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The news agenda was a mass of confusion. The three network newscasts simply agreed to disagree about what was important. ABC decided to lead with Martha Raddatz and the nuclear threat from North Korea, a worry that neither of the other two networks found newsworthy. CBS' man at the White House, Major Garrett, focused on the nomination of a former federal prosecutor as chairwoman of the Securities & Exchange Commission, again, an appointment that neither of its rivals bothered to mention. NBC sent Andrea Mitchell from the State Department to Capitol Hill to cover the nomination of John Kerry for Secretary of State: CBS mentioned it in passing, ABC not at all. The Story of the Day turned out to be a follow-up on Wednesday's choice for lead by CBS and ABC -- this time NBC decided to lead with the opportunity for military women to fight on the front lines in combat.

NBC's Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski filed the women-in-combat story with an excellent soundbite from Sgt Natasha Thompson at Fort Stewart: "I'm 11-Bravo. I'm a bang-bang." CBS did not follow up on Wednesday's coverage. ABC did -- but misleadingly so. To watch Cecilia Vega's coverage you would get the impression that being eligible for combat amounted to being as buff as a fully-fledged special-ops commando.

The only other story all day to warrant coverage by a reporter on more than one newscast was Sen Dianne Feinstein's proposal to reimpose the ban on assault weapons that had been in effect from 1994 through 2004. A pair of Capitol Hill correspondents -- NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and CBS' Nancy Cordes -- filed. It is not surprise that ABC gave Feinstein's bill a pass. ABC has covered the entire gun control debate least heavily since it reemerged in the wake of the Newtown grade school shooting six weeks ago.

Check out the advice from Vice President Joe Biden quoted by NBC's O'Donnell on how we should arm ourselves for an emergency.

Andrew Tyndall 1/25/13 7:21:59 pm

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