Kosinki’s Canoe Was A ‘Today’ Stunt

The Associated Press has picked up on Michelle Kosinski‘s “inadvertently funny” moment on yesterday’s Today show. If her “canoe had sprung a leak,” the AP says, “she didn’t have much to worry about.” (My favorite part of the segment was when Matt Lauer asked Kosinski if “those holy men walking on top of water?”)

An NBC spokesperson defended the segment to the AP: “It’s not like we were trying to pass it off as something it wasn’t.”

Here’s an important point to add to this story: Kosinski isn’t ultimately responsible for the embarassing segment. She, along wih her producer, told higher-ups that the water wasn’t deep — but that fact was apparently irrelevant, an insider tells TVNewser. Remember “think big?” ‘Today’ staffers are being pushed to come up with “stunts” to pump the program’s ratings. Let’s start to keep track of these stunts…

> Saturday’s Fox & Friends analyzed the “Flood Faux Pas…”

> “I heard The Today Show made her do that stunt, and that she actually tried to get out of it,” a TVSpyer says…

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.