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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM JULY 14, 2009
The second day of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings again qualified as Story of the Day. The questioning of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was the lead item on both NBC and CBS but, oddly, ABC decided to start off with an airline emergency. A hole appeared in the roof of a Boeing 737 in mid-flight and the Southwest Airlines jetliner was forced to land short of its destination. Everyone on board was safe yet ABC thought the scare was newsworthy enough to take precedence over the would-be Justice in its line-up.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR JULY 14, 2009: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
SOTOMAYOR ON THE SENATE HOT SEAT The second day of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings again qualified as Story of the Day. The questioning of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was the lead item on both NBC and CBS but, oddly, ABC decided to start off with an airline emergency. A hole appeared in the roof of a Boeing 737 in mid-flight and the Southwest Airlines jetliner was forced to land short of its destination. Everyone on board was safe yet ABC thought the scare was newsworthy enough to take precedence over the would-be Justice in its line-up.
CBS' Wyatt Andrews heard "a tense series of challenges" from the Senate panel. ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg observed that the judge "never lost her composure" during a grueling session: "She took vigorous notes almost like she was trying to keep her focus by writing as they spoke." All three newscasts mentioned abortion among the issues that came up in questioning. NBC's Pete Williams noted that when Sotomayor called the Roe vs Wade decision settled law, "Republican nominees Samuel Alito and John Roberts gave similar answers." ABC's Crawford Greenburg and CBS' Andrews also checked off her answers on affirmative action and the Second Amendment. "On gun rights she walked a fuzzy line," opined ABC's Crawford Greenburg.
MISPARAPHRASING THAT QUOTE AGAIN Most newsworthy, again, was that single sentence from Sonia Sotomayor's 2001 speech. CBS' Wyatt Andrews quoted the judge's own comment on it: "No words I have even spoken or written have received so much attention." It is a pet peeve at Tyndall Report that the reporting on this sentence has been cavalier to the point of sloppiness. So, one more time, this is what Sotomayor actually said: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who has not lived that life."
And this is how the three Supreme Court correspondents misleadingly paraphrased her:
"A wise Latina woman would reach a better conclusion than a white male"--CBS' Andrews.
"A wise Latina would reach a better conclusion than a white male"--ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg.
"A wise Latina woman would more often than not reach a better conclusion as a judge than a white male"--NBC's Pete Williams.
Williams was less egregious since he at least stated that Sotomayor was proposing a tendency--"…more often than not…"--rather than making a sweeping statement. Yet all three failed to note that this was an aspiration--"I would hope that…"--not a prediction. Furthermore, her comparison was not between any wise Latina and any white man but between a particular woman, whose life experiences happened to be rich, and a particular man, whose experiences were straitened. As mitigation, both CBS' Andrews and NBC's Williams did quote Sotomayor's clarification that she was referring to individuals in her comparison not categories: "I do not believe that any ethnic, gender or race group has an advantage in sound judging." Whatever the precise parsing, CBS' Jeff Greenfield (at the tail of the Andrews videostream) concluded that Sotomayor's critics had driven their point home: "The conservatives on the panel have made the case to their base and their supporters that this is someone who brings identity politics into the law."
NBC DISSES HOUSE HEALTHCARE PLAN When the House Democratic leadership unveiled its proposed legislation to mandate universal healthcare, ABC's Jonathan Karl covered the bill from Capitol Hill and CBS' Chip Reid covered it from the White House. NBC decided not to assign a correspondent to the 1,000-page plan and mentioned it only in passing.
ABC's Karl and CBS' Reid agreed on the highlights of the package: 97% of the population would be covered; it would cost the federal government an additional $1tr over the next decade; funding would include an income tax surcharge on rich people; the government would offer coverage to compete with private insurance. They split on prospects for passage. CBS' Reid characterized the opposition as consisting of all Republicans and "40 conservative Democrats, enough to kill it." ABC's Karl saw fewer obstacles in the House, confined to "most Republicans," while the "tougher challenge" will be to be resolve differences between this plan and whatever the Senate passes.
FAUX AFGHANISTAN All three newscasts covered the war in Afghanistan--in a manner of speaking. ABC's Bob Woodruff split his A Closer Look from Bagram AFB between Afghanistan and a sandstorm in Kirkuk in Iraq. Woodruff was traveling in both theaters with Chairman Michael Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as he inspected the troops. NBC's Stephanie Gosk used pictures from the English market town of Wootton Bassett to illustrate the toll of the war on the British military. The town is on the route between the air base and the morgue when coffins are flown home. Mourners lined the streets en masse to salute eight war dead from Helmand Province. "These Green Berets are on a night mission to take out several high value Taliban leaders," narrated CBS' Lara Logan over Exclusive night vision videotape of a commando raid. She called them "elite soldiers at the Tip of the Spear," borrowing Richard Engel's logo for his coverage of firefights in the Korengal Valley. Except Logan was nowhere near Afghanistan. She was following "mock assaults" against "paper targets" in the Dugway Proving Grounds in the Utah desert.
MADOFF BOOK DEAL INKED BY ABC’S ROSS ABC anchor Charles Gibson announced that his network's investigative correspondent Brian Ross has inked a deal to write a book on Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme. This is the link to Ross' first chapter. This is the link to Ross' Madoff reporting on World News since last December. Ross filed an update as his 71-year-old subject arrived at the medium security prison in Butner NC to begin serving his 150 year sentence. Butner is "considered one of the crown jewels of the federal prison system," Ross told us, with the "look and feel of a college campus" and visiting hours that are so liberal that Ruth Madoff may move to North Carolina to be close to her husband: "She is absolutely devoted to him, very much in love, just like Bonnie & Clyde."
THERE’S A HOLE IN THE CABIN "Four months ago Southwest Airlines was fined $7.5m for failing to inspect its 737 fleet for cracks in 2007," NBC's Tom Costello reminded us, when the cabin of Flight 2294 peeled open in mid-flight en route to Baltimore from Nashville. "Likely culprits include metal fatigue, corrosion, a scratch, or damage to the fuselage during maintenance," suggested ABC's Lisa Stark. "Just last year Southwest found cracks in half a dozen of its 737s," CBS' Nancy Cordes pointed out. The 15-year-old Boeing 737--"old enough to be considered an aging aircraft," as ABC's Stark put it--landed in West Virginia after the cabin depressurized and oxygen masks dropped. All 126 passengers on board are safe.
PENSACOLA POLICE BLOTTER CBS and NBC both considered the local murder case from Escambia County Fla that all three newscasts covered Monday to be worthy of one more national follow-up. The sheriff's department announced the arrest of six men and a teenager in the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings, parents of 16 children, in their Pensacola mansion last week. NBC's Mark Potter came up with the tidbit that one of the accused, Donald Stallworth, is a military commando in USAF Special Operations. The sheriff called the killing a "home invasion" that had been "long planned, military style." CBS' Terrell Brown told us that a second suspect, Leonard Gonzalez, is a children's karate instructor. Besides murder, the suspects are accused of stealing the Billings' safe.
NOR ANY DROP TO DRINK Water, or the lack of it, attracted coverage on both ABC and NBC. Houston-based Janet Shamlian on NBC showed us images of Texas' drought: a low lake in Austin, shriveled cornhusks down on the farm, dead trees in Houston. Steve Osunsami was in Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta where a village of 40 residents has had no drinking water ever since their well dried up six years ago. The federal government has told them that they need to find "an existing water association that will agree to expand," Osunsami explained, but that will cost $1m and the county cannot find the funds. He showed us a shocking map of the state showing all the areas unserved by running water: "Across Mississippi residents get their water from water authorities that provide service to whom and where they please."
CBS' Wyatt Andrews heard "a tense series of challenges" from the Senate panel. ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg observed that the judge "never lost her composure" during a grueling session: "She took vigorous notes almost like she was trying to keep her focus by writing as they spoke." All three newscasts mentioned abortion among the issues that came up in questioning. NBC's Pete Williams noted that when Sotomayor called the Roe vs Wade decision settled law, "Republican nominees Samuel Alito and John Roberts gave similar answers." ABC's Crawford Greenburg and CBS' Andrews also checked off her answers on affirmative action and the Second Amendment. "On gun rights she walked a fuzzy line," opined ABC's Crawford Greenburg.
MISPARAPHRASING THAT QUOTE AGAIN Most newsworthy, again, was that single sentence from Sonia Sotomayor's 2001 speech. CBS' Wyatt Andrews quoted the judge's own comment on it: "No words I have even spoken or written have received so much attention." It is a pet peeve at Tyndall Report that the reporting on this sentence has been cavalier to the point of sloppiness. So, one more time, this is what Sotomayor actually said: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who has not lived that life."
And this is how the three Supreme Court correspondents misleadingly paraphrased her:
"A wise Latina woman would reach a better conclusion than a white male"--CBS' Andrews.
"A wise Latina would reach a better conclusion than a white male"--ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg.
"A wise Latina woman would more often than not reach a better conclusion as a judge than a white male"--NBC's Pete Williams.
Williams was less egregious since he at least stated that Sotomayor was proposing a tendency--"…more often than not…"--rather than making a sweeping statement. Yet all three failed to note that this was an aspiration--"I would hope that…"--not a prediction. Furthermore, her comparison was not between any wise Latina and any white man but between a particular woman, whose life experiences happened to be rich, and a particular man, whose experiences were straitened. As mitigation, both CBS' Andrews and NBC's Williams did quote Sotomayor's clarification that she was referring to individuals in her comparison not categories: "I do not believe that any ethnic, gender or race group has an advantage in sound judging." Whatever the precise parsing, CBS' Jeff Greenfield (at the tail of the Andrews videostream) concluded that Sotomayor's critics had driven their point home: "The conservatives on the panel have made the case to their base and their supporters that this is someone who brings identity politics into the law."
NBC DISSES HOUSE HEALTHCARE PLAN When the House Democratic leadership unveiled its proposed legislation to mandate universal healthcare, ABC's Jonathan Karl covered the bill from Capitol Hill and CBS' Chip Reid covered it from the White House. NBC decided not to assign a correspondent to the 1,000-page plan and mentioned it only in passing.
ABC's Karl and CBS' Reid agreed on the highlights of the package: 97% of the population would be covered; it would cost the federal government an additional $1tr over the next decade; funding would include an income tax surcharge on rich people; the government would offer coverage to compete with private insurance. They split on prospects for passage. CBS' Reid characterized the opposition as consisting of all Republicans and "40 conservative Democrats, enough to kill it." ABC's Karl saw fewer obstacles in the House, confined to "most Republicans," while the "tougher challenge" will be to be resolve differences between this plan and whatever the Senate passes.
FAUX AFGHANISTAN All three newscasts covered the war in Afghanistan--in a manner of speaking. ABC's Bob Woodruff split his A Closer Look from Bagram AFB between Afghanistan and a sandstorm in Kirkuk in Iraq. Woodruff was traveling in both theaters with Chairman Michael Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as he inspected the troops. NBC's Stephanie Gosk used pictures from the English market town of Wootton Bassett to illustrate the toll of the war on the British military. The town is on the route between the air base and the morgue when coffins are flown home. Mourners lined the streets en masse to salute eight war dead from Helmand Province. "These Green Berets are on a night mission to take out several high value Taliban leaders," narrated CBS' Lara Logan over Exclusive night vision videotape of a commando raid. She called them "elite soldiers at the Tip of the Spear," borrowing Richard Engel's logo for his coverage of firefights in the Korengal Valley. Except Logan was nowhere near Afghanistan. She was following "mock assaults" against "paper targets" in the Dugway Proving Grounds in the Utah desert.
MADOFF BOOK DEAL INKED BY ABC’S ROSS ABC anchor Charles Gibson announced that his network's investigative correspondent Brian Ross has inked a deal to write a book on Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme. This is the link to Ross' first chapter. This is the link to Ross' Madoff reporting on World News since last December. Ross filed an update as his 71-year-old subject arrived at the medium security prison in Butner NC to begin serving his 150 year sentence. Butner is "considered one of the crown jewels of the federal prison system," Ross told us, with the "look and feel of a college campus" and visiting hours that are so liberal that Ruth Madoff may move to North Carolina to be close to her husband: "She is absolutely devoted to him, very much in love, just like Bonnie & Clyde."
THERE’S A HOLE IN THE CABIN "Four months ago Southwest Airlines was fined $7.5m for failing to inspect its 737 fleet for cracks in 2007," NBC's Tom Costello reminded us, when the cabin of Flight 2294 peeled open in mid-flight en route to Baltimore from Nashville. "Likely culprits include metal fatigue, corrosion, a scratch, or damage to the fuselage during maintenance," suggested ABC's Lisa Stark. "Just last year Southwest found cracks in half a dozen of its 737s," CBS' Nancy Cordes pointed out. The 15-year-old Boeing 737--"old enough to be considered an aging aircraft," as ABC's Stark put it--landed in West Virginia after the cabin depressurized and oxygen masks dropped. All 126 passengers on board are safe.
PENSACOLA POLICE BLOTTER CBS and NBC both considered the local murder case from Escambia County Fla that all three newscasts covered Monday to be worthy of one more national follow-up. The sheriff's department announced the arrest of six men and a teenager in the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings, parents of 16 children, in their Pensacola mansion last week. NBC's Mark Potter came up with the tidbit that one of the accused, Donald Stallworth, is a military commando in USAF Special Operations. The sheriff called the killing a "home invasion" that had been "long planned, military style." CBS' Terrell Brown told us that a second suspect, Leonard Gonzalez, is a children's karate instructor. Besides murder, the suspects are accused of stealing the Billings' safe.
NOR ANY DROP TO DRINK Water, or the lack of it, attracted coverage on both ABC and NBC. Houston-based Janet Shamlian on NBC showed us images of Texas' drought: a low lake in Austin, shriveled cornhusks down on the farm, dead trees in Houston. Steve Osunsami was in Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta where a village of 40 residents has had no drinking water ever since their well dried up six years ago. The federal government has told them that they need to find "an existing water association that will agree to expand," Osunsami explained, but that will cost $1m and the county cannot find the funds. He showed us a shocking map of the state showing all the areas unserved by running water: "Across Mississippi residents get their water from water authorities that provide service to whom and where they please."
