Read More of the Same Day's Blog

The biggest scandal of the Obama Administration -- rampant, unpunished rapes of military women by their male comrades in arms -- was the Story of the Day. All three networks assigned their Pentagon correspondent to cover the testimony of military brass before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Some senators want control over the prosecution of rape cases to be ceded to prosecutors; most of the generals want it to remain a disciplinary responsibility of commanders. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and CBS' David Martin each had the lead on his newscast. On ABC, Martha Raddatz was given second slot, following Lisa Stark's lead on the dangers of fuel tank fires in early-model Jeep Cherokees speared by rear-end collisions.

The administration's second pressing scandal was the topic of hearings on the House side of Capitol Hill. Leaders of several political-sounding groups testified about the paperwork required of them by the Internal Revenue Service when they applied for non-political social welfare status. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell brought us the Wetumpka Tea Party, the San Fernando Valley Tea Party Patriots, Linchpins of Liberty, and Coalition for Life of Iowa. CBS' Nancy Cordes told us that one third of the 300 applicants who were subject to strict scrutiny were Tea Party affiliates. ABC, which has covered the IRS scandal less heavily than the other two newscasts ever since it broke last month, did not mention the House hearings, even in passing.

ABC anchor Diane Sawyer told us that the Jeep story had been Lisa Stark's specialty for three years. Sure enough, here is Stark's report from 2010; here it is from 2011. Stark now tells us that 51 deaths have been attributed to fuel tank fires. Federal NHTSA regulators want 2.6m vehicles recalled so that the tank can be raised. Chrysler contests its necessity. Neither of the other two newscasts deemed this dispute worthy of a correspondent's attention.

There were, however, two other road-transport features. The inspiration for NBC's Tom Costello was the $92 ticket he had to pay for speeding at 38mph in a 25mph zone in Washington DC. The camera that caught his violation averages $8m annually in assessed tickets; the capital's system of 90 such cameras is credited with reducing annual fatalities from accidents involving speed from 70 to 19. ABC's second highway story was from Paula Faris in her Real Money feature series. Faris offered tips to motorists to reduce the cost of their daily commute: by driving better, by planning better routes, and by car-pooling more often. As she normally does, Faris offered free publicity to mobile phone apps that claim to help achieve these goals: Automatic, Waze, and Lyft, respectively.
Andrew Tyndall 6/5/13 11:54:48 pm

© 2010 Tyndall Report