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Kudos to CBS for spotting the brewing abortion debate in the Texas statehouse in advance. Manuel Bojorquez filed on Monday and Tuesday, before the opposition to new restrictions on clinics became a viral sensation. The trigger was the 13-hour filibuster by State Senator Wendy Davis. That is #standwithwendy if you were watching the online feed as the midnight deadline approached. CBS' Bojorquez covered the bedlam from Austin, whereas NBC and ABC were both late to the scene, so they had to have their correspondents -- Chris Jansing and Dan Harris -- narrate from New York. The filibuster ultimately succeeded, not because of Senator Davis, but because of her raucous supporters. Jansing offered a proper hat tip to Texas Tribune for supplying the live feed, which eventually attracted 200,000 viewers.
Another day in the Sanford Fla murder trial of George Zimmerman. Another day with all three newscasts assigning a correspondent to the day's proceedings. Another day for Tyndall's predictions to look worse and worse: no NBC News disclaimer about Zimmerman's lawsuit, no legal eagle analysis from Kendall Coffey. Ah well. The star of the day was 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel, who was talking on the telephone with the late Trayvon Martin as his fatal encounter with Zimmerman began. NBC's Ron Mott quoted her quoting him as calling Zimmerman "creepy." CBS' Mark Strassmann used the words "creepy-*** cracker." ABC's Matt Gutman's quote was "creepy-assed cracker." Well done, Matt.
Check out the various decisions used to add subtitles to the courtroom testimony. Yes, they help to make accented or soft-spoken speech comprehensible. No, they act as an implicit criticism of a person's articulacy when they are applied only optionally.
Why, I wondered on Tuesday, was Nancy Cordes spending so much of CBS' time on Braulio Castillo, a small business contractor for the Internal Revenue Service? Wait one day and we have an answer: in order to air the excoriating sarcasm directed at Castillo by the legless Rep Tammy Duckworth as he testified before her at a House committee.
ABC has treated the downfall of Paula Deen, the southern hospitality celebrity chef with unfortunate antebellum taste, as newsworthy from the start (here and here), so it was fitting that Steve Osunsami should be assigned for a third time. CBS has not considered Deen newsworthy and continued not to do so. NBC gave Katy Tur her second Deen assignment (here and here). Why now? Deen granted a 13-minute interview to Matt Lauer on NBC's own Today that morning, one week after calling in sick for her original q-&-a. ABC's Osunsami offered a hat tip to the rival Exclusive on Today before repeating commentary on it from his own network's gabfest The View
ABC's second celebrity in trouble was Aaron Hernandez, no longer an NFL tight end for the New England Patriots, now a criminal defendant in the murder of his friend Odin Lloyd. John Schriffen of ABC had Jeremy Schaap of ESPN, ABC's sibling sports network in the Disney media conglomerate, offer a scouting report on Hernandez' gridiron skills.
Chip Reid visited the CBS News archives to show us clips from Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay from 1965, from CBS' Sunday Morning in 1990, and from the Evening News in 1999. Each time, the population shrinks as the water level in the bay rises. Too bad that CBS did not consider President Barack Obama's greenhouse effect speech on Tuesday worthy of a correspondent. Maybe global warming and rising sea levels are -- you know -- connected.
It is oh-so-easy to close a newscast with an animal story. If you are going to do so you might as well opt for chimpanzees, especially if you have a bona fide government science story on which to base your telegenic video. NBC's Lisa Myers relies on the National Institutes of Health to give cover to her hard news integrity, the same cover that CBS' Anna Werner used in January. And based on how splendid she made Louisiana's Chimp Haven sanctuary look, who would want the job as spokesperson for FASEB, the organization that wants to keep apes caged in the name of science?
Robyn Rosenberger of TinySuperheroes is ABC's latest example of America Strong. Neal Karlinsky is hardly delivering basic Journalism Strong. Where is Rosenberger's sewing circle based? Karlinsky will not tell.
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