The Media Drop

On Tuesday, a memorial service was held at New York City’s Carnegie Hall for ABC News anchor Peter Jennings, who passed away in early August from lung cancer - an event that allowed for the public to attend if they were able to get one of the 800-someodd tickets that were made available. By checking out some of the coverage over on TVNewser, it looks like it was all done very well, and that hearing from Peter’s friends and colleagues was very touching to all in attendance.

However, it seems that ABC News had put some significant restrictions on those in the media who were to attend the event and looked to cover it for their own outlets. Most interestingly, exactly zero television or radio crews were allowed to attend the event - kind of peculiar, considering the role in broadcast journalism that Jennings had, but perhaps there was a space issue to be concerned about. Some highlights from the memo sent to TV and Radio Assignment desks:

• Excerpts of no more than three (3:00) minutes total of actualities from the program may be incorporated in your regularly scheduled domestic network news programs broadcast within the forty-eight hour period commencing at 3:30 PM E.T. on Tuesday, September 20 ending 3:30 PM E.T. on Thursday, September 22.
• No part of the Memorial Service may be catalogued for future use.
• No use of the memorial service is permitted in promos, teases, or bumpers.
• No part of the Memorial Service may be used on the Internet.
• A video credit reading “COURTESY: ABC News” must be aired for the duration over the actualities you broadcast.
• With regard to any possible excerpting by your network Memorial Service, please note that ABC News expressly forbids the use of logos over any of the above footage. If it is not possible for you to excerpt the program without showing a logo, then there may be no excerpting.

Let’s digest - so on the weekend talk shows, especially those on Sunday, don’t expect to see any discussion with actual footage - if you do, someone’s busted. Never again, even during a “happened in 2005″ will you ever see footage of the event. When discussing your upcoming segments on your newscasts (through Thursday at 3:30 Eastern), don’t say “We’ll show you a small piece of what happened at Peter Jennings’ memorial service” - or you’re busted. And don’t, by all means, place any bit of this memorial service on the Internet, because even though there are portions of the population who get big chunks of their news and information over it, we don’t want them to have any opportunity to see and save the service for their own personal use.

A veteran journalist who spoke with TMD and provided a copy of the memo compared this to the types of rules put around high profile award shows such as the Emmys and Grammys - and that the memorial being “promoted” as the opportunity for Jennings’ family and close friends - you know, with ABC cameras, a slew of print journalists (who were allowed in with no such restrictions), and 800 folks from the general population in the room - to mourn Jennings’ passing seemed a little curious. I mean, there’s no reason that a station can’t put restrictions on their own footage, but this seemed a bit over the top to some.

Even if the intentions were in the right place, this almost comes off as ABC trying to control any coverage of the event in what seems a bit obnoxious, considering that there are many people sitting at home who would love to have seen what happened, in its entirety, on Tuesday.

Full memo after the jump.

From: Levine, Cathie [email redacted]
To: [redacted]
Subject: ABC NEWS/ Peter Jennings Memorial Service

TO: TELEVISION AND RADIO ASSIGNMENT DESKS

RE: ABC NEWS/ Peter Jennings Memorial Service

There will be a memorial service to celebrate the life of Peter Jennings on Tuesday, September 20th at 11:00am at Carnegie Hall in New York. No television or radio crews will be permitted inside the service.

At 3:00pm ET on September 20th ABC News will feed excerpts of the service on:

Please note the following usage restrictions:

* Excerpts of no more than three (3:00) minutes total of actualities from the program may be incorporated in your regularly scheduled domestic network news programs broadcast within the forty-eight hour period commencing at 3:30 PM E.T. on Tuesday, September 20 ending 3:30 PM E.T. on Thursday, September 22.
* No part of the Memorial Service may be catalogued for future use.
* No use of the memorial service is permitted in promos, teases, or bumpers.
* No part of the Memorial Service may be used on the Internet.
* A video credit reading “COURTESY: ABC Newsâ€? must be aired for the duration over the actualities you broadcast.
* With regard to any possible excerpting by your network Memorial Service, please note that ABC News expressly forbids the use of logos over any of the above footage. If it is not possible for you to excerpt the program without showing a logo, then there may be no excerpting.

ABC News reserves all of its rights and remedies in the event of any violation of its rights.

ABC News Media Relations: Cathie Levine [email / telephone redacted]

– ABC –