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President Barack Obama left Tucson after paying tribute to the six killed in Saturday's Safeway supermarket shooting and so did NBC anchor Brian Williams after three straight weekdays of special reports. NBC did not let up on its coverage, however (14 min v ABC 10, CBS 8), as the aftermath of the shooting continued to dominate coverage with 57% of the three-network newshole (33 min out of 57), compared with 56% Wednesday, 46% Tuesday and 89% Monday. NBC and CBS both led with the funeral of Christina Green, the nine-year-old girl who was one of the six dead. ABC kicked off with an update on Rep Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), one of the 13 injured. The congresswoman opened her eyes and moved her legs, despite suffering a bullet shot that flew clear through her brain.

Only CBS assigned its White House correspondent to recap the old news of the highlights of the President's televised primetime speech. It is a marker of the acceleration of the news cycle and the redundancy of the nightly newscasts traditional role as a newscast of record, that reaction to an important set-piece event that happened within their 24-hour cycle would not be covered automatically. As few as a dozen years ago that would have been the case.

Anyhow, Chip Reid offered his assessment of Obama's "comfort and consolation." He contrasted the Tucson speech with the President's tone in previous crises, such as his speech about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which had seemed "detached and slow to lead." This time, "his soaring, heartfelt words brought many listeners to tears," including one corny tearjerker about the slain girl. "If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today."
Andrew Tyndall 1/15/11 10:44:47 pm

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