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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM OCTOBER 22, 2007
The fourth time turned out to be a charm for ABC World News. ABC expanded its newshole with limited commercial interruptions on the first three Mondays of October--only to find very little news with which to fill the gap. Finally, ABC's extra time (24 min v CBS 19, NBC 20), financed by single sponsor Lipitor, paid dividends. The dozen wildfires fanned by the Santa Ana winds across southern California were the unanimous Story of the Day. All three networks led from the fire zone--ABC with a trio of reports.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR OCTOBER 22, 2007: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
PERFECT STORM HITS HOT DRY LAND The fourth time turned out to be a charm for ABC World News. ABC expanded its newshole with limited commercial interruptions on the first three Mondays of October--only to find very little news with which to fill the gap. Finally, ABC's extra time (24 min v CBS 19, NBC 20), financed by single sponsor Lipitor, paid dividends. The dozen wildfires fanned by the Santa Ana winds across southern California were the unanimous Story of the Day. All three networks led from the fire zone--ABC with a trio of reports.
The hot winds combined with the tinder dry brush after months of light rainfall to create conditions that were just right for fires. "The perfect storm," Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger called it, a soundbite carried by CBS' Bill Whitaker and ABC's Ryan Owens. Above the mansions of Malibu, NBC's Lester Holt reflected on the conditions in a question to a firefighter: "A perfect storm?" "Pretty much." Holt elaborated: Los Angeles has received just three inches of rainfall so far this year--compared with its normal twelve--and "a dry weather pattern called La Nina, which surfaces every few years, is now making its comeback."
ABC's Neal Karlinsky was also on that Malibu ridge, where he felt "the winds continue to move around in a circle, almost, and move this fire back on itself." As he drove down the mountain, the fire jumped across the canyon road: his cameraman kept the video rolling as he drove through flames. CBS' Whitaker showed us the ruins of the landmark Malibu Castle that overlooks the Pacific Ocean: the owner "was able to save a bit of precious memorabilia…the army fatigues once worn by Elvis Presley."
The fires were closest to the population centers of San Diego County, where an evacuation order displaced a quarter of a million residents. To the east, Ramona, population 36,000, was surrounded by flames, ABC's Owens pointed out: its residents "are not just worried about losing their homes but their entire town." The fire cut off I-15, the county's main north-south artery, when it jumped over the freeway, noted NBC's George Lewis. Many evacuees took refuge in the home of the city's NFL Chargers, Qualcomm Stadium capacity 65,000.
All three networks offered a primer on the Santa Ana. The prevailing winds in southern California, CBS' John Blackstone explained, "blow in off the ocean bringing the cool moist air and a usually pleasant climate. The Santa Anas reverse that usual pattern." When a low pressure settles over the water and a high pressure over the desert, "masses of hot dry air flow toward the Pacific," ABC's Brain Rooney (subscription required) detailed. "The situation is aggravated when the wind is forced through southern California's mountain canyons, creating a kind of wind tunnel effect." NBC anchor Brian Williams consulted Fritz Coleman, the meteorologist for its Los Angeles station KNBC-TV. He observed that the "wind tunnel effect" create speeds of at least 70 mph, with the air "dried out, with relative humidity as low as 4%, the air actually devoid of moisture and you get temperatures…tomorrow at 100F."
PLAN PKK Weekend fighting along the Turkey-Iraq border ratcheted up frictions yet further. Iraq-based guerrillas from the Kurdish PKK faction crossed into Turkey, killing a dozen soldiers, taking a further eight captive. ABC sent Jim Sciutto to Diyarbakir in Turkish Kurdistan to monitor the build-up of 100,000 troops in the border zone. "A Turkish invasion of northern Iraq, a region under American military control, would be an embarrassment for the United States," Sciutto understated. From the Pentagon, CBS' David Martin reported that Joseph Ralston has resigned as the State Department's special envoy to Ankara because the United States failed to honor its commitment to Turkey "to take care of the PKK." Martin explained why the crackdown never occurred: "American commanders in Iraq say they cannot spare the troops." He repeated the latest Pentagon "plan" from an unnamed source in the military: "Stay the hell away from there and hope to God it does not get out of control." No wonder the source wanted to stay anonymous.
ABC filed a second Iraqi story from the once-wartorn city of Fallujah. Without a carbomb attack on its streets since May, the population, displaced by the Marine Corps' siege, is returning in its tens of thousands, Miguel Marquez marveled: "The markets bustle. Traffic chokes the streets." The economy is not keeping yet pace as "unemployment has rocketed to 70%." The city is trying to solve that problem with a construction boom, "from huge infrastructure projects to fixing sidewalks," and a tough of hi-tech: "Fallujah even sports solar street lights."
FISH OUT OF WATER The first Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in the fighting in Afghanistan was awarded to a USNavy SEAL. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski related Lt Michael Murphy's exploits last week. ABC and CBS assigned that task to their anchors as the medal was posthumously presented to Murphy's parents by President George Bush. Murphy was killed during a secret commando mission in the mountains of the Hindu Kush during the summer of 2005. His patrol stumbled across goat herders who alerted a local militia: a hundred-or-so fighters attacked the four sailors. ABC's Charles Gibson described the lieutenant's selflessness: "Murphy knew the only hope for his men's survival was to radio for back-up so he crawled out from cover into enemy fire--the only way to make phone contact." The call was to little avail, CBS' Katie Couric told us, in her pre-taped American Heroes profile (Couric herself took the day off with Russ Mitchell substituting as anchor): "A Chinook helicopter flew to their aid but it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all 16 on board." Murphy and two of his comrades were killed, too. The lone survivor, Marcus Luttrell, told Couric how he crawled into the side of a nearby cliff, wounded in the legs, and was rescued six days later.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Only NBC followed up last week's big story, the failed assassination attempt against returning Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto. Today newscaster Ann Curry traveled to Karachi to interview the former Prime Minister. After that double-bombing killed as many as 140 of her supporters, security was so tight that Curry had to pass through five bag searches and three metal detectors to get to her sitdown. "You knew it was going to happen," stated Curry. "I knew an attempt would be made." "So you knew that people would be at risk?" "And the people that came knew that there would be a risk. They put their lives on the line." Curry explained that diplomatic pressure by the United States resulted in Bhutto's return to Pakistan to "join forces" with her rival President Pervez Musharraf. Despite that alliance, Bhutto "believes some members of Pakistan's government actively support extremists--including those who tried to kill her."
THE TALKING CURE Also from the morning anchor desk, Robin Roberts (subscription required), of ABC's Good Morning America, filed a rare report for World News. A breast cancer patient herself, Roberts accompanied First Lady Laura Bush to the Gulf States as she campaigned to raise awareness of the disease among Arab women. Roberts presented scary statistics: the average Arab breast cancer diagnosis occurs in women ten years younger than the average in western societies--yet those tumors tend to be more advanced, 70% of patients in the lethal late stage. Talking about breasts is considered taboo, she added, showing how, to avoid giving offense, "Breast Cancer" is rendered "Beat Cancer" in English-language publicity materials. Roberts introduced us to women running an awareness campaign in Abu Dhabi: "This disease is so personal for so many where just talking about it can be the right medicine."
Clearly this morning personality is inexperienced at meeting the higher journalistic standards of an evening newscast. Why do Arab women get the cancer younger? Roberts did not even offer a hypothesis. Why are Arab publicity materials printed in English? No explanation. What can she possibly mean by suggesting that "just talking" can be the "right medicine"--as someone who had just undergone surgery herself how could she suggest less for her Arab sisters?
FEW BLACKS FOR BLANCO NBC, which has specialized in covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, noted one more victim of the storm--Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana's Governor. When she lost her off-year bid for re-election to Republican Bobby Jindal, Martin Savidge blamed Katrina for her defeat. Savidge painted a thumbnail of Jindal--36-years-old, former Rhodes Scholar, Roman Catholic convert, Indian-American--the first non-white to be elected Governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction. The factors behind Jindal's victory: he mobilized his own conservative base with a pro-life stand and his support of adding Intelligent Design to the public school biology curriculum; Blanco's get-out-the-vote effort failed, with a low Election Day turnout concentrated in the Democratic African-American community.
KEEPING ALCOHOL OUT ABC's limited Monday commercials this month have made room for its Key to Success series of extended features. So far, Bill Weir has shown us Montana fighting the demon methamphetamine; David Muir has helped clean up trash from Yosemite; Weir has praised the KIPP chain of charter schools. Now Dan Harris (subscription required) describes how Clackamas County in Oregon is trying to drive down its divorce rate. The Community Marriage Policy has persuaded 170 of the county's churches to forbid "quickie weddings." For the past six years, bride and groom have been obliged to undergo four sessions of pre-nuptial counseling before saying their I Do's. The program is the brainchild of Tom and Liz Dressel, who found their own marriage on the rocks and wanted to warn young couples not to follow in their footsteps. "There was no love there. Alcohol had come in," recalled Liz. What turned it around? "It was bringing the Lord into our life," responded Tom.
In the past five year's the divorce rate in Clackamas County has fallen by 15%. Harris did not tell us, for comparison's sake, what the trends for divorce are in counties where couples can still tie a quickie knot.
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: Osama bin Laden issued an audiotape reprimand to Sunni Arab resistance fighters in Iraq for internecine squabbling…this year's Defense Department budget underestimated wartime expenses by a total of $196bn…the Republican Presidential candidates, debating on Fox News Channel in Orlando, took turns at ridiculing Hillary Rodham Clinton…General Motors inched ahead of Toyota as the globe's leader in automobile sales…a home kit to test the paint on recalled toys for lead content has been itself recalled for false results…next door to the droughtstricken southeast, New Orleans suffered heavy rains and flash floods.
Anchor Brian Williams was proud of the newly renovated studios that are the home of NBC Nightly News.
The hot winds combined with the tinder dry brush after months of light rainfall to create conditions that were just right for fires. "The perfect storm," Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger called it, a soundbite carried by CBS' Bill Whitaker and ABC's Ryan Owens. Above the mansions of Malibu, NBC's Lester Holt reflected on the conditions in a question to a firefighter: "A perfect storm?" "Pretty much." Holt elaborated: Los Angeles has received just three inches of rainfall so far this year--compared with its normal twelve--and "a dry weather pattern called La Nina, which surfaces every few years, is now making its comeback."
ABC's Neal Karlinsky was also on that Malibu ridge, where he felt "the winds continue to move around in a circle, almost, and move this fire back on itself." As he drove down the mountain, the fire jumped across the canyon road: his cameraman kept the video rolling as he drove through flames. CBS' Whitaker showed us the ruins of the landmark Malibu Castle that overlooks the Pacific Ocean: the owner "was able to save a bit of precious memorabilia…the army fatigues once worn by Elvis Presley."
The fires were closest to the population centers of San Diego County, where an evacuation order displaced a quarter of a million residents. To the east, Ramona, population 36,000, was surrounded by flames, ABC's Owens pointed out: its residents "are not just worried about losing their homes but their entire town." The fire cut off I-15, the county's main north-south artery, when it jumped over the freeway, noted NBC's George Lewis. Many evacuees took refuge in the home of the city's NFL Chargers, Qualcomm Stadium capacity 65,000.
All three networks offered a primer on the Santa Ana. The prevailing winds in southern California, CBS' John Blackstone explained, "blow in off the ocean bringing the cool moist air and a usually pleasant climate. The Santa Anas reverse that usual pattern." When a low pressure settles over the water and a high pressure over the desert, "masses of hot dry air flow toward the Pacific," ABC's Brain Rooney (subscription required) detailed. "The situation is aggravated when the wind is forced through southern California's mountain canyons, creating a kind of wind tunnel effect." NBC anchor Brian Williams consulted Fritz Coleman, the meteorologist for its Los Angeles station KNBC-TV. He observed that the "wind tunnel effect" create speeds of at least 70 mph, with the air "dried out, with relative humidity as low as 4%, the air actually devoid of moisture and you get temperatures…tomorrow at 100F."
PLAN PKK Weekend fighting along the Turkey-Iraq border ratcheted up frictions yet further. Iraq-based guerrillas from the Kurdish PKK faction crossed into Turkey, killing a dozen soldiers, taking a further eight captive. ABC sent Jim Sciutto to Diyarbakir in Turkish Kurdistan to monitor the build-up of 100,000 troops in the border zone. "A Turkish invasion of northern Iraq, a region under American military control, would be an embarrassment for the United States," Sciutto understated. From the Pentagon, CBS' David Martin reported that Joseph Ralston has resigned as the State Department's special envoy to Ankara because the United States failed to honor its commitment to Turkey "to take care of the PKK." Martin explained why the crackdown never occurred: "American commanders in Iraq say they cannot spare the troops." He repeated the latest Pentagon "plan" from an unnamed source in the military: "Stay the hell away from there and hope to God it does not get out of control." No wonder the source wanted to stay anonymous.
ABC filed a second Iraqi story from the once-wartorn city of Fallujah. Without a carbomb attack on its streets since May, the population, displaced by the Marine Corps' siege, is returning in its tens of thousands, Miguel Marquez marveled: "The markets bustle. Traffic chokes the streets." The economy is not keeping yet pace as "unemployment has rocketed to 70%." The city is trying to solve that problem with a construction boom, "from huge infrastructure projects to fixing sidewalks," and a tough of hi-tech: "Fallujah even sports solar street lights."
FISH OUT OF WATER The first Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in the fighting in Afghanistan was awarded to a USNavy SEAL. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski related Lt Michael Murphy's exploits last week. ABC and CBS assigned that task to their anchors as the medal was posthumously presented to Murphy's parents by President George Bush. Murphy was killed during a secret commando mission in the mountains of the Hindu Kush during the summer of 2005. His patrol stumbled across goat herders who alerted a local militia: a hundred-or-so fighters attacked the four sailors. ABC's Charles Gibson described the lieutenant's selflessness: "Murphy knew the only hope for his men's survival was to radio for back-up so he crawled out from cover into enemy fire--the only way to make phone contact." The call was to little avail, CBS' Katie Couric told us, in her pre-taped American Heroes profile (Couric herself took the day off with Russ Mitchell substituting as anchor): "A Chinook helicopter flew to their aid but it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all 16 on board." Murphy and two of his comrades were killed, too. The lone survivor, Marcus Luttrell, told Couric how he crawled into the side of a nearby cliff, wounded in the legs, and was rescued six days later.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Only NBC followed up last week's big story, the failed assassination attempt against returning Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto. Today newscaster Ann Curry traveled to Karachi to interview the former Prime Minister. After that double-bombing killed as many as 140 of her supporters, security was so tight that Curry had to pass through five bag searches and three metal detectors to get to her sitdown. "You knew it was going to happen," stated Curry. "I knew an attempt would be made." "So you knew that people would be at risk?" "And the people that came knew that there would be a risk. They put their lives on the line." Curry explained that diplomatic pressure by the United States resulted in Bhutto's return to Pakistan to "join forces" with her rival President Pervez Musharraf. Despite that alliance, Bhutto "believes some members of Pakistan's government actively support extremists--including those who tried to kill her."
THE TALKING CURE Also from the morning anchor desk, Robin Roberts (subscription required), of ABC's Good Morning America, filed a rare report for World News. A breast cancer patient herself, Roberts accompanied First Lady Laura Bush to the Gulf States as she campaigned to raise awareness of the disease among Arab women. Roberts presented scary statistics: the average Arab breast cancer diagnosis occurs in women ten years younger than the average in western societies--yet those tumors tend to be more advanced, 70% of patients in the lethal late stage. Talking about breasts is considered taboo, she added, showing how, to avoid giving offense, "Breast Cancer" is rendered "Beat Cancer" in English-language publicity materials. Roberts introduced us to women running an awareness campaign in Abu Dhabi: "This disease is so personal for so many where just talking about it can be the right medicine."
Clearly this morning personality is inexperienced at meeting the higher journalistic standards of an evening newscast. Why do Arab women get the cancer younger? Roberts did not even offer a hypothesis. Why are Arab publicity materials printed in English? No explanation. What can she possibly mean by suggesting that "just talking" can be the "right medicine"--as someone who had just undergone surgery herself how could she suggest less for her Arab sisters?
FEW BLACKS FOR BLANCO NBC, which has specialized in covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, noted one more victim of the storm--Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana's Governor. When she lost her off-year bid for re-election to Republican Bobby Jindal, Martin Savidge blamed Katrina for her defeat. Savidge painted a thumbnail of Jindal--36-years-old, former Rhodes Scholar, Roman Catholic convert, Indian-American--the first non-white to be elected Governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction. The factors behind Jindal's victory: he mobilized his own conservative base with a pro-life stand and his support of adding Intelligent Design to the public school biology curriculum; Blanco's get-out-the-vote effort failed, with a low Election Day turnout concentrated in the Democratic African-American community.
KEEPING ALCOHOL OUT ABC's limited Monday commercials this month have made room for its Key to Success series of extended features. So far, Bill Weir has shown us Montana fighting the demon methamphetamine; David Muir has helped clean up trash from Yosemite; Weir has praised the KIPP chain of charter schools. Now Dan Harris (subscription required) describes how Clackamas County in Oregon is trying to drive down its divorce rate. The Community Marriage Policy has persuaded 170 of the county's churches to forbid "quickie weddings." For the past six years, bride and groom have been obliged to undergo four sessions of pre-nuptial counseling before saying their I Do's. The program is the brainchild of Tom and Liz Dressel, who found their own marriage on the rocks and wanted to warn young couples not to follow in their footsteps. "There was no love there. Alcohol had come in," recalled Liz. What turned it around? "It was bringing the Lord into our life," responded Tom.
In the past five year's the divorce rate in Clackamas County has fallen by 15%. Harris did not tell us, for comparison's sake, what the trends for divorce are in counties where couples can still tie a quickie knot.
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: Osama bin Laden issued an audiotape reprimand to Sunni Arab resistance fighters in Iraq for internecine squabbling…this year's Defense Department budget underestimated wartime expenses by a total of $196bn…the Republican Presidential candidates, debating on Fox News Channel in Orlando, took turns at ridiculing Hillary Rodham Clinton…General Motors inched ahead of Toyota as the globe's leader in automobile sales…a home kit to test the paint on recalled toys for lead content has been itself recalled for false results…next door to the droughtstricken southeast, New Orleans suffered heavy rains and flash floods.
Anchor Brian Williams was proud of the newly renovated studios that are the home of NBC Nightly News.
