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For the fourth straight day all three network newscasts led with the wildfires in southern California. But the story has peaked (19 min v 46 Wednesday, 47 Tuesday, 23 Monday). Each of the anchors was back from San Diego in the New York studio to introduce a trio of developments: evacuated residents are returning to hard hit suburb of Rancho Bernardo; President George Bush stopped over for a four-hour visit to inspect the damage; the Santiago Canyon fire in Orange County has been designated as arson. The networks could not agree on the death toll, however. ABC, whose anchor Charles Gibson has repeatedly praised the low body count, made it three, NBC eight and CBS ten.

"Winds have died down and the fires have stopped growing," declared NBC's George Lewis, so the giant evacuation center at the NFL San Diego Chargers' Qualcomm Stadium was closed. Now "this entire neighborhood," said ABC's Neal Karlinsky (subscription required) , referring to Rancho Bernardo, "is literally filling up all around us right now." For the hundreds of residents rendered homeless by the fire the recreation center was converted to an advice center, offering tips on "rebuilding and getting their kids to school--there is help with taxes and insurance, even getting the mail."

The theme of the coverage of President Bush's trip was to assess whether he had learned the lessons of 2005. NBC's John Yang called his role "the Consoler in Chief" and gave Bush marks for a "robust response" in contrast to the "debacle of Hurricane Katrina." The President himself "dismissed comparisons between Katrina and California," CBS' Dean Reynolds remarked. He "seemed generally satisfied by the efforts he witnessed--but if he actually thought anybody was doing 'a heckuva job' he did not say so in public."

ABC and CBS both sent reporters to Santiago Canyon where arson investigators have offered a $150,000 reward for clues. "Arson is one of the toughest crimes to investigate, prove and prosecute," CBS' Sandra Hughes stated. "Only 10% end up in court and are almost always circumstantial." So how do they know this was torched? ABC's Brian Rooney showed us neighborhood watch photographs that documented simultaneous flames at different points of the compass: "Natural and accidental fires do not start in three places at once."

Andrew Tyndall 10/26/07 11:04:27 pm

FYI: The reward's up to $250K. KFI Radio add $100K to the pot yesterday. LA Times and none of the major news sources are including KFI's (Clearchannel's) contribution.
- Mary Wehmeier (guest) 10-27-2007 12:51 am

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