As part of Chelsea Clinton’s trial run on NBC, the young special correspondent worked on segments for NBC Nightly News and Rock Center with Brian Williams. As one of the few people who actually watches Rock Center, I actually though Clinton did fairly well with her soft news spins on Williams’ show. Turns out, NBC has had at least similar feelings about Clinton’s performance; the network is gearing up to give the former President’s daughter a lengthier run on network TV.
When Clinton debuted in mid-December with a piece about a community center for underprivileged kids in Arkansas, she was only under a three-month contract with the peacock network. Now, The New York Times is reporting NBC is close to brokering a deal with Clinton to extend her contract with the network’s news division, despite critics not taking a large liking to Clinton's reporting.
While Rock Center has failed to garner a large audience over the past few months, the less-than-great ratings of Williams’ show are hardly due to Clinton’s minor presence. Clinton probably isn't going to be the next Katie Couric, but she has done a fairly good job of choosing localized topics from charities to charter schools on Rock Center and raising awareness about those entities with little fanfare or expectation of fame. At this point Clinton is just getting her feet wet, and if she does decide to take a more permanent gig, I think it is about time we all get off her back about it and give her a real chance to excel.
