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A very light day of summer news saw only one story newsworthy enough to warrant coverage on all three networks. No, not the torrential floods in China that killed 150. The Story of the Day was the milder flooding of western England that surrounded the abbey town of Tewkesbury. Both ABC and NBC led with London correspondents in Wellington boots. In the absence of political headlines or breaking foreign policy news, CBS led with natural disasters too: firefighters for the National Forest Service may take too many risks to save property from wild fires.

Obviously the 60-year floods at the intersection of the Severn River and the River Avon are a big deal in England, where 400,000 risk losing drinking water because of overflowing sewage and 500,000 risk losing electric power. But there is no reason why they should lead an American network newscast. ABC's Jim Sciutto offered a tourist angle as he described how "imposing" Tewkesbury's church is--he called it a cathedral instead of an abbey. CBS' Elizabeth Palmer tried the climate change angle: "Research published today suggests human activity is warming the planet and changing rainfall patterns." NBC's Martin Savidge evoked the wartime blitz: "Many are facing it with the same spirit here that carried this island nation through much worse." Or as CBS' Palmer put it: "None of this has dampened the British stiff upper lip."

Andrew Tyndall 7/26/07 2:04:44 pm

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