NBC is still trying to shake off negative press dogging it after it cut out the “under God, indivisible” part of the Pledge Of Allegiance during a video package aired during its U.S. Open coverage Sunday. TBD.com notes that “the backlash on social media was quick and harsh,” and as of Thursday, NBC was still taking some flak on the issue.
NBC has issued two apologies since the incident, saying the omission “was not done to upset anyone” and that the decision to do so “was made by a small group of people.”
From a social standpoint, NBC appears to be staying quiet about the ordeal — they haven’t mentioned anything about the incident, and haven’t posted the apology, to the NBC Sports Facebook or Twitter pages. At the same time, it appears that they’re not deleting comments about the incident made by other people.
The strategy can be read two ways: NBC is either perpetuating the story in the social sphere by not apologizing directly to its fans, or it’s making a smart move by publicly apologizing (twice), hunkering down and letting the story peter out.
Which route would you take?