One NBC Station Takes Stand on Megyn Kelly Interview

Connecticut's WVIT says decision will spare Sandy Hook parents more pain
By Linda Hervieux,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 17, 2017 7:21 AM CDT
One NBC Station Takes Stand on Megyn Kelly Interview
Megyn Kelly is under fire for her upcoming interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

The firestorm continues over Megyn Kelly's controversial interview of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Connecticut's NBC affiliate has decided not to air Kelly's show Sunday night, the Hartford Courant reports. In an internal memo obtained by the paper, WVIT general manager Susan Tully tells staff the decision to nix Sunday Night was made after listening to grief-stricken Sandy Hook parents. The station "considered the deep emotions from the wounds of that day that have yet to heal." The memo says the station is planning a report on its 11pm newscast. Jones, founder of the website Infowars, has infuriated parents by calling the 2012 schoolhouse massacre a hoax.

Lawyers for several parents sent a letter to NBC News chief Andy Lack threatening to sue if the interview is broadcast, charging that Kelly's talk with the right-wing firebrand "implicitly endorses" the idea that Jones' "lies are actually 'claims' that are worthy of serious debate," per the Courant. The LA Times reports that WVIT is an NBC-owned station, and provides some context for the move: "While affiliates occasionally chose to not air a network program, it’s rare for a network-owned station to opt out." CNN chief Jeff Zucker rapped NBC for teasing Kelly's segment by showing her apparently responding evenly to Jones' wild claims. "You need to hold up a picture of the dead kids at Sandy Hook and say 'How dare you?'" Zucker says, calling the marketing strategy "a big mistake." (Jones tried to "humiliate" Kelly.)

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