The Detroit News reports that The Rev. Horace Sheffield III met today for ninety minutes with Dateline NBC‘s Chris Hansen and unnamed NBC officials to discuss Dateline‘s April 18 program on the Motor City.
Sheffield and other critics say that “America Now: City of Heartbreak and Hope” was unbalanced in describing the state of the city. Today, Sheffield tells the News he’s pleased with the dialogue that has begun, and he has scheduled a press conference for tomorrow morning to detail more about the meeting.
NBC News has issued a statement, part of which reads:
“We believe our broadcast fairly represented the current situation in Detroit while highlighting positive efforts and the inspirational stories of those in the community…We want to thank Rev. Horace Sheffield III and his daughter Mary Sheffield for coming to New York for what we viewed as a very productive conversation. The Sheffields had several comments and suggestions that we are taking into consideration and we will keep the lines of communication open with them going forward…We spent ten months reporting this story, and we will continue our reporting — seeking input from a wide range of sources.”
>More: NBC has now posted online an interview conducted today by Chris Hansen of Rev. Sheffield.