Media Myth: Nine Worst Business Stories
(of the Last 50 Years)

7. ‘Dateline’s’ Exploding Trucks
 

     “Dateline’s” report focused on an abnormally large number of fires resulting from side-impact collisions on certain models of General Motors trucks. The trucks featured gas tanks mounted outside the frame rails, where they were, according to NBC, more vulnerable to crumpling and explosion in a side-impact hit.

     To demonstrate the danger, “Dateline” commissioned test-run collisions. The first, a 40-mile-per-hour side-impact crash, resulted in absolutely no fire. But the second, a 30-mile-per-hour collision, erupted into flames engulfing both the truck and the car sacrificed for the visual effect.

     There was some basis for the report itself – “Dateline” cited accident statistics showing GM trucks were “more than twice” as likely as other pickup trucks to be involved in fiery crashes. GM faced numerous lawsuits over the truck, including one civil suit in early 1993 that ended in a $105-million penalty against the manufacturer over the death of a 17-year-old Georgian.

     But the powerful visual effect for “Dateline’s” report had been staged. In a press conference in February 1993, GM showed that the test runs were rigged. Screen captures taken moments before impact showed “plumes of smoke” from underneath the truck, the result of small igniters placed on the gas tank to ensure a fire.

     GM contended that the trucks used in the demonstration used after-market gas caps that didn’t protect the car’s internal systems as well as factory-installed pieces. It was also revealed that NBC used “tightly edited shots” to make the 15-second blaze look worse than it was.

     In a statement issued immediately after the news conference, NBC News President Michael Gartner defended the report, calling it “fair and accurate.” While Gartner acknowledged the use of sparking devices, his statement attributed the fire to a broken headlamp.

     But the next day, NBC admitted via anchors Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips that it was wrong to stage the crashes. “We apologize to our viewers and to General Motors,” the statement said. “We have also concluded that unscientific demonstrations should have no place in hard news stories at NBC. That’s our new policy.”

     The network also settled the defamation lawsuit GM had filed against it over the report, the Los Angeles Times reported Feb. 10, 1993.

     Former NBC News President Reuven Frank called it “the worst black eye NBC News has suffered in my experience, which goes back to 1950.”

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