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The economy topped the networks' news agenda yet again but a pair of different sectors caused Wednesday's headaches. Tuesday the face-off for top spot was between near-bankrupt automakers and near-evicted homeowners. Now the networks split on retailers' gloom and the federal bailout of banks. NBC led from Herald Square in New York City, where Macy's expects no Miracle on 34th Street during the holiday shopping season. ABC and CBS chose the announcement by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the $700bn federal bailout of financial capitalism--the Troubled Asset Relief Program--would not be used to purchase troubled assets after all. Paulson's about-face was Story of the Day.

ABC's Betsy Stark noted Paulson's explanation for using TARP funds to part-nationalize major banks instead of buying non-performing mortgages. His original plan was "not the most effective or efficient way to stabilize the nation's financial system." Just seven weeks ago, Stark pointed out, Paulson had testified that it was the investment in banks that "would be a big mistake." "Bait and switch" was how CBS' Sharyl Attkisson characterized Paulson's change of heart: "Your tax dollars are buying massive shares in some of the nation's biggest and most successful banks with virtually no strings attached. It is all allowed under Congress' plan." On NBC, CNBC's in-house economist Steve Liesman was more charitable to the Treasury Secretary, resorting to a football metaphor. "He called an audible," Liesman suggested. "I think they realized that there is so much mortgage debt out there that the $700bn was not going to go far enough."

CBS' Anthony Mason pointed out that TARP still has enough assets left over to help "auto loans, credit card loans, student loans." Together they account for 40% or so of the consumer credit market "and it has all-but ground to a halt." Congress may instruct Treasury to use TARP funds to secure a federal ownership stake in Detroit's Big Three automakers. "Do you think the government is eventually going to own everything?" wondered anchor Katie Couric. "Some people are worried about that," Mason replied.

As for the $125bn or so from TARP that the Treasury Department has already invested in the banking sector, CBS' Attkisson played Follow the Money and got nowhere. The Financial Stability Oversight Board has met four times but "they do not know how the banks are using the money. There is no hint in the first official Treasury report." Congress also pledged to set up an oversight board "but more than five weeks later not one person has been named to the panel."


Andrew Tyndall 11/14/08 1:51:01 am

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