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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM NOVEMBER 14, 2008
Depressing economic news qualified as Story of the Day for the third time this week. Tuesday, Detroit's Big Three sought a federal bailout; Wednesday, the Treasury Department announced an about-face on its home mortgage bailout; now the retail sector is in trouble. October statistics registered the fourth straight month of declining sales, 2.8% lower than in September. NBC led with the lousy economy; CBS, anchored by substitute Russ Mitchell, chose weatherporn video as wildfires torched mansions in the canyons around Santa Barbara; ABC led with the prospect that Hillary Rodham Clinton might join Barack Obama's Team of Rivals as his Secretary of State.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR NOVEMBER 14, 2008: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
RETAIL SALES TRAPPED IN A VICIOUS CYCLE Depressing economic news qualified as Story of the Day for the third time this week. Tuesday, Detroit's Big Three sought a federal bailout; Wednesday, the Treasury Department announced an about-face on its home mortgage bailout; now the retail sector is in trouble. October statistics registered the fourth straight month of declining sales, 2.8% lower than in September. NBC led with the lousy economy; CBS, anchored by substitute Russ Mitchell, chose weatherporn video as wildfires torched mansions in the canyons around Santa Barbara; ABC led with the prospect that Hillary Rodham Clinton might join Barack Obama's Team of Rivals as his Secretary of State.
Consumers "have stopped spending pretty much altogether," shrugged CNBC's Trish Regan on NBC, depicting "a spending strike." They have "pulled back on spending across the board," noted ABC's Betsy Stark (no link). "With the economy in freefall consumers are scared to spend," was how CBS' Sandra Hughes put it, listing the sectors with declining volume--automobiles, furnishings, appliances, electronics. "The only things Americans are buying more of are groceries and healthcare items," ABC's Stark pointed out, "the bare essentials." She portrayed a "vicious cycle" of reduced consumer spending leading to falling profits leading to increased layoffs leading to consumers unable to spend. Guess what CNBC's Regan called it? "A vicious cycle."
DON’T FORGET THE ‘70S SOLUTION CBS followed up with a couple of stories on the Treasury Department's partial nationalization of the financial system. Sharyl Attkisson was on Capitol Hill for Neel Kashkari's testimony at House hearings. Kashkari is the Treasury man in charge of TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program--which has now decided not to relieve banks of troubled assets. "Why are taxpayer billions buying stock in big successful banks instead of helping consumers with mortgages and loans?" was how Attkisson paraphrased the questioning. Her colleague Anthony Mason covered criticism of TARP from Chairwoman Sheila Bair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She proposes that $22bn be spent to subsidize banks that modify home loans to reduce monthly payments and to insure those modified loans against default. "The Treasury Department disagrees," said Mason. Kashkari argued that Bair's $22bn would constitute "spending" while TARP's $700bn has been designated for "investments."
"Bailout" should be in the plural, insisted CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera as she gave a tutorial to NBC anchor Brian Williams on the extent of the federal government's intervention in the economy. To TARP, she added the Federal Reserve Board's investment in AIG, the insurance conglomerate; and the nationalization of FannieMae and FreddieMac, the bankrupt home mortgage firms; and federal loan guarantees to the automobile industry--and came up with a total in excess of $1tr. "It is going to have to be paid for somehow," she shrugged, offering a pair of scenarios but curiously ignoring a third. First she suggested "eventually a stronger economy, which means more tax receipts." Next she warned that "often governments try to raise taxes in order to pay for all of this kind of stuff." Yet she ignored the 1970s-style solution: devalue the dollar and run the printing presses to reduce the debt by inflating the currency.
Economic recession can lead to psychological depression, NBC's Robert Bazell warned. Stress about out-of-control finances makes us grow old faster, harming our heart and our blood sugar levels. He recommended exercise and the company of friends "because isolation can be one of the biggest stressors of all."
CELEBRITIES & MONKS BOTH SINGED All three newscasts had correspondents clad in yellow firefighting jackets along the lines in Montecito, the canyon of celebrity mansions outside Santa Barbara. It is the season for hot, dry Santa Ana winds to blow in from the desert so the fires were no surprise. The news consisted of the cold comfort that even the rich and famous are vulnerable to the vicissitudes of nature. CBS' Ben Tracy called Montecito "an enclave of multimillion dollar homes"…ABC's Brian Rooney found an area where "celebrities and wealthy people have getaways"…NBC's Mark Mullen measured "four square miles of multimillion dollar estates."
Besides the rich, CBS' Tracy told us that the blaze destroyed a mountaintop monastery.
BARACK HELPS DORIS SELL HER BOOK Thursday, NBC's Andrea Mitchell filed a brief stand-up from Washington to tell us that Hillary Rodham Clinton had been added to Barack Obama's shortlist of Secretary of State candidates. As the New York Senator traveled to Chicago for talks with the President-elect, all three networks assigned correspondents to the job interview. ABC had a breathless Jake Tapper lead its newscast with the prospect. He overpitched the story seeing a "bold and stunning move" with Rodham Clinton keeping "an uncharacteristically low profile" visiting Obama "surreptitiously" in order to hold their "top secret meeting."
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin snared free publicity for her book on Abraham Lincoln's cabinet Team of Rivals, since Obama himself had mentioned the appeal of having erstwhile political opponents join his administration. CBS' Chip Reid noted that Obama and Rodham Clinton had "reconciled" since the end of the primary season as she "threw herself" into his General Election effort. NBC's Mitchell quoted Kearns Goodwin herself and commented on the appeal of the job for Rodham Clinton: "It would be a way out of the Senate where more senior senators are blocking her from taking the lead on healthcare or becoming Majority Leader." Face the Nation anchor Bob Schieffer (no link) opined on CBS that Rodham Clinton would likely become the next Madame Secretary: "I do not believe the Obama people would have risked embarrassing her by leaking her name and then passing her over."
ABC's Tapper, quoting Team of Rivals, noted that Lincoln put three of his fellow Presidential contenders into his Cabinet. So, Joe Biden is already there; and Rodham Clinton may be second; who would the third rival be? Dennis Kucinich at HUD? Sarah Palin at Interior? Mitt Romney at Commerce? John Edwards as Attorney General? Just askin'.
MARTIN STILL CANNOT USE THE T-WORD Rounding out Obama Transition coverage, CBS' David Martin reported from the Pentagon that inquiries have already been made into the logistics of removing all 230 inmates at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and incarcerating them in the brig at the base in Charleston SC. Martin doubted that every case would end up in prosecution, even if the move went ahead, because many of the inmates had been tortured, rendering evidence inadmissible.
Well, Martin did not actually use the T-word--but he did depict the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. That torture applied to many more than just KSM, Martin implied: "More than 100 inmates are considered too dangerous to release but not guilty enough to prosecute because the evidence against them cannot be used in court."
By the way, can anyone tell me whether "Sheikh" in KSM is his name or an honorific?
TAKE MY TEEN, PLEASE NBC's Janet Shamlian told us about the unintended consequences of Nebraska's so-called safe haven law last month. Now CBS' Mark Strassmann and ABC's Barbara Pinto (no link) offer updates. The safe haven was supposed to apply to overwhelmed mothers of newborns, permitting them to abandon their babies into the care of the state no questions asked. Nebraska, unlike other states with safe haven laws, applied its to all children, not just babes in arms. As a consequence 34 minors from seven states have been handed over in Nebraska in three months, most of them teenagers, only one infant. Both Strassmann and Pinto quoted unidentified "child advocates" drawing a nationwide lesson from this dumping of teenagers: "the gap in care for kids in crisis," as Pinto put it; "a larger problem of protecting kids of all ages," worried Strassmann.
FRIDAY FEATURES Earnest, inspirational and saucy were the varied tones of each newscast's weekending Friday feature. Sauce was doled out by Steve Hartman for CBS' Assignment America as he followed Ginger Arn, the 93-year-old Kansas City widow, whose husband of 53 years never liked to dance. Now single once more she found a twinkletoed widower who likes to trip the light fantastic too. They moved in together after their first night of dancing: "So now we live in sin."
Inspiration was delivered by DJ Gregory, ABC's Person of the Week. ESPN's Tom Rinaldi told us that Gregory, a golf fan, was born with cerebral palsy making his gait clumsy and falls inevitable. Nevertheless he committed himself to walking around every hole of every round of every tournament on the PGA circuit for an entire year. He has just completed his 44th course and 988 miles.
Earnest was Professor Sabrina Brinson of Missouri State University, who is Making a Difference as a child education activist by sponsoring a National Institute for Literacy program with the volunteer group Mocha Moms. NBC's Rehema Ellis told us that Brinson makes a distinction between "illiterate" children--those unable to read--and the "aliterate"--those unmotivated to read despite competency. To target the aliterate, Brinson has set up reading creches where children hang out waiting for their parents to get their weekly 'dos: Boys Booked on Barbershops and Girls Booked on Beautyshops.
Consumers "have stopped spending pretty much altogether," shrugged CNBC's Trish Regan on NBC, depicting "a spending strike." They have "pulled back on spending across the board," noted ABC's Betsy Stark (no link). "With the economy in freefall consumers are scared to spend," was how CBS' Sandra Hughes put it, listing the sectors with declining volume--automobiles, furnishings, appliances, electronics. "The only things Americans are buying more of are groceries and healthcare items," ABC's Stark pointed out, "the bare essentials." She portrayed a "vicious cycle" of reduced consumer spending leading to falling profits leading to increased layoffs leading to consumers unable to spend. Guess what CNBC's Regan called it? "A vicious cycle."
DON’T FORGET THE ‘70S SOLUTION CBS followed up with a couple of stories on the Treasury Department's partial nationalization of the financial system. Sharyl Attkisson was on Capitol Hill for Neel Kashkari's testimony at House hearings. Kashkari is the Treasury man in charge of TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program--which has now decided not to relieve banks of troubled assets. "Why are taxpayer billions buying stock in big successful banks instead of helping consumers with mortgages and loans?" was how Attkisson paraphrased the questioning. Her colleague Anthony Mason covered criticism of TARP from Chairwoman Sheila Bair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She proposes that $22bn be spent to subsidize banks that modify home loans to reduce monthly payments and to insure those modified loans against default. "The Treasury Department disagrees," said Mason. Kashkari argued that Bair's $22bn would constitute "spending" while TARP's $700bn has been designated for "investments."
"Bailout" should be in the plural, insisted CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera as she gave a tutorial to NBC anchor Brian Williams on the extent of the federal government's intervention in the economy. To TARP, she added the Federal Reserve Board's investment in AIG, the insurance conglomerate; and the nationalization of FannieMae and FreddieMac, the bankrupt home mortgage firms; and federal loan guarantees to the automobile industry--and came up with a total in excess of $1tr. "It is going to have to be paid for somehow," she shrugged, offering a pair of scenarios but curiously ignoring a third. First she suggested "eventually a stronger economy, which means more tax receipts." Next she warned that "often governments try to raise taxes in order to pay for all of this kind of stuff." Yet she ignored the 1970s-style solution: devalue the dollar and run the printing presses to reduce the debt by inflating the currency.
Economic recession can lead to psychological depression, NBC's Robert Bazell warned. Stress about out-of-control finances makes us grow old faster, harming our heart and our blood sugar levels. He recommended exercise and the company of friends "because isolation can be one of the biggest stressors of all."
CELEBRITIES & MONKS BOTH SINGED All three newscasts had correspondents clad in yellow firefighting jackets along the lines in Montecito, the canyon of celebrity mansions outside Santa Barbara. It is the season for hot, dry Santa Ana winds to blow in from the desert so the fires were no surprise. The news consisted of the cold comfort that even the rich and famous are vulnerable to the vicissitudes of nature. CBS' Ben Tracy called Montecito "an enclave of multimillion dollar homes"…ABC's Brian Rooney found an area where "celebrities and wealthy people have getaways"…NBC's Mark Mullen measured "four square miles of multimillion dollar estates."
Besides the rich, CBS' Tracy told us that the blaze destroyed a mountaintop monastery.
BARACK HELPS DORIS SELL HER BOOK Thursday, NBC's Andrea Mitchell filed a brief stand-up from Washington to tell us that Hillary Rodham Clinton had been added to Barack Obama's shortlist of Secretary of State candidates. As the New York Senator traveled to Chicago for talks with the President-elect, all three networks assigned correspondents to the job interview. ABC had a breathless Jake Tapper lead its newscast with the prospect. He overpitched the story seeing a "bold and stunning move" with Rodham Clinton keeping "an uncharacteristically low profile" visiting Obama "surreptitiously" in order to hold their "top secret meeting."
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin snared free publicity for her book on Abraham Lincoln's cabinet Team of Rivals, since Obama himself had mentioned the appeal of having erstwhile political opponents join his administration. CBS' Chip Reid noted that Obama and Rodham Clinton had "reconciled" since the end of the primary season as she "threw herself" into his General Election effort. NBC's Mitchell quoted Kearns Goodwin herself and commented on the appeal of the job for Rodham Clinton: "It would be a way out of the Senate where more senior senators are blocking her from taking the lead on healthcare or becoming Majority Leader." Face the Nation anchor Bob Schieffer (no link) opined on CBS that Rodham Clinton would likely become the next Madame Secretary: "I do not believe the Obama people would have risked embarrassing her by leaking her name and then passing her over."
ABC's Tapper, quoting Team of Rivals, noted that Lincoln put three of his fellow Presidential contenders into his Cabinet. So, Joe Biden is already there; and Rodham Clinton may be second; who would the third rival be? Dennis Kucinich at HUD? Sarah Palin at Interior? Mitt Romney at Commerce? John Edwards as Attorney General? Just askin'.
MARTIN STILL CANNOT USE THE T-WORD Rounding out Obama Transition coverage, CBS' David Martin reported from the Pentagon that inquiries have already been made into the logistics of removing all 230 inmates at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and incarcerating them in the brig at the base in Charleston SC. Martin doubted that every case would end up in prosecution, even if the move went ahead, because many of the inmates had been tortured, rendering evidence inadmissible.
Well, Martin did not actually use the T-word--but he did depict the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. That torture applied to many more than just KSM, Martin implied: "More than 100 inmates are considered too dangerous to release but not guilty enough to prosecute because the evidence against them cannot be used in court."
By the way, can anyone tell me whether "Sheikh" in KSM is his name or an honorific?
TAKE MY TEEN, PLEASE NBC's Janet Shamlian told us about the unintended consequences of Nebraska's so-called safe haven law last month. Now CBS' Mark Strassmann and ABC's Barbara Pinto (no link) offer updates. The safe haven was supposed to apply to overwhelmed mothers of newborns, permitting them to abandon their babies into the care of the state no questions asked. Nebraska, unlike other states with safe haven laws, applied its to all children, not just babes in arms. As a consequence 34 minors from seven states have been handed over in Nebraska in three months, most of them teenagers, only one infant. Both Strassmann and Pinto quoted unidentified "child advocates" drawing a nationwide lesson from this dumping of teenagers: "the gap in care for kids in crisis," as Pinto put it; "a larger problem of protecting kids of all ages," worried Strassmann.
FRIDAY FEATURES Earnest, inspirational and saucy were the varied tones of each newscast's weekending Friday feature. Sauce was doled out by Steve Hartman for CBS' Assignment America as he followed Ginger Arn, the 93-year-old Kansas City widow, whose husband of 53 years never liked to dance. Now single once more she found a twinkletoed widower who likes to trip the light fantastic too. They moved in together after their first night of dancing: "So now we live in sin."
Inspiration was delivered by DJ Gregory, ABC's Person of the Week. ESPN's Tom Rinaldi told us that Gregory, a golf fan, was born with cerebral palsy making his gait clumsy and falls inevitable. Nevertheless he committed himself to walking around every hole of every round of every tournament on the PGA circuit for an entire year. He has just completed his 44th course and 988 miles.
Earnest was Professor Sabrina Brinson of Missouri State University, who is Making a Difference as a child education activist by sponsoring a National Institute for Literacy program with the volunteer group Mocha Moms. NBC's Rehema Ellis told us that Brinson makes a distinction between "illiterate" children--those unable to read--and the "aliterate"--those unmotivated to read despite competency. To target the aliterate, Brinson has set up reading creches where children hang out waiting for their parents to get their weekly 'dos: Boys Booked on Barbershops and Girls Booked on Beautyshops.
