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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM JUNE 5, 2007
The prison sentence for perjury handed down to Lewis Libby, the onetime Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, was the lead on both CBS and NBC and the Story of the Day. But the focus of attention of all three networks was on Europe, as President George Bush prepared to attend the G8 Economic Summit on the Baltic coast of Germany. ABC led from Rostock. CBS filed on the G8 from London. NBC traveled to Oslo. And ABC and NBC covered a pair of dead English celebrities--Princess Diana, who is actually dead, and Paul McCartney, who is dead only in Beatles folklore.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR JUNE 5, 2007: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
EURONEWS The prison sentence for perjury handed down to Lewis Libby, the onetime Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, was the lead on both CBS and NBC and the Story of the Day. But the focus of attention of all three networks was on Europe, as President George Bush prepared to attend the G8 Economic Summit on the Baltic coast of Germany. ABC led from Rostock. CBS filed on the G8 from London. NBC traveled to Oslo. And ABC and NBC covered a pair of dead English celebrities--Princess Diana, who is actually dead, and Paul McCartney, who is dead only in Beatles folklore.
Libby was convicted three months ago of obstructing the investigation into the blown cover of an undercover CIA spy. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald told Judge Reggie Walton that Libby's lies "created a house of mirrors" for his investigators, CBS' Bob Orr told us. Orr noted that Lewis had been praised in more than 160 letters to Walton--nicknamed Longball for his harsh sentencing-- written by such luminaries as Donald Rumsfeld, Peter Pace, Henry Kissinger and Paul Wolfowitz. "The judge was unmoved." He fined Libby $250,000 and sentenced him to 30 months in prison. NBC's Bob Faw noted the Libby "showed no remorse" while his supporters were "crestfallen and furious."
ABC had George Stephanopoulos (no link) speculate on what will happen to Libby now. Libby wants to remain at liberty until his appeal is completed. If he is ordered to start serving the sentence instead, "President Bush will come under tremendous pressure from Libby's allies" to issue a pardon. NBC anchor Brian Williams interviewed former White House aide David Gergen (at the tail of the Faw videostream), who now teaches at Harvard University. Gergen noted that Libby's 30 months exceeds that handed down to White House aides HR Haldeman and John Ehrlichman during the Watergate scandal: "This is a very tough sentence."
TESTIFYING TRINITY On the campaign trail, both NBC and ABC picked up on CNN's follow-up to Sunday's New Hampshire debate between all of the Democratic Presidential contenders. The field was winnowed down to three and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards each agreed to discuss their personal religious faith at a CNN forum of evangelical Christians--one on making a marriage work, the next on coping with bereavement, the third on rehabilitation of wrongdoers. They "dove into what has traditionally been Republic terrain," as ABC's Dan Harris put it. NBC's Ron Allen was more racially precise: "Democrats have traditionally made appeals to black voters of faith" but keep religion out of their campaigns for "a wider audience."
RUSSIAN RELATIONSHIP Before Bush left the Czech Republic for the G8, he responded to the criticism of NATO's plans for a missile-interceptor defense by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Both NBC and ABC had their White House correspondents cover Bush's statement; CBS mentioned it only in passing. Bush sent a mixed message: ABC's Martha Raddatz (subscription required) focused on the positive as the President invited the Russian military to participate in the missile defense system; NBC's David Gregory chose the negative with Bush's "pointed criticism" of Putin for allowing Russia's political reforms to be "derailed."
Gregory found NBC file footage from 2000 of then anchor Tom Brokaw interviewing Putin about his support for such a missile defense: "We may create an umbrella to protect the whole of Europe, for example. We want to discuss this substantively and meaningfully" with then President Bill Clinton. The issues that were supposed to top the agenda at the G8 Summit such as global warming and HIV/AIDS "will be put on the back burner," concluded ABC's Raddatz, because of a US-Russia relationship that is "deteriorating." NBC's Gregory pointed out that Bush called that relationship "complex;" he added "that may be polite."
BIG FEET At the CBS bureau in London, Mark Phillips seemed not to have received the memo that global warming will be upstaged at the G8 by missile defense. He ran a carbon footprint calculation on the greenhouse gases the seven traveling world leaders will have emitted en route to Rostock. The footprint left by the three days of summitry was the same size as that left in an entire year by 198 average Americans. "Unless the G8 leaders come up with a carbon limiting scheme," Phillips was unable to resist himself, "they will just be producing another kind of hot air."
VIKING OFFSPRING NBC's Dawna Friesen traveled to Norway for an In Depth history lesson about the infamous Aryan-purity childrearing scheme known as Lebensborn, or Fountain of Life, organized by master race minded Nazis during Germany's World War II occupation. Interestingly, Friesen did not concentrate on the German role in procreating 12,000 blond babies "prized for their Viking roots" but, instead, on the Norwegian role in raising the children after the war. Or rather their failure to do so. Lebensborn children "became social outcasts" abandoned as orphans and imprisoned in insane asylums. They were "abused, often at the hands of doctors, nurses, even teachers." Now sixtysomethings, the Lebensborns are demanding an apology and compensation from the government of Norway.
MEANWHILE IN IRAQ Even on a heavy European day, Iraq was not forgotten. From Baghdad, CBS' Lara Logan claimed exclusive access to grainy black-and-white pilot's eye cockpit videotape of a USArmy Apache helicopter under fire from a truck-mounted machine gun; the helicopter fires back, hunting down the gunmen on the ground. "It is an image of the war the US military has rarely allowed to be seen." Back on the ground, Logan continued her report accompanying a house-to-house search through the capital's Rashid neighborhood--an "al-Qaeda hotspot"--with an army Stryker brigade. As she picked through rubble she learned to spot "decomposing bodies buried in shallow graves…it is hard work in the blistering Baghdad heat."
ABC provided free publicity for the Kiva online person-to-person microloan site--the word means Agreement in Swahili. Small business start-ups in 30 countries receive loans of $25-or-so from Kiva lenders, Betsy Stark told us in A Closer Look "but no loans have attracted lenders faster than the ones Kiva started posting just a few weeks ago from Iraq." For example, an anonymous woman in Kirkuk has just received the loan she needs to turn an empty stall into a hair salon. The donor explained: "Even in chaos, ladies want to look good, no matter what."
And on The Homefront in Minnesota, NBC's Janet Shamlian pointed out that military families with National Guard members deployed in Iraq can have an even harder time than those in the regular military. On an army base, wives and children have neighbors to share with, counseling services and support groups at hand. In tiny Cannon Falls Minn, population 4,000, five-year-old Vanessa Peer and her brother "are the only children with a daddy at war."
CELEBRITY OVERLOAD Showing pictures of the rescue scene in Paris where Princess Diana died almost ten years ago has until now been taboo in the British news media. That self-denial is about to be broken by The Witnesses in the Tunnel a documentary on Channel 4 TV about the role of the paparazzi in her death. Her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry "are furious," as NBC's Keith Miller put it. Since her death "they have battled to keep Diana's dignity intact." Channel 4 denied that its documentary is "disrespectful." Miller observed that royal disapproval has led to "publicity not punishment."
Publicity, too, goes to Starbucks for its brand extension from selling coffee to selling music CDs. By edict from head office in all 13,728 coffee houses all over the globe Paul McCartney's new album Memory Almost Full is being piped into each sound system non-stop for 24 hours. ABC's David Muir (subscription required) did the math and came up with 19 million worldwide minutes of Sir Paul.
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: Fidel Castro appeared on Cuban TV, in heartier condition than at any time since his surgery…the senior senator from Wyoming, Republican Craig Thomas died, aged 74…a fourth suspect has been arrested in Trinidad in the alleged plot to sabotage fuel pipelines at New York City's JFK Airport…Cyclone Gonu has formed in the Arabian Sea and may damage oil infrastructure…Virginia Tech is to reopen the building where that shooting rampage took place in April.
Libby was convicted three months ago of obstructing the investigation into the blown cover of an undercover CIA spy. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald told Judge Reggie Walton that Libby's lies "created a house of mirrors" for his investigators, CBS' Bob Orr told us. Orr noted that Lewis had been praised in more than 160 letters to Walton--nicknamed Longball for his harsh sentencing-- written by such luminaries as Donald Rumsfeld, Peter Pace, Henry Kissinger and Paul Wolfowitz. "The judge was unmoved." He fined Libby $250,000 and sentenced him to 30 months in prison. NBC's Bob Faw noted the Libby "showed no remorse" while his supporters were "crestfallen and furious."
ABC had George Stephanopoulos (no link) speculate on what will happen to Libby now. Libby wants to remain at liberty until his appeal is completed. If he is ordered to start serving the sentence instead, "President Bush will come under tremendous pressure from Libby's allies" to issue a pardon. NBC anchor Brian Williams interviewed former White House aide David Gergen (at the tail of the Faw videostream), who now teaches at Harvard University. Gergen noted that Libby's 30 months exceeds that handed down to White House aides HR Haldeman and John Ehrlichman during the Watergate scandal: "This is a very tough sentence."
TESTIFYING TRINITY On the campaign trail, both NBC and ABC picked up on CNN's follow-up to Sunday's New Hampshire debate between all of the Democratic Presidential contenders. The field was winnowed down to three and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards each agreed to discuss their personal religious faith at a CNN forum of evangelical Christians--one on making a marriage work, the next on coping with bereavement, the third on rehabilitation of wrongdoers. They "dove into what has traditionally been Republic terrain," as ABC's Dan Harris put it. NBC's Ron Allen was more racially precise: "Democrats have traditionally made appeals to black voters of faith" but keep religion out of their campaigns for "a wider audience."
RUSSIAN RELATIONSHIP Before Bush left the Czech Republic for the G8, he responded to the criticism of NATO's plans for a missile-interceptor defense by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Both NBC and ABC had their White House correspondents cover Bush's statement; CBS mentioned it only in passing. Bush sent a mixed message: ABC's Martha Raddatz (subscription required) focused on the positive as the President invited the Russian military to participate in the missile defense system; NBC's David Gregory chose the negative with Bush's "pointed criticism" of Putin for allowing Russia's political reforms to be "derailed."
Gregory found NBC file footage from 2000 of then anchor Tom Brokaw interviewing Putin about his support for such a missile defense: "We may create an umbrella to protect the whole of Europe, for example. We want to discuss this substantively and meaningfully" with then President Bill Clinton. The issues that were supposed to top the agenda at the G8 Summit such as global warming and HIV/AIDS "will be put on the back burner," concluded ABC's Raddatz, because of a US-Russia relationship that is "deteriorating." NBC's Gregory pointed out that Bush called that relationship "complex;" he added "that may be polite."
BIG FEET At the CBS bureau in London, Mark Phillips seemed not to have received the memo that global warming will be upstaged at the G8 by missile defense. He ran a carbon footprint calculation on the greenhouse gases the seven traveling world leaders will have emitted en route to Rostock. The footprint left by the three days of summitry was the same size as that left in an entire year by 198 average Americans. "Unless the G8 leaders come up with a carbon limiting scheme," Phillips was unable to resist himself, "they will just be producing another kind of hot air."
VIKING OFFSPRING NBC's Dawna Friesen traveled to Norway for an In Depth history lesson about the infamous Aryan-purity childrearing scheme known as Lebensborn, or Fountain of Life, organized by master race minded Nazis during Germany's World War II occupation. Interestingly, Friesen did not concentrate on the German role in procreating 12,000 blond babies "prized for their Viking roots" but, instead, on the Norwegian role in raising the children after the war. Or rather their failure to do so. Lebensborn children "became social outcasts" abandoned as orphans and imprisoned in insane asylums. They were "abused, often at the hands of doctors, nurses, even teachers." Now sixtysomethings, the Lebensborns are demanding an apology and compensation from the government of Norway.
MEANWHILE IN IRAQ Even on a heavy European day, Iraq was not forgotten. From Baghdad, CBS' Lara Logan claimed exclusive access to grainy black-and-white pilot's eye cockpit videotape of a USArmy Apache helicopter under fire from a truck-mounted machine gun; the helicopter fires back, hunting down the gunmen on the ground. "It is an image of the war the US military has rarely allowed to be seen." Back on the ground, Logan continued her report accompanying a house-to-house search through the capital's Rashid neighborhood--an "al-Qaeda hotspot"--with an army Stryker brigade. As she picked through rubble she learned to spot "decomposing bodies buried in shallow graves…it is hard work in the blistering Baghdad heat."
ABC provided free publicity for the Kiva online person-to-person microloan site--the word means Agreement in Swahili. Small business start-ups in 30 countries receive loans of $25-or-so from Kiva lenders, Betsy Stark told us in A Closer Look "but no loans have attracted lenders faster than the ones Kiva started posting just a few weeks ago from Iraq." For example, an anonymous woman in Kirkuk has just received the loan she needs to turn an empty stall into a hair salon. The donor explained: "Even in chaos, ladies want to look good, no matter what."
And on The Homefront in Minnesota, NBC's Janet Shamlian pointed out that military families with National Guard members deployed in Iraq can have an even harder time than those in the regular military. On an army base, wives and children have neighbors to share with, counseling services and support groups at hand. In tiny Cannon Falls Minn, population 4,000, five-year-old Vanessa Peer and her brother "are the only children with a daddy at war."
CELEBRITY OVERLOAD Showing pictures of the rescue scene in Paris where Princess Diana died almost ten years ago has until now been taboo in the British news media. That self-denial is about to be broken by The Witnesses in the Tunnel a documentary on Channel 4 TV about the role of the paparazzi in her death. Her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry "are furious," as NBC's Keith Miller put it. Since her death "they have battled to keep Diana's dignity intact." Channel 4 denied that its documentary is "disrespectful." Miller observed that royal disapproval has led to "publicity not punishment."
Publicity, too, goes to Starbucks for its brand extension from selling coffee to selling music CDs. By edict from head office in all 13,728 coffee houses all over the globe Paul McCartney's new album Memory Almost Full is being piped into each sound system non-stop for 24 hours. ABC's David Muir (subscription required) did the math and came up with 19 million worldwide minutes of Sir Paul.
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: Fidel Castro appeared on Cuban TV, in heartier condition than at any time since his surgery…the senior senator from Wyoming, Republican Craig Thomas died, aged 74…a fourth suspect has been arrested in Trinidad in the alleged plot to sabotage fuel pipelines at New York City's JFK Airport…Cyclone Gonu has formed in the Arabian Sea and may damage oil infrastructure…Virginia Tech is to reopen the building where that shooting rampage took place in April.
