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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM NOVEMBER 22, 2007
Thanksgiving was celebrated with a truncated news agenda. CBS pre-empted its newscast, airing NFL football instead. ABC and NBC both had substitute anchors--David Muir and David Gregory respectively--for their regular evening newscast, but NB decided not to post any of its stories online. So only ABC offers its content as videostreams. It led with an Exclusive from Iraq, accompanying Gen Raymond Odierno as he inspected troops in the field in nine different locations. It made the Iraq War the Story of the Day while NBC led with a round-up of Thanksgiving observances.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR NOVEMBER 22, 2007: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
| click to play | story | angle | reporter | dateline | |
| ABC | Iraq: US-led invasion forces' combat continues | Field commanders find counterinsurgency progress | Terry McCarthy | Baghdad |
| ABC sub req | Cyclone in Bay of Bengal blasts Bangladesh | Relief agencies deliver aid to coastal zone | Nick Schifrin | Bangladesh |
| ABC sub req | Thanksgiving Day holiday | Parades, dinners, reunions, early shopping | David Muir | New York |
| ABC sub req | Christmas holiday shopping season previewed | Retailers try to get early start on Black Friday | Eric Horng | California |
| ABC | Teenage rebellious behavior discussed online | Insults, abuse, rumors lead to Missouri suicide | Barbara Pinto | Chicago |
TURKEY DAY Thanksgiving was celebrated with a truncated news agenda. CBS pre-empted its newscast, airing NFL football instead. ABC and NBC both had substitute anchors--David Muir and David Gregory respectively--for their regular evening newscast, but NB decided not to post any of its stories online. So only ABC offers its content as videostreams. It led with an Exclusive from Iraq, accompanying Gen Raymond Odierno as he inspected troops in the field in nine different locations. It made the Iraq War the Story of the Day while NBC led with a round-up of Thanksgiving observances.
ABC's Terry McCarthy traveled with the general "from the Triangle of Death…to the killing fields of Diyala…to the once-deadly deserts of Anbar." Everywhere commanders in the field offered good news: "The violence is going down." NBC's Tom Aspell (no link) covered the war, too, from Baghdad where he recounted the 40 days of urban combat that led to the pacification of the capital's "notorious Haifa Street." Interestingly, neither McCarthy nor Aspell even mentioned the so-called surge of troops as a factor in the improved security. Aspell told us that the Battle of Haifa Street began in January, before Commander in Chief George Bush ordered the troop reinforcement. McCarthy credited "the biggest change" to "local citizens abandoning the insurgency." The US military has now signed up 72,000 former guerrillas to serve as "community police."
YELLOW LENTIL STUFFING Both NBC and ABC filed from the frontlines of aid delivery in cyclone-ravaged coastal Bangladesh where the death toll has risen to 5,000. ABC's Nick Schifrin (subscription required) profiled the efforts of Save the Children and USAID. NBC's Ian Williams (no link) introduced us to CARE International's Geneva-based former NBC News journalist Bill Dowell, as he checked the "flimsy roadside shelters" erected by the homeless: "The frames were made of broken branches covered by saris, plastic or sacks." ABC's Schifrin saw the American aid workers dine: "Lamb replaces turkey, yellow lentils for stuffing." Theirs is a "holiday about thanking--also about giving."
RETAIL PROMOTION NBC had Pat Dawson (no link) lead of its newscast with "the holiday rituals of parades, football and plenty of turkey" plus the "traditional Thanksgiving virtues like generosity and sharing the bounty." ABC's substitute anchor Muir (subscription required) narrated images of "the bands, the balloons and the bystanders" of the parade sponsored by Macy's department store in New York City. Elsewhere retailers were not just promoting shopping but actually open for shopping. ABC's Eric Horng (subscription required) told us that "deals at K-mart lured many away from food, family and football." He asked one customer: "Shouldn't you be home basting a turkey or something?" "No. My mother-in-law is doing that."
PROPAGANDA FOR CENSORS In the wake of CBS' questionable three-parter this week The Secret Lives of Teens on the online antics of adolescents--we commented on how Daniel Sieberg seemed to contradict himself here and here--Barbara Pinto got into the act with a yet weaker package for ABC's A Closer Look.
Pinto filed on so-called cyberbullying, using the hook of the suicide of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl in the suburban St Louis town of Dardenne Prairie. "Sending someone an harassing e-mail is a crime but posting that same information on a Website or blog is perfectly legal," Pinto explained, as the township passed a censorship ordinance.
Pinto's piece was thin and one-sided. Meier's parents insisted that a MySpace.com posting drove their daughter to kill herself. But its content--"I do not know if I want to be friends with you any longer because I hear you are not nice to your friends"--seems a far cry from harassment. Instead of being a new media controversy, the parents' complaint seemed to be an old-fashioned neighborhood feud when it was revealed that "Josh Evans," the poster, was the disguise used by the mother of a girlfriend of Megan's. Anyway Megan "had struggled with depression" even before the message was sent.
Furthermore, Pinto could not find a single free speech advocate to argue against the township's blatant disregard for the First Amendment.
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: a wildfire in New Mexico has been contained…the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk was refused permission to dock in Hong Kong…a salmon fishery in Ireland has been wiped out by an infestation of jellyfish…this is the 44th anniversary of the assassination of President John Kennedy.
ABC's Terry McCarthy traveled with the general "from the Triangle of Death…to the killing fields of Diyala…to the once-deadly deserts of Anbar." Everywhere commanders in the field offered good news: "The violence is going down." NBC's Tom Aspell (no link) covered the war, too, from Baghdad where he recounted the 40 days of urban combat that led to the pacification of the capital's "notorious Haifa Street." Interestingly, neither McCarthy nor Aspell even mentioned the so-called surge of troops as a factor in the improved security. Aspell told us that the Battle of Haifa Street began in January, before Commander in Chief George Bush ordered the troop reinforcement. McCarthy credited "the biggest change" to "local citizens abandoning the insurgency." The US military has now signed up 72,000 former guerrillas to serve as "community police."
YELLOW LENTIL STUFFING Both NBC and ABC filed from the frontlines of aid delivery in cyclone-ravaged coastal Bangladesh where the death toll has risen to 5,000. ABC's Nick Schifrin (subscription required) profiled the efforts of Save the Children and USAID. NBC's Ian Williams (no link) introduced us to CARE International's Geneva-based former NBC News journalist Bill Dowell, as he checked the "flimsy roadside shelters" erected by the homeless: "The frames were made of broken branches covered by saris, plastic or sacks." ABC's Schifrin saw the American aid workers dine: "Lamb replaces turkey, yellow lentils for stuffing." Theirs is a "holiday about thanking--also about giving."
RETAIL PROMOTION NBC had Pat Dawson (no link) lead of its newscast with "the holiday rituals of parades, football and plenty of turkey" plus the "traditional Thanksgiving virtues like generosity and sharing the bounty." ABC's substitute anchor Muir (subscription required) narrated images of "the bands, the balloons and the bystanders" of the parade sponsored by Macy's department store in New York City. Elsewhere retailers were not just promoting shopping but actually open for shopping. ABC's Eric Horng (subscription required) told us that "deals at K-mart lured many away from food, family and football." He asked one customer: "Shouldn't you be home basting a turkey or something?" "No. My mother-in-law is doing that."
PROPAGANDA FOR CENSORS In the wake of CBS' questionable three-parter this week The Secret Lives of Teens on the online antics of adolescents--we commented on how Daniel Sieberg seemed to contradict himself here and here--Barbara Pinto got into the act with a yet weaker package for ABC's A Closer Look.
Pinto filed on so-called cyberbullying, using the hook of the suicide of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl in the suburban St Louis town of Dardenne Prairie. "Sending someone an harassing e-mail is a crime but posting that same information on a Website or blog is perfectly legal," Pinto explained, as the township passed a censorship ordinance.
Pinto's piece was thin and one-sided. Meier's parents insisted that a MySpace.com posting drove their daughter to kill herself. But its content--"I do not know if I want to be friends with you any longer because I hear you are not nice to your friends"--seems a far cry from harassment. Instead of being a new media controversy, the parents' complaint seemed to be an old-fashioned neighborhood feud when it was revealed that "Josh Evans," the poster, was the disguise used by the mother of a girlfriend of Megan's. Anyway Megan "had struggled with depression" even before the message was sent.
Furthermore, Pinto could not find a single free speech advocate to argue against the township's blatant disregard for the First Amendment.
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: a wildfire in New Mexico has been contained…the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk was refused permission to dock in Hong Kong…a salmon fishery in Ireland has been wiped out by an infestation of jellyfish…this is the 44th anniversary of the assassination of President John Kennedy.
