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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM MAY 08, 2008
By rights, there should have been no glimmer of a doubt that the continuing catastrophe in the Irrawaddy Delta was the Story of the Day. Disease, dehydration and hunger grow urgent in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis because Myanmar's military junta continues to close its borders to almost all disaster relief. Sure enough, the crisis did attract most total time from the three networks and both ABC and CBS led their newscasts from Bangkok. What stopped Myanmar from being unanimous was the trip NBC anchor Brian Williams took to the Newseum in Washington DC for a sitdown with Presidential candidate Barack Obama. NBC kicked off its newscast with a six-minute excerpt from that q-&-a despite the fact that its British newsgathering partner ITN had snared a much bigger exclusive: its correspondent was one of the few to manage to cross the border for a first hand account of the disaster zone.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR MAY 08, 2008: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
IT IS MYANMAR, STUPID By rights, there should have been no glimmer of a doubt that the continuing catastrophe in the Irrawaddy Delta was the Story of the Day. Disease, dehydration and hunger grow urgent in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis because Myanmar's military junta continues to close its borders to almost all disaster relief. Sure enough, the crisis did attract most total time from the three networks and both ABC and CBS led their newscasts from Bangkok. What stopped Myanmar from being unanimous was the trip NBC anchor Brian Williams took to the Newseum in Washington DC for a sitdown with Presidential candidate Barack Obama. NBC kicked off its newscast with a six-minute excerpt from that q-&-a despite the fact that its British newsgathering partner ITN had snared a much bigger exclusive: its correspondent was one of the few to manage to cross the border for a first hand account of the disaster zone.
Unfortunately Neil Connery's (no link) reporting from "Burma's wasteland, a place devoid of life, abandoned by hope and hidden from the world's gaze" has not been posted by NBC for online viewing. Suffice it to say that Connery found "every street corner, every road, every avenue, every building either completely demolished or barely still standing" from the cyclone's winds and storm surge. The delta's peasants were "bewildered by what has happened, forgotten in their suffering. They wonder if help will ever come."
In Bangkok, ABC's incredulous Terry McCarthy stated that Myanmar's ruling rulers "stand accused of letting their people die" as it has given landing permission to only a handful of planes and granted no visas to foreign aid workers. "It seems inconceivable, in the wake of a disaster of such magnitude, a government as impoverished as that of Myanmar would not welcome foreign aid." CBS' Celia Hatton called "these wasted days a grim calculation" for the junta. "Letting in massive aid could threaten their hold on power and by all calculations their power remains more important to them than their people."
ABC's Elizabeth Vargas pointed to tons of relief supplies "in staging areas around the world" waiting to be allowed in. Meanwhile "in the whole country roughly the size of Texas only seven government helicopters are distributing aid." Domestic relief agencies find that the junta's stubbornness has deterred charitable donations, CBS' Bill Whitaker pointed out: three years ago Americans donated $1bn for tsunami relief; so far the Red Cross has raised $1.25m for this cyclone. CBS anchor Katie Couric sat down with Presidential candidate John McCain to ask him how to resolve the crisis. He advocated diplomacy with the People's Republic of China--"they have close ties"--to urge them to put pressure on the Burmese regime.
BADMOUTHING THE VOLVO VOTE The portion of anchor Brian Williams' interview with candidate Barack Obama that NBC selected for its newscast did not include a parallel question on Myanmar policy--or any other policy for that matter. Williams' questions confined themselves to the horse race and matters of style. When would Obama clinch the Democratic nomination? Would Hillary Rodham Clinton be his running mate? Was he impressed with his cover photo on Time magazine? Does he have a hard time relating to ordinary people in bowling alleys? Obama alienated his upscale liberal base by disavowing "sprout eating, Volvo driving" before sighing: "Sometimes I wear a tie; sometimes I do not. Sometimes I wear a flag pin; sometimes I do not. You know, sometimes I like a burger and a beer; sometimes a glass of wine and a steak is good."
Then he insisted: "This does not have much to do with how I am going to lead the country." To which, Williams missed the obvious follow-up question: "Napa Valley Merlot or Pomerol?"
HARDWORKING WHITE PEOPLE Barack Obama has not clinched the nomination yet so all three networks assigned a correspondent to Hillary Rodham Clinton's continued quest for votes through West Virginia, South Dakota and Oregon. NBC's Ron Allen quoted her campaign manager Terry McAuliffe's appearance on his network's Today: "We ought to go on and let the voters decide and then after June 3rd I think this will come to a conclusion." For his part Obama told NBC anchor Brian Williams that May 20th, when Oregon votes, would be "significant," a claim that was newsworthy enough for Jake Tapper to quote on ABC.
Rodham Clinton "set the bar on electability based on who wins West Virginia," ABC's Tapper observed, a convenient test for appealing to superdelegates as far as she is concerned since she is "favored handily." Both Tapper and CBS' Jim Axelrod quoted her claim to USA Today that Obama's support was weakening among "hardworking Americans, white Americans." ABC's Tapper speculated whether such a comment "risks widening this racial chasm" in the Democratic Party's coalition. CBS' Axelrod noted that Obama's aides claim no weakening but an improvement in Indiana among blue-collar whites. Mused Axelrod: "She has got to crush Obama in West Virginia and even that may very well not be enough."
ABC's George Stephanopoulos noted that Rodham Clinton's continuing campaign was not getting Obama's full attention: "They know they cannot completely ignore her because that would appear arrogant or disrespectful but they are going to make a hard pivot to the General Election and the race against John McCain." Top on Obama's agenda, instead of West Virginia, is lobbying for superdelegates and a 50-state voter registration drive.
FAST, COMPLICATED, DISTRACTING The network newscasts rely so heavily on revenue for Big Pharma and their viewers are subjected to so many of its ads, that they are duty bound to cover pharmaceutical controversies. So both NBC and CBS were remiss when they filed to report on a Congressional panel on the $5.4bn-a-year Direct To Consumer pharmaceutical advertising business. ABC had Lisa Stark (embargoed link) give the House hearings A Closer Look. They concentrated on Vytorin, the cholesterol medicine from Merck and Schering-Plough, whose ads helped drum up $5bn in sales "even as the companies held back on releasing a study that called into question its effectiveness." Duke University's Ruth Day testified with some content analysis of how DTC ads balance risks and benefits. The delivery of information on risks uses "faster and more complicated language as well as visual distractions," she testified. Think about that bee with the foreign accent in those Nasonex spots.
GENETIC SUSTAINABLE MULTITASKING Most of the rest of the day's news was filled up with features…
CBS continued Your DNA Destiny, its series on testing for genetic predisposition to disease. If you have the gene for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, in-house physician Jon LaPook told us, you should get a heart defibrillator surgically implanted.
NBC's Our Planet series on the environment took us to Earth University in Costa Rica which teaches sustainable agriculture for development in Latin America and Africa. Anne Thompson showed us where the bananas at Whole Foods come from.
ABC's Bill Weir started of a two-parter on The Lifetime Crunch about ubiquitous multitasking. We have so many gadgets that researchers reckon we cram 31 hours of activity into every 24. The upshot: "When quantity of activity goes up, quality goes down."
ELSEWHERE… The collapse of the housing market in the Atlanta metropolitan area is so serious that 7,500 foreclosed homes are sold at auction on courthouse steps each month, NBC's Ron Mott reported…a manhunt for a pedophile rapist who apparently molested boys as young as six years old in southeast Asia was sparked when pictures of the abuse were found on a computer in Norway. Interpol publicized its search online and an arrest was made, CBS' Chip Reid told us, in Union City NJ…a sinkhole in the small Texan town of Daisetta is 700 feet long and 150 feet deep and growing. It is swallowing trees and vehicles and gear. It may be caused by the collapse of an underground limestone vault or by the depletion of a salt dome from years of drilling for oil. NBC's Don Teague and ABC's Mike von Fremd brought us pictures…CBS sent Kelly Cobiella to Texas to stake out the First Family's ranch, where Jenna Bush will be married this weekend, even though there is nothing for her to see: "No cameras, no reporters, no one but 200 close family and friends allowed past the Secret Service checkpoint."
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: Lebanon's political feuding may flare into a resumption of its civil war…a guerrilla named abu-Hamza al-Mujahir has been arrested in Iraq; he may be an al-Qaeda leader…the Pentagon is sending many military personnel to war even though they are categorized as medically unfit…the eruption of Mount Chaiten in Chile continues unabated…country & western singer Eddy Arnold has died, aged 89…an American Airlines jet flew across the Atlantic from Dallas to Paris with an exterior panel missing from the belly of its fuselage.
Unfortunately Neil Connery's (no link) reporting from "Burma's wasteland, a place devoid of life, abandoned by hope and hidden from the world's gaze" has not been posted by NBC for online viewing. Suffice it to say that Connery found "every street corner, every road, every avenue, every building either completely demolished or barely still standing" from the cyclone's winds and storm surge. The delta's peasants were "bewildered by what has happened, forgotten in their suffering. They wonder if help will ever come."
In Bangkok, ABC's incredulous Terry McCarthy stated that Myanmar's ruling rulers "stand accused of letting their people die" as it has given landing permission to only a handful of planes and granted no visas to foreign aid workers. "It seems inconceivable, in the wake of a disaster of such magnitude, a government as impoverished as that of Myanmar would not welcome foreign aid." CBS' Celia Hatton called "these wasted days a grim calculation" for the junta. "Letting in massive aid could threaten their hold on power and by all calculations their power remains more important to them than their people."
ABC's Elizabeth Vargas pointed to tons of relief supplies "in staging areas around the world" waiting to be allowed in. Meanwhile "in the whole country roughly the size of Texas only seven government helicopters are distributing aid." Domestic relief agencies find that the junta's stubbornness has deterred charitable donations, CBS' Bill Whitaker pointed out: three years ago Americans donated $1bn for tsunami relief; so far the Red Cross has raised $1.25m for this cyclone. CBS anchor Katie Couric sat down with Presidential candidate John McCain to ask him how to resolve the crisis. He advocated diplomacy with the People's Republic of China--"they have close ties"--to urge them to put pressure on the Burmese regime.
BADMOUTHING THE VOLVO VOTE The portion of anchor Brian Williams' interview with candidate Barack Obama that NBC selected for its newscast did not include a parallel question on Myanmar policy--or any other policy for that matter. Williams' questions confined themselves to the horse race and matters of style. When would Obama clinch the Democratic nomination? Would Hillary Rodham Clinton be his running mate? Was he impressed with his cover photo on Time magazine? Does he have a hard time relating to ordinary people in bowling alleys? Obama alienated his upscale liberal base by disavowing "sprout eating, Volvo driving" before sighing: "Sometimes I wear a tie; sometimes I do not. Sometimes I wear a flag pin; sometimes I do not. You know, sometimes I like a burger and a beer; sometimes a glass of wine and a steak is good."
Then he insisted: "This does not have much to do with how I am going to lead the country." To which, Williams missed the obvious follow-up question: "Napa Valley Merlot or Pomerol?"
HARDWORKING WHITE PEOPLE Barack Obama has not clinched the nomination yet so all three networks assigned a correspondent to Hillary Rodham Clinton's continued quest for votes through West Virginia, South Dakota and Oregon. NBC's Ron Allen quoted her campaign manager Terry McAuliffe's appearance on his network's Today: "We ought to go on and let the voters decide and then after June 3rd I think this will come to a conclusion." For his part Obama told NBC anchor Brian Williams that May 20th, when Oregon votes, would be "significant," a claim that was newsworthy enough for Jake Tapper to quote on ABC.
Rodham Clinton "set the bar on electability based on who wins West Virginia," ABC's Tapper observed, a convenient test for appealing to superdelegates as far as she is concerned since she is "favored handily." Both Tapper and CBS' Jim Axelrod quoted her claim to USA Today that Obama's support was weakening among "hardworking Americans, white Americans." ABC's Tapper speculated whether such a comment "risks widening this racial chasm" in the Democratic Party's coalition. CBS' Axelrod noted that Obama's aides claim no weakening but an improvement in Indiana among blue-collar whites. Mused Axelrod: "She has got to crush Obama in West Virginia and even that may very well not be enough."
ABC's George Stephanopoulos noted that Rodham Clinton's continuing campaign was not getting Obama's full attention: "They know they cannot completely ignore her because that would appear arrogant or disrespectful but they are going to make a hard pivot to the General Election and the race against John McCain." Top on Obama's agenda, instead of West Virginia, is lobbying for superdelegates and a 50-state voter registration drive.
FAST, COMPLICATED, DISTRACTING The network newscasts rely so heavily on revenue for Big Pharma and their viewers are subjected to so many of its ads, that they are duty bound to cover pharmaceutical controversies. So both NBC and CBS were remiss when they filed to report on a Congressional panel on the $5.4bn-a-year Direct To Consumer pharmaceutical advertising business. ABC had Lisa Stark (embargoed link) give the House hearings A Closer Look. They concentrated on Vytorin, the cholesterol medicine from Merck and Schering-Plough, whose ads helped drum up $5bn in sales "even as the companies held back on releasing a study that called into question its effectiveness." Duke University's Ruth Day testified with some content analysis of how DTC ads balance risks and benefits. The delivery of information on risks uses "faster and more complicated language as well as visual distractions," she testified. Think about that bee with the foreign accent in those Nasonex spots.
GENETIC SUSTAINABLE MULTITASKING Most of the rest of the day's news was filled up with features…
CBS continued Your DNA Destiny, its series on testing for genetic predisposition to disease. If you have the gene for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, in-house physician Jon LaPook told us, you should get a heart defibrillator surgically implanted.
NBC's Our Planet series on the environment took us to Earth University in Costa Rica which teaches sustainable agriculture for development in Latin America and Africa. Anne Thompson showed us where the bananas at Whole Foods come from.
ABC's Bill Weir started of a two-parter on The Lifetime Crunch about ubiquitous multitasking. We have so many gadgets that researchers reckon we cram 31 hours of activity into every 24. The upshot: "When quantity of activity goes up, quality goes down."
ELSEWHERE… The collapse of the housing market in the Atlanta metropolitan area is so serious that 7,500 foreclosed homes are sold at auction on courthouse steps each month, NBC's Ron Mott reported…a manhunt for a pedophile rapist who apparently molested boys as young as six years old in southeast Asia was sparked when pictures of the abuse were found on a computer in Norway. Interpol publicized its search online and an arrest was made, CBS' Chip Reid told us, in Union City NJ…a sinkhole in the small Texan town of Daisetta is 700 feet long and 150 feet deep and growing. It is swallowing trees and vehicles and gear. It may be caused by the collapse of an underground limestone vault or by the depletion of a salt dome from years of drilling for oil. NBC's Don Teague and ABC's Mike von Fremd brought us pictures…CBS sent Kelly Cobiella to Texas to stake out the First Family's ranch, where Jenna Bush will be married this weekend, even though there is nothing for her to see: "No cameras, no reporters, no one but 200 close family and friends allowed past the Secret Service checkpoint."
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: Lebanon's political feuding may flare into a resumption of its civil war…a guerrilla named abu-Hamza al-Mujahir has been arrested in Iraq; he may be an al-Qaeda leader…the Pentagon is sending many military personnel to war even though they are categorized as medically unfit…the eruption of Mount Chaiten in Chile continues unabated…country & western singer Eddy Arnold has died, aged 89…an American Airlines jet flew across the Atlantic from Dallas to Paris with an exterior panel missing from the belly of its fuselage.
