MSNBC's Notre Dame Central Web Page a Conflict of Interest

As the college football season quickly approaches, Notre Dame Football fans, if not feeling secure on the field, should feel secure knowing that they are in the hands of the mighty corporate giant that is General Electric.

General Electric, parent company of NBC-Universal, and, therefore, a partner with Microsoft Corp. in one of the most influential and most viewed news sites on the internet, msnbc.com, is the main reason that Notre Dame has an exclusive contract to show Notre Dame Football home games on NBC.

The corporate money, which amounts to millions of dollars, gives NBC exclusive rights to broadcast Notre Dame home games. This in itself is not a bad thing. Notre Dame Football is an independent and has no connection to any one of the college juggernaut conferences such as the Big Ten, Big Twelve, ACC, SEC or Pac-10. They can sign with whatever television network they choose to.

Also, from Notre Dame's point-of-view, the money they receive from NBC is being used wisely. Notre Dame has increased their financial aid endowments since 1991, the start of their lucrative contract with NBC. Notre Dame, being a private institution, is required to find funding on their own, much like Duke or Harvard, without the added benefit of state sponsorship. Most of the funding comes from alumni but the NBC contract allows Notre Dame to hand out even more scholarships to students deserving of a higher education.

Notre Dame, whose focus in recent years, ironically, has not been to recruit the best football players but to recruit the best student athletes, has proven to be Solomon like in their use of the NBC funds. The college is doing okay. It is doing exactly what any institution of higher learning in this nation would do.

msnbc.com, and, therefore, NBC-Universal, and, therefore, General Electric - - however - - are doing exactly the opposite. msnbc.com is one of the most viewed internet news outlets in cyberspace. It continually broadcasts stories that engage readers. Although the stories on msnbc.com may not be considered newsworthy, they do provide entertainment unlike any news outlet on the internet.

This is particularly true when it comes to msnbc.com's sports page. Their writers are terrific, not afraid to write their opinions, no matter how controversial, and their stories regarding particular teams and games are top-notch. Without a doubt, msnbc.com's sports page is a valuable source of news for any sports fan.

Which is why seeing Notre Dame Football with its own page on msnbc.com is so disappointing. First, the page, titled Notre Dame Central, is a blatant attempt at promoting the NBC home game television contract. There is no other way to describe this.

Notre Dame Football is one of a hundred different college football teams in this nation whose games are broadcasted on television. There is no real reason for msnbc.com to take an interest in Notre Dame Football apart from USC Football or Louisiana State Football or Florida Football. The only reason that Notre Dame Central exists is because Microsoft Corp.'s partner in msnbc.com, NBC-Universal, holds the football contract to Notre Dame home games.

There is something wrong with this. First, from a readers stand point, the articles found in Notre Dame Central aren't as good as the articles found on the rest of msnbc.com's sports page. The reason is that for college football fans Notre Dame Football just isn't that interesting. The team wasn't very good last year and is expected to be even worse this year. They were blown out by better teams such as USC and LSU last year and the chances of them playing their way into a BCS game this coming year is minimal at best.

The stories are meaningless. Writing about good college football teams is hard enough but writing about bad ones is almost impossible. Good sports writers find it difficult to write about uninteresting topics and, unfortunately, that is what writers for Notre Dame Central are up against.

The second reason, and most important, is that msnbc.com, by creating a Notre Dame Central page, has decided that journalistic integrity is no longer needed in journalism. This is not to say that all msnbc.com stories provide no news value at all, but it is to say that if msnbc.com is faced with the decision to provide a true news story to its readers or one which will generate hits, it will run the story that generates hits.

msnbc.com has always skirted the line between fact and fiction. Over a year ago, msnbc.com ran a story regarding the health of boxing great Muhammad Ali. According to the msnbc.com story, Ali was practically on his death-bed. A friend of mine is close to the Ali family. I contacted him regarding the msnbc.com story, and, of course, he told me that Muhammad Ali was doing just great. The former world champion had gone in to get minor surgery done on his back. That was it. He wasn't dying as the msnbc.com story had alluded to.

Notre Dame Central is worse because the idea isn't just to generate hits, but also to create Notre Dame Football viewers. Yellow journalism was created to sell newspapers. Notre Dame Central was created to sell advertising space during Notre Dame Football games.

It's not the sort of thing that any true news outlet should ever consider creating. msnbc.com, if it considers itself a true news source, will rid itself of Notre Dame Central. For a news outlet, the Notre Dame Central page amounts to a blatant conflict of interest.