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Day Three of the brouhaha about the bonuses at American International Group. The $165m paid out to the very traders who triggered a $180bn federal bailout was the Story of the Day, leading all three newscasts for three days straight. The insurance conglomerate's chief executive Edward Liddy took center stage as each network led off with its Capitol Hill correspondent's coverage of his testimony to a House committee. "I have asked those who received retention payments in excess of $100,000 to return at least half," Liddy testified. Both CBS and NBC had substitutes in the anchor chair: Maggie Rodriguez from the Early Show and David Gregory from Meet the Press.

CEO Liddy won the sympathy of reporters. CBS' Nancy Cordes saw him "walking into the lion's den" while NBC's Kelly O'Donnell noted that "Liddy was not in charge when AIG imploded." As ABC's Jonathan Karl put it, "Liddy took over last September at a salary of $1 to fix up a mess he did not create." All three used the soundbite from his testimony demonstrating that hate mail had turned the bonus scandal deadly serious: "All the executives and their families should be executed with piano wire around their necks."

On the merits of the bonuses themselves, the coverage was less supportive. CBS' Cordes heard Liddy "struggle to explain why his executives' contractual bonuses were sacrosanct when workers in so many industries--aviation, trucking, automotive--have seen their contracts broken." NBC's O'Donnell explained Liddy's explanation as "keeping key employees there to finish dismantling the company" while ABC's Karl put it the other way: "The company was desperate to retain employees needed to salvage the Financial Products Division." So what is it--a rescue plan or the wrecking ball?


Andrew Tyndall 3/19/09 9:46:01 pm

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