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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM NOVEMBER 23, 2006
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a light news day. The major anchors take the day off. ABC substituted with Elizabeth Vargas, CBS with Russ Mitchell, NBC with Ann Curry. But the death squads of Baghdad were not paying attention. A trio of carbombs exploded at markets in Sadr City and left more than 160 dead, the war's deadliest single day to date.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR NOVEMBER 23, 2006: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
NO DAY OFF Thanksgiving is supposed to be a light news day. The major anchors take the day off. ABC substituted with Elizabeth Vargas, CBS with Russ Mitchell, NBC with Ann Curry. But the death squads of Baghdad were not paying attention. A trio of carbombs exploded at markets in Sadr City and left more than 160 dead, the war's deadliest single day to date.
All three networks led with gruesome pictures from their Baghdad correspondents. ABC's Hilary Brown (subscription required) called the attacks "massive, well-coordinated and deadly…black smoke billowed over the suburb." CBS' Elizabeth Palmer started off with turkey dinner in a Baghdad mess hall, but then switched outside: the newly-arrived troops "learned just how savage their tour of duty could be." She showed us bloody hospital corridors: "Many died where they lay." NBC's Tom Aspell warned that when Baghdad's curfew eases "there will be a wave of reprisal killings."
Trouble continues to brew in Lebanon. CBS' Sheila MacVicar shows us scenes from the funeral of assassinated Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel that turned into an anti-Syria rally. "Those bullets shot holes in US policy just at the moment when the US and its allies were beginning to reach out to Syria." The Bush Administration "had hoped Syria might help stabilize Iraq."
AROUND EUROPE In London, Alexander Litvinenko, the onetime KGB colonel, met his fate, killed by an unknown poison administered by an unknown killer. Both ABC and CBS assigned reporters to update the continuing intrigue. CBS' Richard Roth recalled that Litvinenko "pointed a very public finger at a fellow former spy, Vladimir Putin," for the assassination of Moscow journalist Anna Politskovskaya. ABC's Jim Sciutto (subscription required) repeated the Kremlin's "emphatic denial."
In Rome, there is a potentially significant shift in the Vatican's thinking. CBS' Allen Pizzey predicted that the Catholic Church will almost certainly relax its condemnation of condoms for married couples in circumstances where one partner is HIV-positive. Pizzey called it a small but "historic shift." Nevertheless, radical change can take centuries."
NOSE TO THE GROUND Eventually the networks turned to the Thanksgiving holiday. The obvious angle was the risk of cancellation of New York City's Macy's parade. ABC's Dan Harris (no link) told us of the double threat: the big balloons have to be inflated amid a worldwide helium shortage caused by production problems in Algeria and Qatar; and the risk of accidents prevents them from flying in high winds. In the end, the helium came through and flying was permitted, but "on a very short leash. Snoopy's snout was nearly scraping the pavement."
NBC offered a Thanksgiving pair: Rehema Ellis gave us the normal national round-up and Jim Maceda in Jalalabad tried for something more exotic. Blackhawk helicopters are used to ship turkey dinners to troops of the 10th Mountain Division in remote outposts of Nuristan, "a taste of home at the tip of the spear."
FORE In part three of CBS' Giving Back feature on volunteerism and philanthropy, Byron Pitts profiled a preacher in inner-city Boston who gave up a cushy lifestyle to minister to the mean streets of Roxbury. How comfortable had Gerald Bell been before? He was "your typical cigar-smokin' suburban-livin' college-educated corporate banker--with a bad golf swing," Pitts teased.
An even worse swing belongs to Michael Tyurin, a Russian cosmonaut on the International Space Station. He was hired by club manufacturer Element 21 to hit the longest shot ever. Tyurin's six-iron sent the ball off on a one-million-mile orbit around Earth and ABC's Ned Potter provided the stunt with the desired publicity: "Take that Tiger Woods."
PREDATION The infestation by the Asian carp of the river ecosystems of the Mississippi River valley is a natural story for television because of those astonishing pictures of fish jumping from the water into passing boats. The twist from Kevin Tibbles in NBC's What Works series was humanity's revenge. A fishery is being developed along the Illinois River to eat the slimy predators. Tibbles suggested these delicacies: taco carp, carp hot dogs, smoked carp, carp jerky.
MENTIONED IN PASSING The network newscasts do not assign correspondents to all of the news of the day. If Tyndall Report readers come across videostreamed reports online of stories that were mentioned only in passing, post the link in comments for us to check out
Today's examples: an obituary for jazz singer Anita O'Day…Turkey prepares for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI…a grandmother volunteers as a suicide bomber in the Gaza Strip.
All three networks led with gruesome pictures from their Baghdad correspondents. ABC's Hilary Brown (subscription required) called the attacks "massive, well-coordinated and deadly…black smoke billowed over the suburb." CBS' Elizabeth Palmer started off with turkey dinner in a Baghdad mess hall, but then switched outside: the newly-arrived troops "learned just how savage their tour of duty could be." She showed us bloody hospital corridors: "Many died where they lay." NBC's Tom Aspell warned that when Baghdad's curfew eases "there will be a wave of reprisal killings."
Trouble continues to brew in Lebanon. CBS' Sheila MacVicar shows us scenes from the funeral of assassinated Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel that turned into an anti-Syria rally. "Those bullets shot holes in US policy just at the moment when the US and its allies were beginning to reach out to Syria." The Bush Administration "had hoped Syria might help stabilize Iraq."
AROUND EUROPE In London, Alexander Litvinenko, the onetime KGB colonel, met his fate, killed by an unknown poison administered by an unknown killer. Both ABC and CBS assigned reporters to update the continuing intrigue. CBS' Richard Roth recalled that Litvinenko "pointed a very public finger at a fellow former spy, Vladimir Putin," for the assassination of Moscow journalist Anna Politskovskaya. ABC's Jim Sciutto (subscription required) repeated the Kremlin's "emphatic denial."
In Rome, there is a potentially significant shift in the Vatican's thinking. CBS' Allen Pizzey predicted that the Catholic Church will almost certainly relax its condemnation of condoms for married couples in circumstances where one partner is HIV-positive. Pizzey called it a small but "historic shift." Nevertheless, radical change can take centuries."
NOSE TO THE GROUND Eventually the networks turned to the Thanksgiving holiday. The obvious angle was the risk of cancellation of New York City's Macy's parade. ABC's Dan Harris (no link) told us of the double threat: the big balloons have to be inflated amid a worldwide helium shortage caused by production problems in Algeria and Qatar; and the risk of accidents prevents them from flying in high winds. In the end, the helium came through and flying was permitted, but "on a very short leash. Snoopy's snout was nearly scraping the pavement."
NBC offered a Thanksgiving pair: Rehema Ellis gave us the normal national round-up and Jim Maceda in Jalalabad tried for something more exotic. Blackhawk helicopters are used to ship turkey dinners to troops of the 10th Mountain Division in remote outposts of Nuristan, "a taste of home at the tip of the spear."
FORE In part three of CBS' Giving Back feature on volunteerism and philanthropy, Byron Pitts profiled a preacher in inner-city Boston who gave up a cushy lifestyle to minister to the mean streets of Roxbury. How comfortable had Gerald Bell been before? He was "your typical cigar-smokin' suburban-livin' college-educated corporate banker--with a bad golf swing," Pitts teased.
An even worse swing belongs to Michael Tyurin, a Russian cosmonaut on the International Space Station. He was hired by club manufacturer Element 21 to hit the longest shot ever. Tyurin's six-iron sent the ball off on a one-million-mile orbit around Earth and ABC's Ned Potter provided the stunt with the desired publicity: "Take that Tiger Woods."
PREDATION The infestation by the Asian carp of the river ecosystems of the Mississippi River valley is a natural story for television because of those astonishing pictures of fish jumping from the water into passing boats. The twist from Kevin Tibbles in NBC's What Works series was humanity's revenge. A fishery is being developed along the Illinois River to eat the slimy predators. Tibbles suggested these delicacies: taco carp, carp hot dogs, smoked carp, carp jerky.
MENTIONED IN PASSING The network newscasts do not assign correspondents to all of the news of the day. If Tyndall Report readers come across videostreamed reports online of stories that were mentioned only in passing, post the link in comments for us to check out
Today's examples: an obituary for jazz singer Anita O'Day…Turkey prepares for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI…a grandmother volunteers as a suicide bomber in the Gaza Strip.
