'Today' show embarrassed by 'video stunt'

Report preceded segment criticizing Bush military event as 'staged'

Just ahead of a report criticizing President Bush's satellite-linked session with soldiers in Iraq as a "staged" event, NBC's "Today" show was caught in a video stunt of its own.

Calling it a "deliciously ironic twist of fate," the conservative weblog NewsBusters noted that shortly before airing a segment "aimed at embarrassing the Bush administration," NBC reporter Michelle Kosinski � filing from flooded Wayne, N.J. � appeared embarrassed when an orchestrated camera shot went awry during the broadcast this morning.

Yesterday, Kosinski donned hip waders, reporting in thigh-deep water for effect. This morning, she appeared in a canoe on a suburban street � obviously attempting to dramatize the severity of the flooding disaster.

A few seconds after she went live, however, a pair of men walked in front of the camera � the flood waters barely covering the tops of their boots.

"Kosinski's canoe was in no more than four to six inches of water," declared Newsbusters.

Video clip of the broadcast.