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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM NOVEMBER 16, 2006
A tornado in North Carolina knocked Iraq out of the headlines. The twister touched down in Riegelwood NC at dawn, smashing trailer homes and leaving eight dead. All three networks led with the carnage: ABC's David Kerley (subscription required), CBS' Jim Acosta and NBC's Mike Boettcher.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2006: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
| click to play | story | angle | reporter | dateline | |
| CBS | Tornado season | Twister in Riegelwood NC hits trailer park | Jim Acosta | North Carolina |
| ABC | Tornado season | November is secondary season after spring | Ned Potter | New York |
| NBC | House Majority Leader contest: Hoyer vs Murtha | Hoyer wins despite Nancy Pelosi's opposition | Chip Reid | Capitol Hill |
| CBS | House Majority Leader contest: Hoyer vs Murtha | Hoyer wins despite Nancy Pelosi's opposition | Bob Schieffer | Washington DC |
| NBC | Military reserves, National Guard call-up extended | Promise of job security is poorly enforced | Lisa Myers | Washington DC |
| ABC sub req | Poverty: hunger, food banks and soup kitchens | USDA relabels 35m hungry as "food insecure" | Lisa Stark | Washington DC |
| CBS | Suspected al-Qaeda leaders manhunt, imprisonment | Spy writes memoir Inside the Jihad | Richard Roth | Paris |
| NBC | Smoking: cigarette use health dangers | NBC newsman undergoes CT scan for lung damage | Mike Taibbi | New York |
| NBC | Police: radio communications eliminate ten-code | Patrol cars stop using convoluted numbers | Pete Williams | Virginia |
STORMY WEATHER A tornado in North Carolina knocked Iraq out of the headlines. The twister touched down in Riegelwood NC at dawn, smashing trailer homes and leaving eight dead. All three networks led with the carnage: ABC's David Kerley (subscription required), CBS' Jim Acosta and NBC's Mike Boettcher.
In addition ABC's science reporter Ned Potter explained the meteorology: why November is the annual second tornado season after spring. NBC offered its In Their Own Words feature with eyewitness accounts of the Montgomery Ala daycare center that dodged death yesterday.
CLASS PRESIDENT On Capitol Hill, the bloom came off the rose for triumphant Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. She was elected to be the next Speaker of the House, but her candidate for House Majority Leader, Jack Murtha, was defeated by Steny Hoyer. NBC's Chip Reid reminded us of Murtha's characterization of an ethics crackdown on MSNBC's Hardball: "Crap!" ABC's George Stephanopoulos (no videostream supplied) saw cliquish Congressional leadership elections as being "a lot like high school" and CBS' Bob Schieffer saw Pelosi needlessly frittering away her leadership clout.
INSECURITY A pair of federal agencies came in for unflattering scrutiny. NBC's Coming Home series blasted the Pentagon's ESGR, the agency that protects the jobs of military reservists when they return from active duty. National Guard veterans are supposed to enjoy the guarantee of employment security for an entire year, yet Lisa Myers reported that 22% encounter problems with employers. Meanwhile ABC's Lisa Stark (subscription required) teased the USDA. Each year it publishes a report on how many are hungry nationwide. This year the total is 35m--but now their designation has been changed. They have "very low food security."
READING MATTER CBS went to the publishing shelves for its story ideas. Richard Roth claimed an Exclusive for his profile in Paris of Omar Nasiri, author of Inside the Jihad, about his undercover infiltration of al-Qaeda on behalf of British and French espionage. Jon LaPook publicized Harry Fisch's The Male Biological Clock in a report inspired more by demographic targeting than intrinsic journalistic merit: sixtysomething men, it seems, experience declining levels of testosterone, especially if they have pot bellies.
IN HOUSE NBC got its inspiration from its own correspondents. Anchor Brian Williams debriefed Today's Ann Curry after her Crisis in Darfur three-parter. The ethnic cleansing, she pointed out, was perpetrated not by strangers, but neighbor-on-neighbor. Former puffer Mike Taibbi described how the death of ABC's Peter Jennings inspired him to quit, finally, after 40 years of a pack of non-filters a day. He volunteered to have his lungs inspected by a CT scan (machine made by a corporate sibling of NBC at General Electric). For now the cigs have left no sign of cancer or emphysema.
FOR LIGHT RELIEF ABC's David Muir wondered what OJ Simpson was thinking in penning his imaginary murder memoir If I Did It…CBS' Anthony Mason joined young videogamers as they waited in a four-day line to buy SONY's PlayStation3: the graphics are so cool they even make sweat run down the contours of a character's face in proportion to his exertion…NBC's Pete Williams rode with Virginia state troopers as they consigned their ten-code radio messages to history. 10-4.
In addition ABC's science reporter Ned Potter explained the meteorology: why November is the annual second tornado season after spring. NBC offered its In Their Own Words feature with eyewitness accounts of the Montgomery Ala daycare center that dodged death yesterday.
CLASS PRESIDENT On Capitol Hill, the bloom came off the rose for triumphant Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. She was elected to be the next Speaker of the House, but her candidate for House Majority Leader, Jack Murtha, was defeated by Steny Hoyer. NBC's Chip Reid reminded us of Murtha's characterization of an ethics crackdown on MSNBC's Hardball: "Crap!" ABC's George Stephanopoulos (no videostream supplied) saw cliquish Congressional leadership elections as being "a lot like high school" and CBS' Bob Schieffer saw Pelosi needlessly frittering away her leadership clout.
INSECURITY A pair of federal agencies came in for unflattering scrutiny. NBC's Coming Home series blasted the Pentagon's ESGR, the agency that protects the jobs of military reservists when they return from active duty. National Guard veterans are supposed to enjoy the guarantee of employment security for an entire year, yet Lisa Myers reported that 22% encounter problems with employers. Meanwhile ABC's Lisa Stark (subscription required) teased the USDA. Each year it publishes a report on how many are hungry nationwide. This year the total is 35m--but now their designation has been changed. They have "very low food security."
READING MATTER CBS went to the publishing shelves for its story ideas. Richard Roth claimed an Exclusive for his profile in Paris of Omar Nasiri, author of Inside the Jihad, about his undercover infiltration of al-Qaeda on behalf of British and French espionage. Jon LaPook publicized Harry Fisch's The Male Biological Clock in a report inspired more by demographic targeting than intrinsic journalistic merit: sixtysomething men, it seems, experience declining levels of testosterone, especially if they have pot bellies.
IN HOUSE NBC got its inspiration from its own correspondents. Anchor Brian Williams debriefed Today's Ann Curry after her Crisis in Darfur three-parter. The ethnic cleansing, she pointed out, was perpetrated not by strangers, but neighbor-on-neighbor. Former puffer Mike Taibbi described how the death of ABC's Peter Jennings inspired him to quit, finally, after 40 years of a pack of non-filters a day. He volunteered to have his lungs inspected by a CT scan (machine made by a corporate sibling of NBC at General Electric). For now the cigs have left no sign of cancer or emphysema.
FOR LIGHT RELIEF ABC's David Muir wondered what OJ Simpson was thinking in penning his imaginary murder memoir If I Did It…CBS' Anthony Mason joined young videogamers as they waited in a four-day line to buy SONY's PlayStation3: the graphics are so cool they even make sweat run down the contours of a character's face in proportion to his exertion…NBC's Pete Williams rode with Virginia state troopers as they consigned their ten-code radio messages to history. 10-4.
