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There have been two angles of the Egypt story that received scant attention as the second week unraveled: the role of the United States in shaping events; and the vox pop of the people of Cairo.
Cairene anecdotes included a couple of neighborhood features from ABC's Lama Hasan, on commercial life at a standstill and on neighborhood watches against looters. CBS sent Mark Strassmann to the souk and Terry McCarthy to the airport. NBC became fixated on Mary Thornberry, a 76-year-old expatriate from Fort Worth, living in an apartment overlooking Tahrir Square. Grandma Thornberry was subject to daily updates (here, here and here) as threatening gangs slept in her building's hallways. NBC seemed taken with this single human interest story because of one golden soundbite: "I'm apt to whop 'em with my rolling pin."
By contrast, the networks are to be congratulated for downplaying Washington's role in Cairo's fate. President Barack Obama's stated policy is that Egypt's political future is for the people of Egypt to decide and that worldview has been reflected in the reticence of the networks' DC bureaus to grab airtime. From the White House, ABC's Jake Tapper offered a brief stand-up here and NBC's Savannah Guthrie here. CBS anchor Katie Couric had Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations speak for the foreign policy establishment. Haass expects an eventual military coup.
From the Pentagon, David Martin contributed to CBS' In Focus series, with this question: "Is the day of the repressive corrupt Arab regime over?" The United States has relied on "authoritarian" regimes for decades to guarantee its overriding pair of strategic regional goals: freely flowing oil at reasonable prices and absence of war with Israel. "Giving power to the people of the Middle East could validate American values but undercut American interests," Martin concluded drily. He did not really mean "giving" since such power is not in the gift of the USA.
From Wed. 2/2 through Wed. 2/9, NBC Nightly News aired seven different stories (totalling 14 minutes) on Mary Thornberry. That is journalistic malpractice. Her story isn't news, it's just a soap opera designed to attract viewers. I hope that members of the Peabody Award evaluation committee were watching on Saturday (2/5) when Lester Holt asked Thornberry if she had taken her rolling pin with her when she left Cairo (a reference to Thornberry's vow to use her rolling pin to defend her apartment from looters.) I think I once saw Edward R. Murrow pose the same question to Eleanor Roosevelt. Also on Saturday's broadcast, Lester Holt told us that, "Today for the first time we see the frail 76-year-old Texan whose tough talk while living under siege captivated Americans back home." Is he serious? Captivated? According to what source? A few comments on the Nightly News/MSNBC.com web site? That's hardly an indicator of public opinion. Clearly, Holt was promoting Thornberry's story, rather than simply reporting it, in order to generate interest in her upcoming appearances on "Today" and on future editions of Nightly News. It's shameful to see such blatant self-promotion masquerading as news. Shameful, but hardly surprising. Nightly News does this all the time. They hype a story with no news value and then report on it day after day so that viewers will continue to tune in to the broadcast hoping to get more information about the story that didn't belong on the news in the first place. The Nightly News anchors and correspondents constantly plug stories from "Today" and "Dateline" (or CNBC and MSNBC specials) and promote NBC/Universal entertainment shows, theme parks, movies, DVDs and anything else that can generate ratings or income for their broadcast, their network or its parent company. Last August, Nightly News ran two consecutive "news stories" about 10-year-old Jackie Evancho who, not coincidentally, was appearing that month on NBC's
(continued) "America's Got Talent". Ann Curry called her "America's newest singing sensation" and said, "Tonight that little girl behind that astonishing voice that has people shaking their heads in wonder all over the world." That's a commercial, not a news broadcast. And last Dec. 14, Kerry Sanders reported on the weather--from the Universal Orlando theme park where he plugged the new Harry Potter attraction! It's a sickening, grotesque cycle. Manufacture interest in a non-story and keep force-feeding it to the viewers. And it will never stop because ultimately, it's a successful strategy. Ratings mean everything to Brian Williams, Steve Capus (NBC News President) and the Nightly News producers, and their shameless self-promotion is a proven way to achieve these ratings.
During Brian's overlong three-and-a-half minute rambling interview with Thornberry and her son on Monday's broadcast (2/7), we were shown the original email that her son had sent to the Nightly News producers. In the email, he said, "You could get a good story (via) a telephone interview...or a great story if you have a local reporter...rescue/interview her." (Parts of the sentences were not readable because they trailed off the screen.) Clearly, the Nightly News producers were only interested in Thornberry because they were promised a "good" or "great" story, not because they had any concern for her safety.
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