuit separately on Jan. 20 against the Gaithersburg, Md.-based Institute for Safety Analysis, which staged the crash.
Bruce Enz, who heads the institute's Indianapolis office and was named as a defendant, said he and institute were included in the settlement, but declined to comment further.