Did anyone see Robert Hager's Y2K story on NBC News last night?? What did you think? Transcript below:

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It's one of SEVERAL y2k problems to be reported around the country so far..... At David Sterling's insurance firm, in New York, where employees show how, when they tried to get in earlier this year, they couldn't. Turns out a computer chip failed to recognize the year 2-thousand expiration date on company i-d cards. They were locked out.

SOT: WE CALLED IN TO OUR VENDOR WHO TOLD US THAT, YES, OUR SYSTEM HAD A YEAR 2000 PROBLEM THAT HAD NOT BEEN DISCLOSED TO US. (:09) WE WERE FURIOUS.

Takes a week and a half to get new chips, that work. In California, hundreds of hospitals worried:

SOT: WE WANT TO BE ONE HUNDRED PERCENT ABLE TO RESPOND TO ANY TYPE OF DISASTER SCENARIO THATS GIVEN TO US. (:06)

NATSOT: WE'RE NOW GOING TO GO ONTO EMERGENCY POWER FULL TIME (:03)

Stage a Y2k drill simulating power outages on New Year's Day.

(HAGER STANDUP) BUT TODAY, 100 DAYS BEFORE THE YEAR 2-THOUSAND, A SENATE COMMITTEE MONITORING POTENTIAL PROBLEMSISSUES A FINAL REPORT: PREDICTS NO NATIONWIDE CRISIS WHEN THE BIG DATE COMES - INSTEAD, ONLY SPORADIC, LOCAL INTERRUPTIONS, THAT SHOULDN'T TAKE LONG TO FIX. (END STANDUP).

$1 graphic6 The Committee rated banks and financial services best prepared: five stars for y2k readiness. Utilities and Telecommunications, 4 stars. Transportation, government and private businesses, three. Senator Chris Dodd:

SOT: WITH A HUNDRED DAYS TO GO, WE THINK THAT THIS PROBLEM THAT LOOMED SO LARGE ONLY A FEW MONTHS AGO SHOULD NOT BE AS SERIOUS FOR THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF PEOPLE EXCEPT IN SOME ISOLATED CASES (:11)

$2 EACH OF THREE TOPICS WLD START WITH A GRAPHIC BANNER, THEN DISSOLVE TO ILLUSTRATIVE VIDEO6 Causes for concern still: Small businesses. More than a million of them say they simply haven't checked for y2k problems. International: Will China be ready, or Africa? Could there be disruptions in foreign trade? And healthcare. Could equipment fail at underfunded rural or inner city hopsitals? Or billing systems breakdown in doctor's offices. What about MEDICAID, for the poor?

SOT (DODD): ABOUT TWENTY STATES THAT HAVE TO DO A FAR BETTER JOB IN OUR VIEW IN THE NEXT ONE HUNDRED DAYS TO SEE TO IT THAT MEDICAID IS GOING TO REACH SOME OF THE MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN OUR SOCIETY, THE ELDERLY PEOPLE AND THE VERY POOR. (:11)

And, David Sterling, whose employees were locked out, says.. be careful:

SOT (STERLING): THE MESSAGE IS, PLEASE, CHECK EVERY COMPUTER THAT YOU HAVE AND, IN ADDITION, TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHERE ELSE YOU COULD HAVE CONTROL CHIPS THAT MAY HAVE THIS PROBLEM. (:10)

The government says don't expect huge problems "across the country," but warns there may be problems "across the street." Why it's important, to keep working on them. Robert Hager, NBC News, Washington.

-- (researcher@network.news), September 23, 1999

Answers

Soooooo Researcher,

Was this a bit of your handiwork?? : )

If so, congrats are in order for the leg work you must've done. If this is some of yours, anything else you found out but was not reported?

Have any other prospective stories lined up we might be particularly interested in?

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), September 23, 1999.

The strange part about this NBC "In Depth" piece was the closing comment by Tom Brokaw that although Y2K problems should not be serious for the majority of the country, the capitol, Washington D.C., has remediated only 10% of its municipal systems and D.C. might be the place to be for the rollover! This statement made the whole piece seem rather schizophrenic - yes we're Y2K-okay, no we're not...

I'm surprised NBC let this kind of cat out of the bag. Such an admission, if true, strains the credibility of Robert Hager's rosy assessments of the domestic situation in the earlier part of the report.

FWIW

Brian

-- Brian E. Smith (besmith@mail.arc.nasa.gov), September 23, 1999.

Opps! Brokaw said D.C might NOT be the place to be for the rollover. Sorry!

-- Brian E. Smith (besmith@mail.arc.nasa.gov), September 23, 1999.

I've noticed alot of y2k talk at NBC lately -Sunday Morning Today Solledad(sp) asks what are your plans for New Years? The guy who does the news says he's not doing anything kinda worried about disruptions wants to camp out at home.

Researcher did you have anything to do with this piece? Inquiring minds want to know.

-- The Count of Meijer Crisco (40@cansof.course), September 23, 1999.

Brian: Someone in a previous thread several months ago had predicted the increase in news on Y2K. Clinton's rationale, apparently, is to "break it to the sheeple" a little bit at a time. Whether this turns out to be correct or a disaster remains to be seen. If Y2K turns out to be more a BITR, Clinton will take a major hit( unless he finds a convenient scapegoat). Now I wonder who he could blame? Did you feel a little shiver just then??

-- Neil G.Lewis (pnglewis1@yahoo.com), September 23, 1999.

HMMMMMM. I have often wondered if the reporters could be this stupid to think Y2k was a minor glitch. Perhaps they are told to downplay the impacts it is no big problem etc. etc. They do as ordered but throw in some zingers that indicate that everything will not be fixed. Is anyone paying attention? If anyone is reading these critically, they can see potential problems. The warnings are there. Ignore them at your peril. Curly can see through most of the B S. and if he can, you can too.

-- Moe (Moe@3stooges.gom), September 23, 1999.