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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM SEPTEMBER 29, 2008
A massive and rapid sell-off on Wall Street was triggered by the House of Representatives. In the middle of the trading day, Congress voted 205-228 to reject the Treasury Department's plan for a $700bn federal bailout of the financial industry. Those financiers responded by selling stocks, driving down their price by $1.1tr. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 777 points, the largest single day number in its history, to close at 10365. ABC led with the stock market action; NBC and CBS led with the vote on Capitol Hill, which was the Story of the Day. Thus CBS' headline grabbing interview by anchor Katie Couric was relegated to the second half of the newscast. Couric was in Columbus Ohio, where she sat down for an Exclusive with both halves of the Republican Presidential ticket, Sarah Palin and John McCain.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR SEPTEMBER 29, 2008: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
HOUSE VOTES NO; WALL STREET WOES A massive and rapid sell-off on Wall Street was triggered by the House of Representatives. In the middle of the trading day, Congress voted 205-228 to reject the Treasury Department's plan for a $700bn federal bailout of the financial industry. Those financiers responded by selling stocks, driving down their price by $1.1tr. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 777 points, the largest single day number in its history, to close at 10365. ABC led with the stock market action; NBC and CBS led with the vote on Capitol Hill, which was the Story of the Day. Thus CBS' headline grabbing interview by anchor Katie Couric was relegated to the second half of the newscast. Couric was in Columbus Ohio, where she sat down for an Exclusive with both halves of the Republican Presidential ticket, Sarah Palin and John McCain.
"Passage was expected," noted CBS' Bob Orr before the financial bailout was defeated. "It was not supposed to be this way," ABC's Jake Tapper told us, since the plan had been for the Democrats to guarantee 140 votes and the Republicans 80: "They ended up delivering only 65." NBC's Tom Costello calculated, therefore, that fully 67% of the GOP caucus had opposed its own President, its own Treasury Secretary and its own Congressional leadership. "I think a lot of people, even the House leaders were surprised that this went down," ABC anchor Charles Gibson suggested to George Stephanopoulos. "I sure was," Stephanopoulos replied.
CBS anchor Couric asked a peculiar pair of asymmetrical questions of the two leaders of the House. "Why were you not able to deliver more Democrats?" she inquired of Steny Hoyer, the Majority Leader. "We think we did our job," the Democrat responded, whose whips counted correctly. "What was the impact of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's remarks today in your view?" she posed to John Boehner, the Minority Leader, whose whips fell short. "After what I thought was a rather partisan speech…it really killed our chances to get any of a dozen members to actually come our way and vote for the bill," the Republican replied, echoing his afternoon talking points. CBS' Orr reported that when Democrats heard that explanation for Boehner's failure they accused Republicans "of throwing a political temper tantrum."
POLICY OR POLITICS? "They all got an earful from their constituents," explained NBC's Tom Costello, accounting for the pressure on House members to defy their leadership. NBC's Kevin Tibbles and CBS' Sandra Hughes both surveyed the surly popular mood in opposition to federal funds for financial firms. "Most people we talked to today said it was OK the bill went down to defeat because Congress should take its time when spending so much taxpayer money," Hughes reported. Tibbles heard the "firestorm on Main Street" spill over as outrage on talkradio and showed us an outpouring of furious letters to the editor at Chicago Tribune.
NBC's political director Chuck Todd (at the end of the Liesman videostream) dramatized the intensity of voters' opposition to the $700bn package with a vivid statistic. He divided House members into two categories: those who had fought a closely contested election in the past three cycles; and those who held safe seats. A majority of the latter, from both parties, supported the legislation; a majority of the former opposed it. "It was clearly a political vote for these guys. They know the election is coming in four weeks."
CNBC's economist Steve Liesman suggested that the bailout was so unpopular among elected legislators that the Treasury Department is considering "doing something administratively that does not require Congressional approval" involving expanded powers for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
VOX POP CONTRADICTED Both NBC and ABC introduced financial insiders to contradict the idea that the $700bn bill represented a bailout for Wall Street. ABC anchor Charles Gibson interviewed Robert Altman, a senior Treasury Department official in Bill Clinton's administration. He expected Congress to change its mind because of "the absolute freezing up of the credit markets, which for all practical purposes are not functioning at all right now." Gibson also brought in longtime cohort from Good Morning America, Mellody Hobson (embargoed link), ABC News' financial advisor, to assert that "it is virtually impossible to get a loan in this country, which is a huge problem." On NBC, anchor Brian Williams talked to CNBC's Maria Bartiromo (in the middle of the Liesman videostream). She was on the same page: "This is not a Wall Street vs Main Street issue. This is about the availability of credit."
Then ABC's Gibson brought out the big guns. He had Robert Krulwich narrate an animated cartoon explainer to illustrate the economic stagnation that occurs when a credit crunch slows the velocity of money.
THE WALL STREET SUBMARINE The shock to the financial markets resulting from the defeat of the bailout plan was recounted by ABC's Betsy Stark and CBS' Anthony Mason with their tick-tocks from Wall Street. "The Dow went down like a sub," was how Mason put it as soon as the vote failed. He checked off United Airlines and General Motors as the largest in a list of 160 corporations that are in danger of defaulting on their debt within the next six months. Wachovia, the North Carolina bank, has already been forced to sell out to New York's Citigroup. Stark saw "the incredible spectacle of traders counting votes along with the leaders in Congress." She shrugged: "Everybody got slaughtered today."
Oddly NBC, which usually uses CNBC's resources to lead the way with financial coverage, did not file a separate package on the Wall Street angle. It chose a political take instead, assigning CNBC's Carl Quintanilla to continue its Where They Stand issues series, contrasting the platforms of the two Presidential candidates. Quintanilla's topic was unemployment: there are now 9.4m out of work nationwide, a total that has increased for eight straight months, a jobless rate that now stands at a five year high. "The country braces for difficult years ahead," Quintanilla warned. Barack Obama recommends a boost to domestic spending on infrastructure and a tightening of NAFTA trade rules. John McCain sides with fewer constraints on trade and more retraining of displaced workers.
MCCAIN’S NEW GOTCHA! RULES After last week's stumbling interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric, Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin came back for more in Ohio, but this time with her leader John McCain by her side. Couric claimed another Exclusive. She put it to Palin that she had "gotten a lot of flak" from her fellow Republicans for not being "ready for primetime," as the saying goes. "Well not only am I ready but willing and able to serve," was her response. McCain chimed in to defend his running mate, the Governor of Alaska: "It is not the first time that I have seen a governor questioned by some 'expert.'" He proceeded to compare Palin with Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. "I have seen underestimation before."
That sounded like a set-up line for Lloyd Bentsen.
By the way, McCain also expanded his definition of "this day and age's gotcha! journalism." It now includes a reporter covering an answer a candidate gives to a question at a public event. He argued that because Palin's response was in "a pizza place in a conversation with someone who you did not hear the question very well. You do not know the context of the conversation, you grab a phrase…" Couric rejected McCain's new ground rules: "It was not a gotcha! She was talking to a voter."
EXTENDING THE FRANCHISE NBC's In Depth feature was Campaign '08 related--not about Presidential politics but about election logistics. Mark Potter speculated that voter turnout might be higher than ever this November and focused on three key swing states, Ohio, Colorado and Florida. In Ohio, the state is hoping to prevent the long lines of the 2004 General Election by encouraging early voting. Colorado also offers voting by mail. In Florida, voter education campaigns are under way to forestall problems with new machines, registration rules and recounted ballots. Potter consulted unidentified election experts who told him that as many as 50m votes, as much as one third of the entire franchise, will be cast before Election Day.
As the old slogan goes Vote Early! Vote Often! Dead Men Only Vote Twice!
CAUGHT SMOKING On such a serious day of financial news, only NBC found time for a medical feature. Robert Bazell kicked off a series on dubbed Clearing the Air with a profile of Michael Rich, a former filmmaker, now a physician at Boston Children's Hospital. The doctor used his cinematographic insight to equip his asthmatic patients with videocameras as a diagnostic aid. They document themselves and their surroundings whenever they have breathing difficulties. Thus Rich was able to discover hazards in the home that go unreported during a clinic visit--mold spores in the ceiling, dust behind the television set, cigarette smoking adults puffing out secondhand smoke.
FOR HIS EYES ONLY Paul Newman died, aged 83. Each of the three newscasts paid tribute to the movie star. None spent much time on his thespian achievements. ABC played a tribute from his friend and costar Robert Redford. CBS had Bill Whitaker profile his popcorn-based philanthropy on behalf of terminally ill children. NBC anchor Brian Williams listed the ways we will remember him: "For some it will just be his eyes."
"Passage was expected," noted CBS' Bob Orr before the financial bailout was defeated. "It was not supposed to be this way," ABC's Jake Tapper told us, since the plan had been for the Democrats to guarantee 140 votes and the Republicans 80: "They ended up delivering only 65." NBC's Tom Costello calculated, therefore, that fully 67% of the GOP caucus had opposed its own President, its own Treasury Secretary and its own Congressional leadership. "I think a lot of people, even the House leaders were surprised that this went down," ABC anchor Charles Gibson suggested to George Stephanopoulos. "I sure was," Stephanopoulos replied.
CBS anchor Couric asked a peculiar pair of asymmetrical questions of the two leaders of the House. "Why were you not able to deliver more Democrats?" she inquired of Steny Hoyer, the Majority Leader. "We think we did our job," the Democrat responded, whose whips counted correctly. "What was the impact of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's remarks today in your view?" she posed to John Boehner, the Minority Leader, whose whips fell short. "After what I thought was a rather partisan speech…it really killed our chances to get any of a dozen members to actually come our way and vote for the bill," the Republican replied, echoing his afternoon talking points. CBS' Orr reported that when Democrats heard that explanation for Boehner's failure they accused Republicans "of throwing a political temper tantrum."
POLICY OR POLITICS? "They all got an earful from their constituents," explained NBC's Tom Costello, accounting for the pressure on House members to defy their leadership. NBC's Kevin Tibbles and CBS' Sandra Hughes both surveyed the surly popular mood in opposition to federal funds for financial firms. "Most people we talked to today said it was OK the bill went down to defeat because Congress should take its time when spending so much taxpayer money," Hughes reported. Tibbles heard the "firestorm on Main Street" spill over as outrage on talkradio and showed us an outpouring of furious letters to the editor at Chicago Tribune.
NBC's political director Chuck Todd (at the end of the Liesman videostream) dramatized the intensity of voters' opposition to the $700bn package with a vivid statistic. He divided House members into two categories: those who had fought a closely contested election in the past three cycles; and those who held safe seats. A majority of the latter, from both parties, supported the legislation; a majority of the former opposed it. "It was clearly a political vote for these guys. They know the election is coming in four weeks."
CNBC's economist Steve Liesman suggested that the bailout was so unpopular among elected legislators that the Treasury Department is considering "doing something administratively that does not require Congressional approval" involving expanded powers for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
VOX POP CONTRADICTED Both NBC and ABC introduced financial insiders to contradict the idea that the $700bn bill represented a bailout for Wall Street. ABC anchor Charles Gibson interviewed Robert Altman, a senior Treasury Department official in Bill Clinton's administration. He expected Congress to change its mind because of "the absolute freezing up of the credit markets, which for all practical purposes are not functioning at all right now." Gibson also brought in longtime cohort from Good Morning America, Mellody Hobson (embargoed link), ABC News' financial advisor, to assert that "it is virtually impossible to get a loan in this country, which is a huge problem." On NBC, anchor Brian Williams talked to CNBC's Maria Bartiromo (in the middle of the Liesman videostream). She was on the same page: "This is not a Wall Street vs Main Street issue. This is about the availability of credit."
Then ABC's Gibson brought out the big guns. He had Robert Krulwich narrate an animated cartoon explainer to illustrate the economic stagnation that occurs when a credit crunch slows the velocity of money.
THE WALL STREET SUBMARINE The shock to the financial markets resulting from the defeat of the bailout plan was recounted by ABC's Betsy Stark and CBS' Anthony Mason with their tick-tocks from Wall Street. "The Dow went down like a sub," was how Mason put it as soon as the vote failed. He checked off United Airlines and General Motors as the largest in a list of 160 corporations that are in danger of defaulting on their debt within the next six months. Wachovia, the North Carolina bank, has already been forced to sell out to New York's Citigroup. Stark saw "the incredible spectacle of traders counting votes along with the leaders in Congress." She shrugged: "Everybody got slaughtered today."
Oddly NBC, which usually uses CNBC's resources to lead the way with financial coverage, did not file a separate package on the Wall Street angle. It chose a political take instead, assigning CNBC's Carl Quintanilla to continue its Where They Stand issues series, contrasting the platforms of the two Presidential candidates. Quintanilla's topic was unemployment: there are now 9.4m out of work nationwide, a total that has increased for eight straight months, a jobless rate that now stands at a five year high. "The country braces for difficult years ahead," Quintanilla warned. Barack Obama recommends a boost to domestic spending on infrastructure and a tightening of NAFTA trade rules. John McCain sides with fewer constraints on trade and more retraining of displaced workers.
MCCAIN’S NEW GOTCHA! RULES After last week's stumbling interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric, Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin came back for more in Ohio, but this time with her leader John McCain by her side. Couric claimed another Exclusive. She put it to Palin that she had "gotten a lot of flak" from her fellow Republicans for not being "ready for primetime," as the saying goes. "Well not only am I ready but willing and able to serve," was her response. McCain chimed in to defend his running mate, the Governor of Alaska: "It is not the first time that I have seen a governor questioned by some 'expert.'" He proceeded to compare Palin with Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. "I have seen underestimation before."
That sounded like a set-up line for Lloyd Bentsen.
By the way, McCain also expanded his definition of "this day and age's gotcha! journalism." It now includes a reporter covering an answer a candidate gives to a question at a public event. He argued that because Palin's response was in "a pizza place in a conversation with someone who you did not hear the question very well. You do not know the context of the conversation, you grab a phrase…" Couric rejected McCain's new ground rules: "It was not a gotcha! She was talking to a voter."
EXTENDING THE FRANCHISE NBC's In Depth feature was Campaign '08 related--not about Presidential politics but about election logistics. Mark Potter speculated that voter turnout might be higher than ever this November and focused on three key swing states, Ohio, Colorado and Florida. In Ohio, the state is hoping to prevent the long lines of the 2004 General Election by encouraging early voting. Colorado also offers voting by mail. In Florida, voter education campaigns are under way to forestall problems with new machines, registration rules and recounted ballots. Potter consulted unidentified election experts who told him that as many as 50m votes, as much as one third of the entire franchise, will be cast before Election Day.
As the old slogan goes Vote Early! Vote Often! Dead Men Only Vote Twice!
CAUGHT SMOKING On such a serious day of financial news, only NBC found time for a medical feature. Robert Bazell kicked off a series on dubbed Clearing the Air with a profile of Michael Rich, a former filmmaker, now a physician at Boston Children's Hospital. The doctor used his cinematographic insight to equip his asthmatic patients with videocameras as a diagnostic aid. They document themselves and their surroundings whenever they have breathing difficulties. Thus Rich was able to discover hazards in the home that go unreported during a clinic visit--mold spores in the ceiling, dust behind the television set, cigarette smoking adults puffing out secondhand smoke.
FOR HIS EYES ONLY Paul Newman died, aged 83. Each of the three newscasts paid tribute to the movie star. None spent much time on his thespian achievements. ABC played a tribute from his friend and costar Robert Redford. CBS had Bill Whitaker profile his popcorn-based philanthropy on behalf of terminally ill children. NBC anchor Brian Williams listed the ways we will remember him: "For some it will just be his eyes."
