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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM OCTOBER 27, 2008
Kicking off the final full week on the stump of Campaign 2008, the nightly newscasts offered a clear contrast between the mindsets of the two candidates as each traveled to Pennsylvania. Democrat Barack Obama, who was assigned the lead item on ABC and NBC, was portrayed as disciplined, unadventurous, predictable. Republican John McCain, who was also covered on all three newscasts, was portrayed as mercurial, improvisational, multifaceted. Obama, narrowly, qualified as Story of the Day. For its lead, CBS chose the day's other major political news, the graft conviction of Sen Ted Stevens, the longtime Republican legislator from Alaska.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR OCTOBER 27, 2008: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
OBAMA THE DISCIPLINED; MCCAIN THE MERCURIAL Kicking off the final full week on the stump of Campaign 2008, the nightly newscasts offered a clear contrast between the mindsets of the two candidates as each traveled to Pennsylvania. Democrat Barack Obama, who was assigned the lead item on ABC and NBC, was portrayed as disciplined, unadventurous, predictable. Republican John McCain, who was also covered on all three newscasts, was portrayed as mercurial, improvisational, multifaceted. Obama, narrowly, qualified as Story of the Day. For its lead, CBS chose the day's other major political news, the graft conviction of Sen Ted Stevens, the longtime Republican legislator from Alaska.
Consider these depictions of Obama as he spoke of hope and unity and the failed economic policies of the Bush Administration: ABC's Jake Tapper (no link) heard him "sounding out some of same themes he has been voicing for the last four years"…NBC's Lee Cowan called them "oldies but goodies" and "very familiar things"…CBS' Dean Reynolds concluded that he "emphasized the time-tested themes that polls say have propelled him to the threshold of the White House."
Contrast that with the varied impressions created by McCain after his day on the stump. ABC's Ron Claiborne (no link) found him "fighting on two fronts, attacked Obama as a tax raiser while distancing himself from President Bush." CBS' Chip Reid then noted that McCain's "focus on the economy soon became blurred as Republicans launched a series of new attacks on Obama." McCain turned to a seven-year-old radio interview in which Obama engaged in historical criticism of the civil rights movement for relying too little on "political and community organizing" and too much on securing legal rights by filing lawsuits. Obama concluded with the generalization that "redistributive change" relies on "actual coalitions of power" rather than court rulings.
It was that "redistributive" word that got under McCain's skin. He interpreted it as referring not to racial realignment but to "wealth in our society."
NBC's Kelly O'Donnell covered McCain's dual attempts to differentiate himself from George Bush and Barack Obama and the 2001 civil rights interview too before turning to McCain's running mate. "That is not who I am," Sarah Palin insisted, referring to the type of candidate who has a national political party "spending $100,000 or $50,000 on her wardrobe."
CASINO MCCAIN Sharyl Attkisson, who examined John McCain's fundraising statistics for CBS' Follow the Money on Friday--he is the favorite of the Las Vegas casino industry--tried to file a symmetrical feature on Barack Obama's institutional funding base. She confessed her inability to identify what type of person most of his money comes from since "lots of Obama donors do not have to be disclosed at all under federal law because they gave under $200." As for Obama's fat cats, Attkisson zeroed in on bailed out financial firms. While the donor list for both candidates "reads like a Who's Who of the Wall Street collapse," Obama has outraised McCain by better than three-to-one from the bankers at Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.
Incidentally, McCain's support from the money men on the Vegas Strip reminds me of a little noted aside during his interview with NBC anchor Brian Williams last month just before the first debate, when his campaign for President was technically suspended: "If you were a betting man, would you bet we shall see you Oxford, Mississippi tomorrow night?" "Well, I am a betting man!"
The flip side of McCain's ties to casino management is that Obama is mobilizing their workers. "Nevada's largest union planned today's get-out-the-vote efforts," noted Chris Jansing in her NBC In Depth feature on the role of the Hispanic vote in southwestern states. "They are targeting fellow culinary workers in areas hit hard by layoffs." Jansing called the Latino vote "critical" in Nevada and Colorado and New Mexico too.
BANK ON IT Speaking of the $125bn partial nationalization of the major Wall Street banks, the federal infusion of funds has not altered their year-end bonus plans. NBC's Tom Costello gave a hat-tip to Bloomberg News for its analysis of the funds the major houses are setting aside to reward their traders and bankers for their so-called achievements over the past year: more than $6bn each at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, a six figure average per person. Costello sought a reaction from Rep Barney Frank (D-MA), the chairmen of the Financial Service Committee: "If Wall Street hands out those bonuses it can bank on Congress passing much more regulation in the months ahead."
THE SENATOR’S CHALET Technically, Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK) was not convicted of graft itself, only about lying about the $250,000 in gifts and services he received from Veco, the Alaska-based oil services company. CBS' Nancy Cordes pointed out that the prosecution "hinted" that Stevens may have helped Veco "win lucrative government contracts" in return. ABC's Pierre Thomas told us that Veco's workers helped transform Stevens" "modest one-story house" into what he liked to call his "chalet." For the $250,000, its size was doubled, a garage was added and two floors of decks, NBC's Pete Williams told us. As the basis for his appeal, Stevens accused federal prosecutors of "violation of fair trial rules."
Stevens' governor and Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin denounced her fellow Republican as "part of the culture of corruption I was elected to fight," added Cordes. Stevens is a candidate for reelection next week.
INITIALS ONLY Finally the network newscasts are awakening to the realization that Election Day hosts more than the Presidential contest. Down ticket, besides the Stevens race in Alaska, ABC assigned Dan Harris to the gubernatorial contest in Washington State for its 50 States in 50 Days series. "Republicans across the country are distancing themselves from a party weighed down by an unpopular President," Harris generalized. In the Pacific Northwest, that means that the ballot for Dino Rossi, running against incumbent Democrat Christine Gregoire, identifies his affiliation by initials only--not Republican; just GOP.
SHOTS ON THE SOUTH SIDE The major non-political story of the day came from Chicago. All three newscasts assigned a reporter to a triple-murder of a South Side family. All three correspondents tried to negotiate the uncomfortable straddle between a genuine crisis--that Chicago's murder rate is out of control, even exceeding the death toll of larger cities like New York and Los Angeles--and the unfortunate truth that these killings were only newsworthy because a celebrity was bereaved as a result. Jennifer Hudson, American Idol singer and Oscar winning actress, happened to be the Chicagoan whose mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew were murdered. Yet the murders seem to have had nothing to do with Hudson's fame. They may have been inspired by family matters, instead, since her estranged brother-in-law is being questioned by police. "Sadly gunshots are so common here that when they rang out Friday morning no one bothered calling 911," shrugged CBS' Cynthia Bowers. "Neighbors here say they heard the gunshots but did not call police. Gunshots here, they say, are nothing out of the ordinary," ABC's Barbara Pinto (no link) pointed out. And from NBC's Kevin Tibbles: "The murders were not reported for hours even though residents say they heard gunshots."
PURPLE PIZZA EATERS A couple of cancer stories rounded out CBS' coverage. In-house physician Jon LaPook claimed an Exclusive for his news that the National Cancer Institute was canceling a seven-year prostate cancer experiment. Researchers were testing the theory that megadoses of Vitamin E and selenium supplements might keep tumors away. They had 35,000 men take the daily vitamin or a placebo to find out. When it turned out that the placebo patients were slightly healthier, the trial was called off. From London, Mark Phillips told us about an ingredient found in blueberries, cranberries and snapdragon flowers that apparently prevents tumors in laboratory mice. Next, a strain of tomatoes will be bio-engineered to contain extra amounts of the cancer-fighting gene, which will also turn the tomatoes dark. "Is the world ready for purple pizza?"
HERE’S GAFFNEY Adrienne Gaffney has joined our happy band of news junkies who "watched last night night's newscasts...so you do not have to." Here are her observations on the same content Tyndall Report just monitored at Vanity Fair magazine's Culture & Celebrity blog.
Consider these depictions of Obama as he spoke of hope and unity and the failed economic policies of the Bush Administration: ABC's Jake Tapper (no link) heard him "sounding out some of same themes he has been voicing for the last four years"…NBC's Lee Cowan called them "oldies but goodies" and "very familiar things"…CBS' Dean Reynolds concluded that he "emphasized the time-tested themes that polls say have propelled him to the threshold of the White House."
Contrast that with the varied impressions created by McCain after his day on the stump. ABC's Ron Claiborne (no link) found him "fighting on two fronts, attacked Obama as a tax raiser while distancing himself from President Bush." CBS' Chip Reid then noted that McCain's "focus on the economy soon became blurred as Republicans launched a series of new attacks on Obama." McCain turned to a seven-year-old radio interview in which Obama engaged in historical criticism of the civil rights movement for relying too little on "political and community organizing" and too much on securing legal rights by filing lawsuits. Obama concluded with the generalization that "redistributive change" relies on "actual coalitions of power" rather than court rulings.
It was that "redistributive" word that got under McCain's skin. He interpreted it as referring not to racial realignment but to "wealth in our society."
NBC's Kelly O'Donnell covered McCain's dual attempts to differentiate himself from George Bush and Barack Obama and the 2001 civil rights interview too before turning to McCain's running mate. "That is not who I am," Sarah Palin insisted, referring to the type of candidate who has a national political party "spending $100,000 or $50,000 on her wardrobe."
CASINO MCCAIN Sharyl Attkisson, who examined John McCain's fundraising statistics for CBS' Follow the Money on Friday--he is the favorite of the Las Vegas casino industry--tried to file a symmetrical feature on Barack Obama's institutional funding base. She confessed her inability to identify what type of person most of his money comes from since "lots of Obama donors do not have to be disclosed at all under federal law because they gave under $200." As for Obama's fat cats, Attkisson zeroed in on bailed out financial firms. While the donor list for both candidates "reads like a Who's Who of the Wall Street collapse," Obama has outraised McCain by better than three-to-one from the bankers at Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.
Incidentally, McCain's support from the money men on the Vegas Strip reminds me of a little noted aside during his interview with NBC anchor Brian Williams last month just before the first debate, when his campaign for President was technically suspended: "If you were a betting man, would you bet we shall see you Oxford, Mississippi tomorrow night?" "Well, I am a betting man!"
The flip side of McCain's ties to casino management is that Obama is mobilizing their workers. "Nevada's largest union planned today's get-out-the-vote efforts," noted Chris Jansing in her NBC In Depth feature on the role of the Hispanic vote in southwestern states. "They are targeting fellow culinary workers in areas hit hard by layoffs." Jansing called the Latino vote "critical" in Nevada and Colorado and New Mexico too.
BANK ON IT Speaking of the $125bn partial nationalization of the major Wall Street banks, the federal infusion of funds has not altered their year-end bonus plans. NBC's Tom Costello gave a hat-tip to Bloomberg News for its analysis of the funds the major houses are setting aside to reward their traders and bankers for their so-called achievements over the past year: more than $6bn each at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, a six figure average per person. Costello sought a reaction from Rep Barney Frank (D-MA), the chairmen of the Financial Service Committee: "If Wall Street hands out those bonuses it can bank on Congress passing much more regulation in the months ahead."
THE SENATOR’S CHALET Technically, Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK) was not convicted of graft itself, only about lying about the $250,000 in gifts and services he received from Veco, the Alaska-based oil services company. CBS' Nancy Cordes pointed out that the prosecution "hinted" that Stevens may have helped Veco "win lucrative government contracts" in return. ABC's Pierre Thomas told us that Veco's workers helped transform Stevens" "modest one-story house" into what he liked to call his "chalet." For the $250,000, its size was doubled, a garage was added and two floors of decks, NBC's Pete Williams told us. As the basis for his appeal, Stevens accused federal prosecutors of "violation of fair trial rules."
Stevens' governor and Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin denounced her fellow Republican as "part of the culture of corruption I was elected to fight," added Cordes. Stevens is a candidate for reelection next week.
INITIALS ONLY Finally the network newscasts are awakening to the realization that Election Day hosts more than the Presidential contest. Down ticket, besides the Stevens race in Alaska, ABC assigned Dan Harris to the gubernatorial contest in Washington State for its 50 States in 50 Days series. "Republicans across the country are distancing themselves from a party weighed down by an unpopular President," Harris generalized. In the Pacific Northwest, that means that the ballot for Dino Rossi, running against incumbent Democrat Christine Gregoire, identifies his affiliation by initials only--not Republican; just GOP.
SHOTS ON THE SOUTH SIDE The major non-political story of the day came from Chicago. All three newscasts assigned a reporter to a triple-murder of a South Side family. All three correspondents tried to negotiate the uncomfortable straddle between a genuine crisis--that Chicago's murder rate is out of control, even exceeding the death toll of larger cities like New York and Los Angeles--and the unfortunate truth that these killings were only newsworthy because a celebrity was bereaved as a result. Jennifer Hudson, American Idol singer and Oscar winning actress, happened to be the Chicagoan whose mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew were murdered. Yet the murders seem to have had nothing to do with Hudson's fame. They may have been inspired by family matters, instead, since her estranged brother-in-law is being questioned by police. "Sadly gunshots are so common here that when they rang out Friday morning no one bothered calling 911," shrugged CBS' Cynthia Bowers. "Neighbors here say they heard the gunshots but did not call police. Gunshots here, they say, are nothing out of the ordinary," ABC's Barbara Pinto (no link) pointed out. And from NBC's Kevin Tibbles: "The murders were not reported for hours even though residents say they heard gunshots."
PURPLE PIZZA EATERS A couple of cancer stories rounded out CBS' coverage. In-house physician Jon LaPook claimed an Exclusive for his news that the National Cancer Institute was canceling a seven-year prostate cancer experiment. Researchers were testing the theory that megadoses of Vitamin E and selenium supplements might keep tumors away. They had 35,000 men take the daily vitamin or a placebo to find out. When it turned out that the placebo patients were slightly healthier, the trial was called off. From London, Mark Phillips told us about an ingredient found in blueberries, cranberries and snapdragon flowers that apparently prevents tumors in laboratory mice. Next, a strain of tomatoes will be bio-engineered to contain extra amounts of the cancer-fighting gene, which will also turn the tomatoes dark. "Is the world ready for purple pizza?"
HERE’S GAFFNEY Adrienne Gaffney has joined our happy band of news junkies who "watched last night night's newscasts...so you do not have to." Here are her observations on the same content Tyndall Report just monitored at Vanity Fair magazine's Culture & Celebrity blog.
