 |           |
TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM JUNE 16, 2008
The floods in Iowa, which would have dominated the news last week were it not for the untimely death of NBC's Tim Russert, returned to the headlines as flood waters worked their way south into the Mississippi River. From Rock Island to Iowa City to Keokuk rivers swelled, leaving 40,000 flooded out of their homes. NBC and CBS, with Iowan Harry Smith serving as substitute anchor, both led with the receding waters in Cedar Rapids. ABC chose the river towns downstream awaiting the surge on the Iowa River and Cedar River. The crest is predicted to be passing through St Louis by week's end. So this may be the first flood Story of the Day in a weeklong series.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR JUNE 16, 2008: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
FROM ROCK ISLAND TO KEOKUK The floods in Iowa, which would have dominated the news last week were it not for the untimely death of NBC's Tim Russert, returned to the headlines as flood waters worked their way south into the Mississippi River. From Rock Island to Iowa City to Keokuk rivers swelled, leaving 40,000 flooded out of their homes. NBC and CBS, with Iowan Harry Smith serving as substitute anchor, both led with the receding waters in Cedar Rapids. ABC chose the river towns downstream awaiting the surge on the Iowa River and Cedar River. The crest is predicted to be passing through St Louis by week's end. So this may be the first flood Story of the Day in a weeklong series.
ABC's Barbara Pinto showed us how "toppled bridges rearranged the landscape and crippled transportation." She strolled through the University of Iowa campus, touring some sixteen underwater institutions. CBS' Hari Sreenivasan joked that the Iowa River walking trail "is now the Iowa River." He stood in front of raging sparkling blue water highlighted with whitecaps in Oakville Iowa: "Those rapids behind me are soybean and cornfields" below a breached levee.
All three networks had a reporter in Cedar Rapids, where police and National Guard had barricaded flooded areas, even after water had receded. CBS' Cynthia Bowers offered a show and tell: "Just a few days ago the water here would have been well over my head." ABC's Mike von Fremd (embargoed link) repeated the explanation for the precaution, even as fury mounted at police checkpoints: "The water left such a staggering amount of toxic and has weakened so many structures that officials say it is too dangerous for anyone to return home." On NBC, Kerry Sanders was more vivid. At the historic branch of the Wells Fargo Bank, "the mud on the floor and counters is as thick as pudding."
EAT UP NBC chose a couple of angles on the rising price of food at the domestic supermarket. Tom Costello chose food as an angle on the midwest floods. Soggy farms will reduce the corn and soybean harvest by 6m acres, an amount comparable to the floods of 1993. The 80% increase in the price of a bushel of corn in just the last year will contribute to 6% annual food inflation as it filters through to the family budget. The average family of four is expected to spend $1,000 or $1,200 more on food than a year ago, claimed Costello, citing economists' predictions. His colleague Savannah Guthrie consulted market researcher Harry Balzer and contradicted Costello's economists for NBC's Staying Afloat feature. She reported that families will buy different things in order to avoid spending more: switching from meat to grains; from organics to regular produce; from premium to discount brands; from fine dining to fast food. "Browse the online coupon sites like CouponMom.com and FatWallet.com," she recommended. Or "maybe even…grow your own."
AFGHANISTAN QUESTIONS In an astonishing turn of events, all three networks treated Afghanistan as newsworthy without devoting a moment's attention to Iraq. NBC's Brian Williams offered statistical justification for that decision: May was the first month since the invasion of Iraq that the death toll for occupation forces in the Afghan warzone was greater than in Iraq. Williams had returned from last week's reporting trip with stories that went unaired Friday because of his network's saturation coverage of Tim Russert's death. To make up for lost time he played an interview with David McKiernan, the USArmy four-star general who is commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.
McKiernan agreed with Williams' characterization that Afghanistan is a "narco-state" although he did not elaborate--nor did Williams follow up--as to whether by "state" he meant the government that his troops were supporting. Besides narcotics he characterized "a very porous, uncontrolled, unsecure border" with Pakistan as "one of the great challenges." As for the enemy that NATO is fighting, McKiernan insisted that it is wrong to think of it as Taliban pure and simple: "It is much more than just a religious or ethnic division. A lot of it is fueled by foreign influences, by terrorist organizations." He did not elaborate on what those influences or organizations might be, nor did Williams follow up. McKiernan reflected that "ultimately, strategically, we have to look at this region. I think the answer to the question of what is the outcome that the world needs in this…this region, is bigger than Afghanistan." Was he hinting at extending the war to Iran? Or to Pakistan? The general did not elaborate nor did Williams follow up.
Lara Logan's Exclusive reporting on CBS backed up McKiernan's regional focus and a non-Taliban resistance. On ABC, Jim Sciutto seemed to contradict the general, as he reported on a deployment in Helmand Province where a USMC company has been "locked in close combat with Taliban fighters." Its ten day mission is now in Day 50 "and no one is talking about going home." The Marines, many veterans of Iraq, told Sciutto that Taliban guerrillas are the "better trained enemy." CBS' Logan focused on the non-Taliban northeastern zone controled by warlord Gulbeddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar, Logan reminded us, had been "embraced by the US as a freedom fighter" during the resistance to Soviet occupation 20 years ago. Now she reports on a videotape message produced in hiding from in which he denounces President George Bush "as a warmonger and blames him for Iran's meddling in Afghanistan. He says the Iranians are pouring money and weapons into the fight that is destroying his country."
PREVENTABLE BUT NOT PREDICTABLE Not surprisingly, NBC closed its newscast with anchor Brian Williams summarizing the weekend of mourning for DC bureau chief Tim Russert: "We have been overwhelmed, by the way, with the outpouring of sympathy." All three newscasts used Russert's sudden, unpredicted, fatal heart attack as a hook to offer a primer on heart disease. It is an illness that kills 451,000 Americans annually, according to ABC's A Closer Look; 300,000 according to CBS. NBC's Robert Bazell and CBS' in-house physician Jon LaPook and ABC's John McKenzie (embargoed link) all made the point that a cardiac arrest such as the one that killed Russert--an artery rupture from a piece of plaque that is too small to detect in a stress test--cannot be predicted but can be prevented. Prevention tips that all three mentioned consisted of keeping cholesterol low, avoiding cigarettes, exercising regularly and maintaining a normal weight. Bazell and LaPook threw in being non-diabetic, having normal blood pressure and making regular visits to one's physician. Bazell, alone, recommended living a stressfree life, even as he reported that Russert's lifestyle, while busy, even frenetic, was not stressful because it was not negative.
FATHER OBAMA On the campaign train, Barack Obama hired Hillary Rodham Clinton's former--and fired--campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle and prepared for the endorsement of his predecessor Democratic nominee Al Gore. ABC had Jake Tapper file from the Obama campaign; NBC's Lee Cowan did a brief stand-up; CBS offered no campaign coverage whatsoever. NBC's Cowan pointed out that in an unprecedented appeal to his supporters on AlGore.com the global warming activist was urging financial backing for Obama. Tapper concentrated on Obama's Father's Day sermon at Chicago's Apostolic Church of God in which he distinguished between a progenitor and a true dad: "Any fool can have a child but that does not make you a father. It is the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."
UNTIMELY RIPPED FROM THEIR MOTHER’S WOMB Harry Smith, CBS' substitute anchor from its Early Show introduced his morning in-house physician Emily Senay to file an Eye on Medicine feature into 550,000-or-so babies who are born prematurely nationwide each year. The premature birth rate is 30% higher than it was 25 years ago; premature infants represent one eighth of all births. The Surgeon General convened a panel to investigate the problem. Senay told us that there is no known explanation for 40% of premature births. Known causes include an increased use of IVF, producing more twins and triplets; higher rates of obesity and diabetes among women who get pregnant; more early births by elective cesarean section--and a "high and unexplained prematurity rate among African-Americans."
CBS CONTINUES TO DO ITS HOMEWORK Last week CBS filed a three-part Eye on Education series on trends in schools. Hari Sreenivasan looked at GPS monitoring to prevent truancy in Dallas. Wyatt Andrews introduced us to Michelle Rhee, the chancellor in the District of Columbia, who is closing schools and firing principals in an effort to shake up her system. Michelle Miller traveled to Lawrence Mass to visit the Esperanza Academy, a parochial all-girls middle school, part of the Nativity Miguel Network. Esperanza students attend for eleven hours each weekday for eleven months out of each year. Now Richard Schlesinger visits the small Arkansas town of El Dorado where Murphy Oil is the major employer. Murphy has established a $50m college scholarship fund that promises free tuition at an Arkansas state university for every single graduate of the town's high school. The upshot has been the approval of new taxes to build a new school, an inflow of new residents seeking the subsidy and an increase in the value of local real estate.
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: President George Bush held talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London…there are not only floods in Iowa--China's Guangxi Province is inundated too...the cost of a gallon of gasoline at the pump now averages $4.08…the major domestic airlines posted a combined $1.3bn loss in the first quarter of 2008…California will start solemnizing marriages between couples of the same gender on Tuesday…Madison Avenue executive Tony Schwartz died, aged 84.
ABC's Barbara Pinto showed us how "toppled bridges rearranged the landscape and crippled transportation." She strolled through the University of Iowa campus, touring some sixteen underwater institutions. CBS' Hari Sreenivasan joked that the Iowa River walking trail "is now the Iowa River." He stood in front of raging sparkling blue water highlighted with whitecaps in Oakville Iowa: "Those rapids behind me are soybean and cornfields" below a breached levee.
All three networks had a reporter in Cedar Rapids, where police and National Guard had barricaded flooded areas, even after water had receded. CBS' Cynthia Bowers offered a show and tell: "Just a few days ago the water here would have been well over my head." ABC's Mike von Fremd (embargoed link) repeated the explanation for the precaution, even as fury mounted at police checkpoints: "The water left such a staggering amount of toxic and has weakened so many structures that officials say it is too dangerous for anyone to return home." On NBC, Kerry Sanders was more vivid. At the historic branch of the Wells Fargo Bank, "the mud on the floor and counters is as thick as pudding."
EAT UP NBC chose a couple of angles on the rising price of food at the domestic supermarket. Tom Costello chose food as an angle on the midwest floods. Soggy farms will reduce the corn and soybean harvest by 6m acres, an amount comparable to the floods of 1993. The 80% increase in the price of a bushel of corn in just the last year will contribute to 6% annual food inflation as it filters through to the family budget. The average family of four is expected to spend $1,000 or $1,200 more on food than a year ago, claimed Costello, citing economists' predictions. His colleague Savannah Guthrie consulted market researcher Harry Balzer and contradicted Costello's economists for NBC's Staying Afloat feature. She reported that families will buy different things in order to avoid spending more: switching from meat to grains; from organics to regular produce; from premium to discount brands; from fine dining to fast food. "Browse the online coupon sites like CouponMom.com and FatWallet.com," she recommended. Or "maybe even…grow your own."
AFGHANISTAN QUESTIONS In an astonishing turn of events, all three networks treated Afghanistan as newsworthy without devoting a moment's attention to Iraq. NBC's Brian Williams offered statistical justification for that decision: May was the first month since the invasion of Iraq that the death toll for occupation forces in the Afghan warzone was greater than in Iraq. Williams had returned from last week's reporting trip with stories that went unaired Friday because of his network's saturation coverage of Tim Russert's death. To make up for lost time he played an interview with David McKiernan, the USArmy four-star general who is commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.
McKiernan agreed with Williams' characterization that Afghanistan is a "narco-state" although he did not elaborate--nor did Williams follow up--as to whether by "state" he meant the government that his troops were supporting. Besides narcotics he characterized "a very porous, uncontrolled, unsecure border" with Pakistan as "one of the great challenges." As for the enemy that NATO is fighting, McKiernan insisted that it is wrong to think of it as Taliban pure and simple: "It is much more than just a religious or ethnic division. A lot of it is fueled by foreign influences, by terrorist organizations." He did not elaborate on what those influences or organizations might be, nor did Williams follow up. McKiernan reflected that "ultimately, strategically, we have to look at this region. I think the answer to the question of what is the outcome that the world needs in this…this region, is bigger than Afghanistan." Was he hinting at extending the war to Iran? Or to Pakistan? The general did not elaborate nor did Williams follow up.
Lara Logan's Exclusive reporting on CBS backed up McKiernan's regional focus and a non-Taliban resistance. On ABC, Jim Sciutto seemed to contradict the general, as he reported on a deployment in Helmand Province where a USMC company has been "locked in close combat with Taliban fighters." Its ten day mission is now in Day 50 "and no one is talking about going home." The Marines, many veterans of Iraq, told Sciutto that Taliban guerrillas are the "better trained enemy." CBS' Logan focused on the non-Taliban northeastern zone controled by warlord Gulbeddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar, Logan reminded us, had been "embraced by the US as a freedom fighter" during the resistance to Soviet occupation 20 years ago. Now she reports on a videotape message produced in hiding from in which he denounces President George Bush "as a warmonger and blames him for Iran's meddling in Afghanistan. He says the Iranians are pouring money and weapons into the fight that is destroying his country."
PREVENTABLE BUT NOT PREDICTABLE Not surprisingly, NBC closed its newscast with anchor Brian Williams summarizing the weekend of mourning for DC bureau chief Tim Russert: "We have been overwhelmed, by the way, with the outpouring of sympathy." All three newscasts used Russert's sudden, unpredicted, fatal heart attack as a hook to offer a primer on heart disease. It is an illness that kills 451,000 Americans annually, according to ABC's A Closer Look; 300,000 according to CBS. NBC's Robert Bazell and CBS' in-house physician Jon LaPook and ABC's John McKenzie (embargoed link) all made the point that a cardiac arrest such as the one that killed Russert--an artery rupture from a piece of plaque that is too small to detect in a stress test--cannot be predicted but can be prevented. Prevention tips that all three mentioned consisted of keeping cholesterol low, avoiding cigarettes, exercising regularly and maintaining a normal weight. Bazell and LaPook threw in being non-diabetic, having normal blood pressure and making regular visits to one's physician. Bazell, alone, recommended living a stressfree life, even as he reported that Russert's lifestyle, while busy, even frenetic, was not stressful because it was not negative.
FATHER OBAMA On the campaign train, Barack Obama hired Hillary Rodham Clinton's former--and fired--campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle and prepared for the endorsement of his predecessor Democratic nominee Al Gore. ABC had Jake Tapper file from the Obama campaign; NBC's Lee Cowan did a brief stand-up; CBS offered no campaign coverage whatsoever. NBC's Cowan pointed out that in an unprecedented appeal to his supporters on AlGore.com the global warming activist was urging financial backing for Obama. Tapper concentrated on Obama's Father's Day sermon at Chicago's Apostolic Church of God in which he distinguished between a progenitor and a true dad: "Any fool can have a child but that does not make you a father. It is the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."
UNTIMELY RIPPED FROM THEIR MOTHER’S WOMB Harry Smith, CBS' substitute anchor from its Early Show introduced his morning in-house physician Emily Senay to file an Eye on Medicine feature into 550,000-or-so babies who are born prematurely nationwide each year. The premature birth rate is 30% higher than it was 25 years ago; premature infants represent one eighth of all births. The Surgeon General convened a panel to investigate the problem. Senay told us that there is no known explanation for 40% of premature births. Known causes include an increased use of IVF, producing more twins and triplets; higher rates of obesity and diabetes among women who get pregnant; more early births by elective cesarean section--and a "high and unexplained prematurity rate among African-Americans."
CBS CONTINUES TO DO ITS HOMEWORK Last week CBS filed a three-part Eye on Education series on trends in schools. Hari Sreenivasan looked at GPS monitoring to prevent truancy in Dallas. Wyatt Andrews introduced us to Michelle Rhee, the chancellor in the District of Columbia, who is closing schools and firing principals in an effort to shake up her system. Michelle Miller traveled to Lawrence Mass to visit the Esperanza Academy, a parochial all-girls middle school, part of the Nativity Miguel Network. Esperanza students attend for eleven hours each weekday for eleven months out of each year. Now Richard Schlesinger visits the small Arkansas town of El Dorado where Murphy Oil is the major employer. Murphy has established a $50m college scholarship fund that promises free tuition at an Arkansas state university for every single graduate of the town's high school. The upshot has been the approval of new taxes to build a new school, an inflow of new residents seeking the subsidy and an increase in the value of local real estate.
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: President George Bush held talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London…there are not only floods in Iowa--China's Guangxi Province is inundated too...the cost of a gallon of gasoline at the pump now averages $4.08…the major domestic airlines posted a combined $1.3bn loss in the first quarter of 2008…California will start solemnizing marriages between couples of the same gender on Tuesday…Madison Avenue executive Tony Schwartz died, aged 84.
