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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM SEPTEMBER 19, 2008
So Friday made it a clean sweep. Every newscast this week--all three networks, all five weekdays--led off with the latest development in the crisis in financial capitalism. The week ended with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President George Bush formally announcing their plan for a federal bailout of the banking system, a plan that was leaked Thursday in order to reassure financial markets and lead that day's news agenda. The Story of the Day led a cluster of financial coverage that accounted for 57% (32 min out of 56) of the three-network newshole. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 368 to close at 11388. After the week of downs and ups, the DJIA ended just 34 points lower than where it began.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR SEPTEMBER 19, 2008: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
CLEAN SWEEP FOR FINANCIAL NEWS So Friday made it a clean sweep. Every newscast this week--all three networks, all five weekdays--led off with the latest development in the crisis in financial capitalism. The week ended with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President George Bush formally announcing their plan for a federal bailout of the banking system, a plan that was leaked Thursday in order to reassure financial markets and lead that day's news agenda. The Story of the Day led a cluster of financial coverage that accounted for 57% (32 min out of 56) of the three-network newshole. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 368 to close at 11388. After the week of downs and ups, the DJIA ended just 34 points lower than where it began.
"The end of an extraordinary week!" exclaimed CBS' Anthony Mason. On NBC, CNBC's Carl Quintanilla described Paulson's plan to purchase debt-ridden securities from the banking sector as taxpayers buying up "toxic mortgages nobody wants." Besides that buyout, the Treasury Department will also extend insurance coverage to mutual funds based in the money markets; the Federal Reserve Board offered banks an additional $50bn in emergency loans; and the Securities & Exchange Commission prohibited speculators from making bearish bets--selling short--on the financial sector.
ABC's Betsy Stark called it "intervention in the nation's financial markets on a scale unseen since the Great Depression" that followed a week of "watching stocks swoon, banks fail and credit markets grind to a near halt." ABC anchor Charles Gibson inquired how much Paulson proposed to spend on all that bad paper: "In excess of $500bn but probably less than $1tr," Stark replied. "That is a lot of money." Even before this plan, CBS' Mason pointed out that the feds had already "put up more than $800bn" for Bear Stearns, FannieMae and FreddieMac, AIG and the FHA.
CNBC’S RATIGAN BLAMES EVERYONE Secretary Paulson's huge plan will require legislation. From the White House, CBS' Jim Axelrod reported a mood of "uncommon cooperation" as Congressional leaders geared up for a weekend of deliberation. ABC's George Stephanopoulos talked to several on Capitol Hill about their briefing by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board on the need for a bailout. Benjamin Bernanke "was especially frightening," Stephanopoulos reported. He told them that the Paulson plan "is the last wrench in the toolbox."
Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money, was emphatic in endorsing Bernanke's analysis on NBC. "This is about avoiding Great Depression II," he asserted. "This is about going to your automated teller machine and having money still come out." ABC's David Muir consulted a panel of economists concerning the objections by many Americans about the hypocrisy of spending federal funds to bail out banks but not struggling homeowners. "No choice," they told him, "Even the strongest banks were being pulled down by rampant fear on Wall Street." Dylan Ratigan, host of CNBC's Fast Money, filed a brief explainer for NBC. He stated that the crisis originated with "the availability of cheap credit." He asked: "So who is to blame?" And answered: "In a sense we all are…If you thought you could reap the rewards of easy credit without the consequences, this is proof that you cannot."
Come off it, Ratigan! What evidence do you have that "we all" believed in rewards without consequences?
ABC AGAIN SEES NO POLITICS IN FINANCE As it did Thursday, ABC made the strange decision not to assign a reporter to cover the impact of the financial crisis on the Presidential contest. Meanwhile NBC had political director Chuck Todd assess the impact of the week's turmoil on Barack Obama and John McCain: "Watch the body language," he suggested as Obama was "suddenly feeling confident" and McCain was struggling over whether to run as a "deregulator or proregulator." Bob Schieffer, anchor of CBS' Sunday morning Face the Nation, reminded us that McCain, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, "led the effort to deregulate and now he is calling for more regulation!"
CBS filed from the stump itself. Dean Reynolds rounded out a week "dominated by financial news" by noting that "each bulletin" strengthened Obama's perceived advantage over McCain on the economy. Chip Reid covered a McCain speech advocating a program "heavy on government intervention" proposing a new bureaucracy dubbed the Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust. "While McCain's speech was billed as a policy address, he spent much of his time bashing Obama." NBC ran Obama's soundbite in response that "it is pretty clear that Sen McCain is a little panicked right now."
WAS COX A FOX GUARDING HENHOUSE? Earlier in the week, candidate John McCain had called for Christopher Cox to resign as Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission. CBS assigned Sharyl Attkisson to check on Cox' record since he took over in 2005. Compared with his predecessor William Donaldson, annual SEC penalties for securities violations "have plummeted by two-thirds" during Cox' tenure. Cox had been appointed after Donaldson "had drawn ire from fellow Republicans by passing a host of new market regulations."
SPIKED MILK NBC and ABC both had correspondents file from Beijing where thousands of babies are sick--some 160 with acute kidney failure--because milk used for infant formula had been spiked with melamine to boost its apparent protein level. Now, tainted products have been found all over the dairy aisle. NBC's Adrienne Mong told us that Chinese-made yoghurt is being pulled from shelves in Hong Kong and Singapore. ABC's Stephanie Sy (embargoed link) stood outside a Beijing Starbucks, where latte is now made from soy.
FRIDAY FEATURES NBC continued its serious weekending geopolitics series dubbed Hot Spots on the looming controversies that will face the next administration's foreign policy. Richard Engel was in Caracas to cover President Hugo Chavez' plans for Venezuelan alliances with Iran, Cuba and Russia. Chavez expelled the United States Ambassador last week on suspicions of plotting a coup, "offering no proof"…anchor Charles Gibson acknowledged that he was stretching ABC's Person of the Week format by making its Person an inanimate object. Gibson traveled to The Bronx to mark the final baseball weekend at The Yankee Stadium, facing demolition and replacement after 85 years…on CBS' Assignment America, Steve Hartman showed an uncharacteristic lack of loyalty towards a former anchor. He ridiculed reporters for their hurricane antics--"whenever the winds blow hard, the blowhards blow in, bringing us Category Five hyperbole"--with zany clips of wind-tossed weather porn before pointing the finger firmly at the CBS Evening News: "After Dan rather co-anchored with a telephone pole back in 1995 just about every reporter in America started flirting with natural disaster."
"The end of an extraordinary week!" exclaimed CBS' Anthony Mason. On NBC, CNBC's Carl Quintanilla described Paulson's plan to purchase debt-ridden securities from the banking sector as taxpayers buying up "toxic mortgages nobody wants." Besides that buyout, the Treasury Department will also extend insurance coverage to mutual funds based in the money markets; the Federal Reserve Board offered banks an additional $50bn in emergency loans; and the Securities & Exchange Commission prohibited speculators from making bearish bets--selling short--on the financial sector.
ABC's Betsy Stark called it "intervention in the nation's financial markets on a scale unseen since the Great Depression" that followed a week of "watching stocks swoon, banks fail and credit markets grind to a near halt." ABC anchor Charles Gibson inquired how much Paulson proposed to spend on all that bad paper: "In excess of $500bn but probably less than $1tr," Stark replied. "That is a lot of money." Even before this plan, CBS' Mason pointed out that the feds had already "put up more than $800bn" for Bear Stearns, FannieMae and FreddieMac, AIG and the FHA.
CNBC’S RATIGAN BLAMES EVERYONE Secretary Paulson's huge plan will require legislation. From the White House, CBS' Jim Axelrod reported a mood of "uncommon cooperation" as Congressional leaders geared up for a weekend of deliberation. ABC's George Stephanopoulos talked to several on Capitol Hill about their briefing by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board on the need for a bailout. Benjamin Bernanke "was especially frightening," Stephanopoulos reported. He told them that the Paulson plan "is the last wrench in the toolbox."
Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money, was emphatic in endorsing Bernanke's analysis on NBC. "This is about avoiding Great Depression II," he asserted. "This is about going to your automated teller machine and having money still come out." ABC's David Muir consulted a panel of economists concerning the objections by many Americans about the hypocrisy of spending federal funds to bail out banks but not struggling homeowners. "No choice," they told him, "Even the strongest banks were being pulled down by rampant fear on Wall Street." Dylan Ratigan, host of CNBC's Fast Money, filed a brief explainer for NBC. He stated that the crisis originated with "the availability of cheap credit." He asked: "So who is to blame?" And answered: "In a sense we all are…If you thought you could reap the rewards of easy credit without the consequences, this is proof that you cannot."
Come off it, Ratigan! What evidence do you have that "we all" believed in rewards without consequences?
ABC AGAIN SEES NO POLITICS IN FINANCE As it did Thursday, ABC made the strange decision not to assign a reporter to cover the impact of the financial crisis on the Presidential contest. Meanwhile NBC had political director Chuck Todd assess the impact of the week's turmoil on Barack Obama and John McCain: "Watch the body language," he suggested as Obama was "suddenly feeling confident" and McCain was struggling over whether to run as a "deregulator or proregulator." Bob Schieffer, anchor of CBS' Sunday morning Face the Nation, reminded us that McCain, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, "led the effort to deregulate and now he is calling for more regulation!"
CBS filed from the stump itself. Dean Reynolds rounded out a week "dominated by financial news" by noting that "each bulletin" strengthened Obama's perceived advantage over McCain on the economy. Chip Reid covered a McCain speech advocating a program "heavy on government intervention" proposing a new bureaucracy dubbed the Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust. "While McCain's speech was billed as a policy address, he spent much of his time bashing Obama." NBC ran Obama's soundbite in response that "it is pretty clear that Sen McCain is a little panicked right now."
WAS COX A FOX GUARDING HENHOUSE? Earlier in the week, candidate John McCain had called for Christopher Cox to resign as Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission. CBS assigned Sharyl Attkisson to check on Cox' record since he took over in 2005. Compared with his predecessor William Donaldson, annual SEC penalties for securities violations "have plummeted by two-thirds" during Cox' tenure. Cox had been appointed after Donaldson "had drawn ire from fellow Republicans by passing a host of new market regulations."
SPIKED MILK NBC and ABC both had correspondents file from Beijing where thousands of babies are sick--some 160 with acute kidney failure--because milk used for infant formula had been spiked with melamine to boost its apparent protein level. Now, tainted products have been found all over the dairy aisle. NBC's Adrienne Mong told us that Chinese-made yoghurt is being pulled from shelves in Hong Kong and Singapore. ABC's Stephanie Sy (embargoed link) stood outside a Beijing Starbucks, where latte is now made from soy.
FRIDAY FEATURES NBC continued its serious weekending geopolitics series dubbed Hot Spots on the looming controversies that will face the next administration's foreign policy. Richard Engel was in Caracas to cover President Hugo Chavez' plans for Venezuelan alliances with Iran, Cuba and Russia. Chavez expelled the United States Ambassador last week on suspicions of plotting a coup, "offering no proof"…anchor Charles Gibson acknowledged that he was stretching ABC's Person of the Week format by making its Person an inanimate object. Gibson traveled to The Bronx to mark the final baseball weekend at The Yankee Stadium, facing demolition and replacement after 85 years…on CBS' Assignment America, Steve Hartman showed an uncharacteristic lack of loyalty towards a former anchor. He ridiculed reporters for their hurricane antics--"whenever the winds blow hard, the blowhards blow in, bringing us Category Five hyperbole"--with zany clips of wind-tossed weather porn before pointing the finger firmly at the CBS Evening News: "After Dan rather co-anchored with a telephone pole back in 1995 just about every reporter in America started flirting with natural disaster."
