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ABC offered a trio of economy stories to round off a bearish week during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 4% of its value. John Berman (subscription required) blamed Friday's 224-point selloff on bad news from banking and cellular telephones. On NBC, anchor Brian Williams consulted Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money. Cramer ticked off housing, retail sales and technology: "The only thing that was strong was oil." ABC had Dan Harris (subscription required) stay on the housing beat for its Mortgage Mess series. He illustrated the woes caused by foreclosures by touring a once "thriving working class racially mixed neighborhood" in Cleveland. There are now 1,000 empty homes in a single ZIP code. They are "systematically stripped and looted and also become crack houses and hideouts for criminals." ABC had Elizabeth Vargas substitute as anchor for Charles Gibson while Gibson pre-taped his Person of the Week profile of singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant. She has become an activist on behalf of the homeless, organizing Give US Your Poor, a fundraising CD of duets featuring established artists--herself, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Keb' Mo' and so on--with musicians living on the street. Gibson played portions from Merchant's rendition of There Is No Good Reason, written by a 15-year-old homeless girl, with Mighty Sam McClain, a Grammy-nominated bluesman, who has lived 20 years without a roof over his head.
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