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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM APRIL 14, 2008
When small town Americans get bitter because of economic hard times, they "cling to their religion and to their guns." Thus Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama accounted for the abiding appeal of First Amendment and Second Amendment values in the heartland. He made the comment at a closed-door fundraiser last week in San Francisco but all three networks led from Pennsylvania where next week's primary election may hinge on Hillary Rodham Clinton's counterattack. "I do not think he really gets it," she argued, "that people are looking for a President that stands up for you and not looks down on you." The fallout from Obama's comment was Story of the Day on another Monday in April when ABC expended its newshole (24 min v CBS 18, NBC 19) by running limited commercials, courtesy of its lone sponsor, the pharmaceutical Caduet. CBS split its anchoring chores, with Harry Smith in New York and Katie Couric in London, where she interviewed Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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CLING SOUNDED WORSE THAN BITTER When small town Americans get bitter because of economic hard times, they "cling to their religion and to their guns." Thus Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama accounted for the abiding appeal of First Amendment and Second Amendment values in the heartland. He made the comment at a closed-door fundraiser last week in San Francisco but all three networks led from Pennsylvania where next week's primary election may hinge on Hillary Rodham Clinton's counterattack. "I do not think he really gets it," she argued, "that people are looking for a President that stands up for you and not looks down on you." The fallout from Obama's comment was Story of the Day on another Monday in April when ABC expended its newshole (24 min v CBS 18, NBC 19) by running limited commercials, courtesy of its lone sponsor, the pharmaceutical Caduet. CBS split its anchoring chores, with Harry Smith in New York and Katie Couric in London, where she interviewed Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell gave a hat-tip to The Huffington Post for its scoop on Obama from San Francisco. All three networks focused on his characterization of the economic mood in Pennsylvania's small towns as "bitter" even though the usage of "cling" seems the less felicitous phrase.
CBS' Dean Reynolds reported that Obama "admitted" that his phrasing was "ill chosen" yet NBC's Mitchell noted that Obama did not retract the underlying sentiment: "He is only sorry for a poor choice of words." She quoted Obama almost four years ago talking on PBS' Charlie Rose: "What they do know is that they can go out with their friends and hunt and feel a sense of camaraderie." On ABC, Jake Tapper went along the Susquehanna River to check whether hard economic times were indeed a fact: Columbia Pa "is the kind of small town that factories left long ago, never to be replaced."
Not only did Rodham Clinton profess herself "disappointed" with Obama, she accused him of "snobbery and elitism," as ABC's David Wright paraphrased. "The reality is that Obama is in a political pickle," CBS' Reynolds asserted, as "in the hands of his rivals" his words have "morphed into a snobbish slap at average folks." Hence, he explained Rodham Clinton's assumption of her "Woman of the People pose, quaffing brews, downing shots and rhapsodizing about the joys of hunting." Obama's response was that his rival was "talking like she is Annie Oakley."
NBC's Mitchell presented Rodham Clinton's argument: "Obama is now vulnerable to the kind of attacks Republicans have perfected for decades, painting Democratic nominees since Michael Dukakis as 'out of touch' with red-state America…The Clinton campaign is not backing down, seizing the opportunity, they think, to persuade superdelegates that Obama could lose the culture wars to Republicans in the fall." Republican John McCain appears to agree with Rodham Clinton. Mitchell quoted him calling Obama's remarks "a defining moment."
NO MORE NORTH BY NORTHWEST All three networks assigned correspondents to cover the looming merger in the airline industry: "We are expecting an announcement could come as soon as tomorrow, a decision tonight," predicted Tom Costello in a brief stand-up on NBC, as Delta Airlines and NorthWest tried to forge an agreement on seniority lists between the two sets of pilots. CBS' Nancy Cordes reported that the combined airline, "the largest commercial carrier in the world" would keep the name of Delta, with a fleet of 1,100 jetliners. At present, Delta operates hubs at Atlanta, Cincinnati, New York City and Salt Lake City, ABC's Lisa Stark (embargoed link) pointed out, with NorthWest at Detroit, Minneapolis and Memphis. She expected the combination to drop the hubs at Cincinnati and Memphis. For comparison, she reminded us that when TransWorld was merged into American, St Louis was axed as a hub and capacity there was slashed by 75%.
WHO THEIR PARENTS ARE The Deseret News, a newspaper, ABC's Neal Karlinsky (embargoed link) pointed out, that is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, obtained interviews with some of the mothers at the Yearning for Zion ranch, maintaining their innocence of child abuse. Texas child welfare authorities removed their children last week and the mothers protested that they had been "kept in appalling conditions and that many have become sick as a result," Karlinsky reported. He called the welfare case "scattered and confused" since many of the 416 children and teenagers "have not been positively identified, changing their names repeatedly and telling case workers conflicting stories about who their parents are."
As for the fundamentalist Mormon sect that runs the compound near San Angelo, NBC's Lisa Myers reported that it received as much as $100,000 each month from a business once known as Western Precision, now called New Era Manufacturing. Western Precision was an aircraft parts contractor for the Pentagon and has received financing from Wells Fargo bank and GE Capital, a sibling business of Myers' employer NBC Universal at General Electric. The Pentagon has no problem with its payments ending up in the hands of polygamists: "It does not consider a company's religious affiliation in awarding contracts, only costs and performance."
FANCY DRESS REHEARSALS There was a split decision about how to preview Pope Benedict XVI's impending visit to Washington DC and New York City. The Catholic Church's pedophile priests' sex abuse scandal, with "5,000 victims and counting, cost $2bn in legal fees," is likely to be addressed by the pontiff, predicted ABC's Dan Harris (embargoed link), since it is a major factor in the closing of parishes and the shortage of clergy. Harris introduced some findings from his network's opinion poll of Roman Catholics in this country, finding a popular Pope but an out-of-touch leadership. Weekly attendance at mass is high--41% for Americans compared with 10% for European Catholics-- and "the fastest growing part of the church" is represented by the Hispanic faithful.
CBS's Bob Orr and NBC's Richard Engel focused on security as the Secret Service offered journalists a Popemobile show-&-tell. In his most recent videotape message, Osama bin Laden accused His Holiness of "leading a new crusade against Islam," CBS' Orr reminded us, so fancy-dress drills against Saladin's possible counterattack feature an agent dressing up in Papal robes "to give fellow agents an actual feel of the garment in case they have to physically whisk him to safety." On NBC's In Depth Engel checked out the pimped-out Popemobile itself, calling it a "modified two-door Mercedes with a bulletproof glass viewing area in the back."
LONDON CALLING Also preparing to visit the Washington DC is Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain. CBS anchor Katie Couric jetted to London for a sitdown at 10 Downing Street. Even though Brown was in charge of the British economy, "which soared" under his predecessor Tony Blair, it is now "sounding very similar to that of the United States: home prices are down; credit is tight." Couric called that "a bitter pill for this financial wizard." She claimed an Exclusive for her interview with Brown, although it is not clear what it was that he said that was not boilerplate. His priorities in diplomacy with the United States seemed standard fare: a halt to climate change, an easing of the crisis in the financial markets, work on reconstruction in Iraq, moderating global food and oil prices.
While Couric was in London she heard the news that Richard Butler, a freelancer working for her network in Iraq, had been rescued after two months' captivity at the hands of militiamen in Basra. CBS' Lara Logan narrated the account of Iraqi soldiers storming the building where he was held prisoner, finding him tied up with a sack over his head. He pulled the head cover off in order to be recognized and was whisked to a nearby armored HumVee while bullets ricocheted around him.
Couric rounded out her London visit with a tour of the James Hyman Gallery where a series of photographs taken by Linda McCartney, the late wife of the onetime Beatle, are going on display.
SECOND HELPINGS In the wake of ABC's coverage by David Muir (embargoed link) last week on the global crisis in food prices as President George Bush ordered $200m in emergency aid, NBC filed a trio of food-related features. Important as they were, it was curious that all three stories had been already covered by CBS. John Larson's report for NBC on the depletion of the Pacific Chinook salmon fishery, leading to the suspension of the wild fishing fleet on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, was covered by CBS' John Blacksone last month. Robert Bazell's visit to the Salinas Valley to show us how lettuce and spinach are cleaned to prevent e.coli poisoning, was also covered by CBS' Blackstone, in February. And Kevin Tibbles' free publicity to freerice.com, the online vocabulary game whose sponsors donate 20 grains of rice to the World Food Program for each correct answer, was the topic of Daniel Sieberg's report in November.
VEILED REFERENCES For its extended-newshole April Mondays, ABC is running a globetrotting series with Facebook.com entitled 21 and the World is Yours. Last week Dan Harris was in Mumbai to introduce as to Nisha Mehta, a 21-year-old medical sales manager. Now Bill Weir is in Cairo to profile Roya Zanaty, a 21-year-old teaching assistant. Zanaty really does seem to believe that the World is Hers, expecting to run a "huge ad agency" while giving birth to nine children and emigrating to Italy. These dreams persist despite living in Egypt, a nominal democracy, which President Hosni Mubarak controls "like a modern pharaoh, holding power through police brutality, media censorship and rigged elections." Typical voter turnout is 20%.
Weir seemed most interested in Zanaty's decision to wear a traditional veil to cover her hair and neck, even though she was not devout, skipping the evening call to prayer in order to "dance, laugh and flirt" downtown across the Nile from her home. "She says she does not consider herself religious but chose to wear the veil as a sign of purity and self-discipline." Her plan is never to kiss a man until he is her husband--and then get going making those nine babies.
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: Cuban economic reforms continue, with the sale of cellular telephones legalized, albeit very expensive ones…Iraq is estimated to have 3m internally displaced war refugees…the average price of gasoline has started to rise once more, now $3.37 per gallon…drinking alcohol is a risk factor for breast cancer among post-menopausal women…the fertility rate among twentysomething women has declined in this country since 1990…the Institute of Medicine is warning of a shortage of physicians trained in geriatric medicine…geologists claim a 99% certainty that a major earthquake will strike California by 2038…Beijing Olympic Games preparations will include a halt to building construction and steel and chemical factory production to try to clear the air; millions of trees will be planted too.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell gave a hat-tip to The Huffington Post for its scoop on Obama from San Francisco. All three networks focused on his characterization of the economic mood in Pennsylvania's small towns as "bitter" even though the usage of "cling" seems the less felicitous phrase.
CBS' Dean Reynolds reported that Obama "admitted" that his phrasing was "ill chosen" yet NBC's Mitchell noted that Obama did not retract the underlying sentiment: "He is only sorry for a poor choice of words." She quoted Obama almost four years ago talking on PBS' Charlie Rose: "What they do know is that they can go out with their friends and hunt and feel a sense of camaraderie." On ABC, Jake Tapper went along the Susquehanna River to check whether hard economic times were indeed a fact: Columbia Pa "is the kind of small town that factories left long ago, never to be replaced."
Not only did Rodham Clinton profess herself "disappointed" with Obama, she accused him of "snobbery and elitism," as ABC's David Wright paraphrased. "The reality is that Obama is in a political pickle," CBS' Reynolds asserted, as "in the hands of his rivals" his words have "morphed into a snobbish slap at average folks." Hence, he explained Rodham Clinton's assumption of her "Woman of the People pose, quaffing brews, downing shots and rhapsodizing about the joys of hunting." Obama's response was that his rival was "talking like she is Annie Oakley."
NBC's Mitchell presented Rodham Clinton's argument: "Obama is now vulnerable to the kind of attacks Republicans have perfected for decades, painting Democratic nominees since Michael Dukakis as 'out of touch' with red-state America…The Clinton campaign is not backing down, seizing the opportunity, they think, to persuade superdelegates that Obama could lose the culture wars to Republicans in the fall." Republican John McCain appears to agree with Rodham Clinton. Mitchell quoted him calling Obama's remarks "a defining moment."
NO MORE NORTH BY NORTHWEST All three networks assigned correspondents to cover the looming merger in the airline industry: "We are expecting an announcement could come as soon as tomorrow, a decision tonight," predicted Tom Costello in a brief stand-up on NBC, as Delta Airlines and NorthWest tried to forge an agreement on seniority lists between the two sets of pilots. CBS' Nancy Cordes reported that the combined airline, "the largest commercial carrier in the world" would keep the name of Delta, with a fleet of 1,100 jetliners. At present, Delta operates hubs at Atlanta, Cincinnati, New York City and Salt Lake City, ABC's Lisa Stark (embargoed link) pointed out, with NorthWest at Detroit, Minneapolis and Memphis. She expected the combination to drop the hubs at Cincinnati and Memphis. For comparison, she reminded us that when TransWorld was merged into American, St Louis was axed as a hub and capacity there was slashed by 75%.
WHO THEIR PARENTS ARE The Deseret News, a newspaper, ABC's Neal Karlinsky (embargoed link) pointed out, that is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, obtained interviews with some of the mothers at the Yearning for Zion ranch, maintaining their innocence of child abuse. Texas child welfare authorities removed their children last week and the mothers protested that they had been "kept in appalling conditions and that many have become sick as a result," Karlinsky reported. He called the welfare case "scattered and confused" since many of the 416 children and teenagers "have not been positively identified, changing their names repeatedly and telling case workers conflicting stories about who their parents are."
As for the fundamentalist Mormon sect that runs the compound near San Angelo, NBC's Lisa Myers reported that it received as much as $100,000 each month from a business once known as Western Precision, now called New Era Manufacturing. Western Precision was an aircraft parts contractor for the Pentagon and has received financing from Wells Fargo bank and GE Capital, a sibling business of Myers' employer NBC Universal at General Electric. The Pentagon has no problem with its payments ending up in the hands of polygamists: "It does not consider a company's religious affiliation in awarding contracts, only costs and performance."
FANCY DRESS REHEARSALS There was a split decision about how to preview Pope Benedict XVI's impending visit to Washington DC and New York City. The Catholic Church's pedophile priests' sex abuse scandal, with "5,000 victims and counting, cost $2bn in legal fees," is likely to be addressed by the pontiff, predicted ABC's Dan Harris (embargoed link), since it is a major factor in the closing of parishes and the shortage of clergy. Harris introduced some findings from his network's opinion poll of Roman Catholics in this country, finding a popular Pope but an out-of-touch leadership. Weekly attendance at mass is high--41% for Americans compared with 10% for European Catholics-- and "the fastest growing part of the church" is represented by the Hispanic faithful.
CBS's Bob Orr and NBC's Richard Engel focused on security as the Secret Service offered journalists a Popemobile show-&-tell. In his most recent videotape message, Osama bin Laden accused His Holiness of "leading a new crusade against Islam," CBS' Orr reminded us, so fancy-dress drills against Saladin's possible counterattack feature an agent dressing up in Papal robes "to give fellow agents an actual feel of the garment in case they have to physically whisk him to safety." On NBC's In Depth Engel checked out the pimped-out Popemobile itself, calling it a "modified two-door Mercedes with a bulletproof glass viewing area in the back."
LONDON CALLING Also preparing to visit the Washington DC is Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain. CBS anchor Katie Couric jetted to London for a sitdown at 10 Downing Street. Even though Brown was in charge of the British economy, "which soared" under his predecessor Tony Blair, it is now "sounding very similar to that of the United States: home prices are down; credit is tight." Couric called that "a bitter pill for this financial wizard." She claimed an Exclusive for her interview with Brown, although it is not clear what it was that he said that was not boilerplate. His priorities in diplomacy with the United States seemed standard fare: a halt to climate change, an easing of the crisis in the financial markets, work on reconstruction in Iraq, moderating global food and oil prices.
While Couric was in London she heard the news that Richard Butler, a freelancer working for her network in Iraq, had been rescued after two months' captivity at the hands of militiamen in Basra. CBS' Lara Logan narrated the account of Iraqi soldiers storming the building where he was held prisoner, finding him tied up with a sack over his head. He pulled the head cover off in order to be recognized and was whisked to a nearby armored HumVee while bullets ricocheted around him.
Couric rounded out her London visit with a tour of the James Hyman Gallery where a series of photographs taken by Linda McCartney, the late wife of the onetime Beatle, are going on display.
SECOND HELPINGS In the wake of ABC's coverage by David Muir (embargoed link) last week on the global crisis in food prices as President George Bush ordered $200m in emergency aid, NBC filed a trio of food-related features. Important as they were, it was curious that all three stories had been already covered by CBS. John Larson's report for NBC on the depletion of the Pacific Chinook salmon fishery, leading to the suspension of the wild fishing fleet on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, was covered by CBS' John Blacksone last month. Robert Bazell's visit to the Salinas Valley to show us how lettuce and spinach are cleaned to prevent e.coli poisoning, was also covered by CBS' Blackstone, in February. And Kevin Tibbles' free publicity to freerice.com, the online vocabulary game whose sponsors donate 20 grains of rice to the World Food Program for each correct answer, was the topic of Daniel Sieberg's report in November.
VEILED REFERENCES For its extended-newshole April Mondays, ABC is running a globetrotting series with Facebook.com entitled 21 and the World is Yours. Last week Dan Harris was in Mumbai to introduce as to Nisha Mehta, a 21-year-old medical sales manager. Now Bill Weir is in Cairo to profile Roya Zanaty, a 21-year-old teaching assistant. Zanaty really does seem to believe that the World is Hers, expecting to run a "huge ad agency" while giving birth to nine children and emigrating to Italy. These dreams persist despite living in Egypt, a nominal democracy, which President Hosni Mubarak controls "like a modern pharaoh, holding power through police brutality, media censorship and rigged elections." Typical voter turnout is 20%.
Weir seemed most interested in Zanaty's decision to wear a traditional veil to cover her hair and neck, even though she was not devout, skipping the evening call to prayer in order to "dance, laugh and flirt" downtown across the Nile from her home. "She says she does not consider herself religious but chose to wear the veil as a sign of purity and self-discipline." Her plan is never to kiss a man until he is her husband--and then get going making those nine babies.
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: Cuban economic reforms continue, with the sale of cellular telephones legalized, albeit very expensive ones…Iraq is estimated to have 3m internally displaced war refugees…the average price of gasoline has started to rise once more, now $3.37 per gallon…drinking alcohol is a risk factor for breast cancer among post-menopausal women…the fertility rate among twentysomething women has declined in this country since 1990…the Institute of Medicine is warning of a shortage of physicians trained in geriatric medicine…geologists claim a 99% certainty that a major earthquake will strike California by 2038…Beijing Olympic Games preparations will include a halt to building construction and steel and chemical factory production to try to clear the air; millions of trees will be planted too.
