Future NAB Head LeGeyt, Broadcasters Target Tech Platforms
NAB’s next president, Curtis LeGeyt, and the broadcasters who lead the trade group’s board blasted tech companies and called for legislation to protect local journalism, in a video discussion Monday for the virtual NAB Show. “Obviously these tech platforms have had a real disruptive impact,” said LeGeyt, the NAB chief operating officer who last week was named to replace President Gordon Smith at year-end (see 2104070045). Smith said during Monday’s event that he “has every confidence” in LeGeyt.
Tech platforms are “sowing discord and promoting disinformation,” and measures to address them should be “top of mind” for legislators, LeGeyt said.
Tech platforms and broadcasters “are not in the same business,” said Jordan Wertlieb, Hearst Television president and chair of NAB’s joint board of directors. “Lawmakers need to recognize” that tech companies run distribution platforms that are “an echo chamber,” while broadcasters are “truth tellers,” he said. “If they are treated the same, I don’t think local journalism can survive.” Graham Media CEO Emily Barr, who chairs NAB’s TV board, added: “We are at the risk of being marginalized by these big tech platforms.” Radio board Chair David Santrella, who is also Salem Media’s broadcast media president, compared tech company control of social media platforms to a telephone company censoring phone calls.
LeGeyt said disinformation from tech companies is one of the biggest issues facing the broadcast industry, along with increasing hostility toward journalists. Violence against reporters could undermine the work of local broadcast journalists, he said. Barr said she has seen an increasing “general disdain” for media that doesn’t differentiate between local and national journalists. “You can no longer assume you can set up your camera on a tripod and walk away from it.”
Wertlieb said 2020 was “a game-changer” in that reporters began having to hide their press credentials and station logos to avoid becoming targets, whereas historically, reporters covering wars and emergencies prominently displayed their affiliation, with the understanding that combatants would avoid them. “The national narrative was that the press was the enemy,” said Wertlieb. “That change is something I never envisioned.” Danger “goes with the territory,” said Santrella. “If you are afraid of fire, don’t be a fireman.” Santrella said Salem provided security briefings to reporters: “While we want them safe, we want them to cover the story.”
Barr said broadcasters are working to address the diversity in their organizations. “One of the things we are all cognizant of is that we don’t have enough representation,” she said. “We would probably all admit that we have not done as good a job as we should have.”