When will they learn?
Networks’ bent on deceiving viewers is so habit-formed that their deceptions now make bigger jerks of themselves than of viewers.
Yesterday, had CBS frequently posted graphics and/or narrations noting that due to expected bad weather at the Firestone Invitational, the final round began early, thus the round was being shown on tape, CBS would have made for itself a win-win:
Viewers not only would have been treated honestly, but those who chose to protect themselves from learning the winner – this is the instant information age – wouldn’t have left CBS for a second.
But because CBS chose to show few “recorded earlier” graphics – we saw just two in well over two hours’ viewing – many viewers eventually learned that Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink were in a sudden death playoff, while CBS showed them early in the back nine.
Ironically, CBS’s Jim Nantz, heard speaking on tape, kept reading promos for http://www.PGA.com and http://www.CBS Sportsline.com – both of which carried up-to-the-shot word of the Woods-Cink overtime.
And, of course, NBC, which carried the men’s amateur championship, couldn’t wait to report Woods’ victory to its audience, long before it ended on CBS.