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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM AUGUST 03, 2009
A pair of related stories from the benighted automobile industry led the day's news. The Story of the Day was the vote facing the United States Senate to extend Cash for Clunkers, the federal subsidy for buyers of fuel-efficient new cars. The lead on ABC and CBS was July's statistics for sales of cars: Ford Motors logged a 2% increase over last year and the industry's 158K total made it the best month since last September. NBC decided to lead with airlines instead: a Continental flight hit turbulence over the Caribbean and was forced to land in Miami where 14 passengers were taken to hospital.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR AUGUST 03, 2009: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
FORD SELLS FOCUS, FUSION & ESCAPE A pair of related stories from the benighted automobile industry led the day's news. The Story of the Day was the vote facing the United States Senate to extend Cash for Clunkers, the federal subsidy for buyers of fuel-efficient new cars. The lead on ABC and CBS was July's statistics for sales of cars: Ford Motors logged a 2% increase over last year and the industry's 158K total made it the best month since last September. NBC decided to lead with airlines instead: a Continental flight hit turbulence over the Caribbean and was forced to land in Miami where 14 passengers were taken to hospital.
"Extraordinary," was the announcement by a mock-shocked David Muir on ABC when he found that Ford managed to halt its decline in sales. He gave credit to its Focus with 35 mpg, its Fusion with 34 mpg and its Escape with 31 mpg. CBS' Cynthia Bowers visited a Ford dealership in the Chicago suburbs and found "an empty lot and a jam-packed showroom floor." CNBC's Phil LeBeau told us on NBC that this was the first time "in nearly two years" that Ford had posted a year-over-year monthly increase in sales.
As for Cash to Clunkers, CBS' Anthony Mason quoted the federal Transportation Department's statistics that on average the new cars purchased so far under the program have mileage that is nearly 10 mpg superior to the gas guzzlers they replaced. Sen Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat, had been opposed to extending the program from $1bn to $3bn, ABC's Jonathan Karl (at the tail of the Muir videostream) reported, but the DoT's averages convinced her that the efficiency savings were genuine. That leaves Senate conservatives, Karl added. He predicted that they will oppose extension but will not block a vote: "That means it will ultimately pass."
PAY FEWER TAXES; FEAR MORE OF THEM FreedomWorks.org was identified by CBS' Wyatt Andrews as the leader of a group of "conservative Websites" orchestrating protests against healthcare reform legislation at Congressional town hall meetings. Andrews showed us Sen Arlen Specter (D-PA) being shouted down and Rep Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) being surrounded. Andrews did not call them rent-a-crowds. He acknowledged that "the turnouts also reflect real fear over the increased taxes and government controls that are part of the health bills being considered."
Speaking of increased taxes, ABC's Jake Tapper picked up on White House damage control after administration officials appeared on the networks' Sunday morning shows. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week that "you cannot rule it out," referring to a tax increase. "It is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out," was Lawrence Summers' response to CBS' Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation. Summers heads the National Economic Council. Increased taxes are certainly not happening at the moment, ABC's Tapper noted, quoting an Associated Press study. The federal government is on pace to collect 18% fewer taxes in 2009 than in 2008.
SHOW TRIAL IN TEHERAN Last Thursday NBC's Richard Engel estimated that the Islamic Republic of Iran was holding 1,000 political prisoners after its crackdown against protests alleging ballot fraud in the presidential election. ABC's Jim Sciutto quoted an estimate of 200 dead. Now CBS has Elizabeth Palmer file from London on the official certification of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second presidential term. Her numbers were 30 dead and 300 in detention: "Over the weekend the regime staged another unconvincing show, a mass trial of about 100 prominent reformists." Palmer showed before and after pictures of former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, whom she had interviewed in 2005. At the trial "Abtahi appeared gaunt and wan after six weeks in jail."
NBC’S MACEDA FIGHTS KILLER WASPS While ABC's Martha Raddatz mixed it with the military brass, reporting on a secret meeting in Belgium to plan future deployments in Afghanistan, NBC's Jim Maceda was on the ground with the grunts. Maceda has just finished a two week ordeal in the city of Now Zad in Helmand Province, "or as some call it Apocalypse Now Zad, a hellish mix of 130F heat and killer wasps." The city once had a population of 20,000 but is now "a ghost town in brutal conditions" where some 300 Marine Corps fighters square off against Taliban guerrillas for control of a strategic smugglers' riverbed. "There are no hearts and minds to win--instead a no man's land riddled with mines and IEDs." And check out those scary killer wasps.
LEGLESS AND BRAIN DAMAGED CBS had a gruesome Marine Corps story too. Pentagon correspondent David Martin profiled the legless Casey Owens, injured in Iraq in 2004. "The amputation on his right leg kept on failing and the Veterans Administration told him he would need a fourth operation to repair the stump." Quipped Owens: "I did not have much more of my leg to give." So he held out for six months in excruciating pain with a raw stump until the VA agreed to an alternate procedure. Then there was Owens' Traumatic Brain Injury. "I have gone to the VA and complained but it is usually just shrugged off as either sinus headaches or migraines or stress." Owens researched treatments himself and found charity funding for pressurized oxygen chamber therapy at a clinic near New Orleans. "Casey now plans to start college in the fall--and he had to do it on his own."
SURFERS FOR PEACE Last week NBC's Martin Fletcher told us of the West Bank children who live just 60 miles from the Mediterranean but had never seen sea or sand because of Israel's roadblocks against Palestinians. Now ABC's Simon McGregor-Wood introduces us to the 20 members of the Gaza Surfing Union. They can go to the beach all right but were unable to ride the waves because Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip included surfing equipment. McGregor-Wood introduced us to Dorian Paskowitz, an 88-year-old Hawaiian physician, who persuaded Israel to relent. Now the surfers of Gaza have twelve boards to ride.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT FLIGHTS OUT OF RIO? "That is why the airlines recommend you wear your seatbelt loosely at all times even if the light is off." Thus CBS' Nancy Cordes concluded her cautionary tale about Continental Airlines Flight 128. It hit an air pocket over the Dominican Republic during an overnight flight from Rio de Janeiro to Houston. The jolt was so steep that sleeping passengers slammed their heads against the cabin ceiling. "Witnesses say some passengers shot out of their seats like missiles," NBC's Kerry Sanders reported. The Boeing 767 diverted to Miami where, CBS' Cordes noted, "bruised, gashed and bloodied" passengers were taken to hospital.
GET YOUR D’S Pediatrics, the medical journal, snared coverage on all three newscasts for its study of Vitamin D deficiency. NBC's in-house physician Nancy Snyderman quoted the statistics: 9% of those aged one to 21 are D-deficient, totaling 7.6m people nationwide, with another 50.8m having insufficient levels. "Getting enough Vitamin D is free," she pointed out. "It means getting out in the sunshine about 10 or 15 minutes a day without sunscreen." CBS' in-house physician Jennifer Ashton did not suggest the free way: "They can get enough from fortified foods such as milk, cereal, fish or orange juice"--otherwise a multivitamin does the trick. ABC's John McKenzie pointed out that vitamin supplements are taken by only 4% of children. CBS anchor Katie Couric remembered another source: "That is why our parents made us take cod liver oil when we were kids."
"Extraordinary," was the announcement by a mock-shocked David Muir on ABC when he found that Ford managed to halt its decline in sales. He gave credit to its Focus with 35 mpg, its Fusion with 34 mpg and its Escape with 31 mpg. CBS' Cynthia Bowers visited a Ford dealership in the Chicago suburbs and found "an empty lot and a jam-packed showroom floor." CNBC's Phil LeBeau told us on NBC that this was the first time "in nearly two years" that Ford had posted a year-over-year monthly increase in sales.
As for Cash to Clunkers, CBS' Anthony Mason quoted the federal Transportation Department's statistics that on average the new cars purchased so far under the program have mileage that is nearly 10 mpg superior to the gas guzzlers they replaced. Sen Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat, had been opposed to extending the program from $1bn to $3bn, ABC's Jonathan Karl (at the tail of the Muir videostream) reported, but the DoT's averages convinced her that the efficiency savings were genuine. That leaves Senate conservatives, Karl added. He predicted that they will oppose extension but will not block a vote: "That means it will ultimately pass."
PAY FEWER TAXES; FEAR MORE OF THEM FreedomWorks.org was identified by CBS' Wyatt Andrews as the leader of a group of "conservative Websites" orchestrating protests against healthcare reform legislation at Congressional town hall meetings. Andrews showed us Sen Arlen Specter (D-PA) being shouted down and Rep Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) being surrounded. Andrews did not call them rent-a-crowds. He acknowledged that "the turnouts also reflect real fear over the increased taxes and government controls that are part of the health bills being considered."
Speaking of increased taxes, ABC's Jake Tapper picked up on White House damage control after administration officials appeared on the networks' Sunday morning shows. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week that "you cannot rule it out," referring to a tax increase. "It is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out," was Lawrence Summers' response to CBS' Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation. Summers heads the National Economic Council. Increased taxes are certainly not happening at the moment, ABC's Tapper noted, quoting an Associated Press study. The federal government is on pace to collect 18% fewer taxes in 2009 than in 2008.
SHOW TRIAL IN TEHERAN Last Thursday NBC's Richard Engel estimated that the Islamic Republic of Iran was holding 1,000 political prisoners after its crackdown against protests alleging ballot fraud in the presidential election. ABC's Jim Sciutto quoted an estimate of 200 dead. Now CBS has Elizabeth Palmer file from London on the official certification of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second presidential term. Her numbers were 30 dead and 300 in detention: "Over the weekend the regime staged another unconvincing show, a mass trial of about 100 prominent reformists." Palmer showed before and after pictures of former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, whom she had interviewed in 2005. At the trial "Abtahi appeared gaunt and wan after six weeks in jail."
NBC’S MACEDA FIGHTS KILLER WASPS While ABC's Martha Raddatz mixed it with the military brass, reporting on a secret meeting in Belgium to plan future deployments in Afghanistan, NBC's Jim Maceda was on the ground with the grunts. Maceda has just finished a two week ordeal in the city of Now Zad in Helmand Province, "or as some call it Apocalypse Now Zad, a hellish mix of 130F heat and killer wasps." The city once had a population of 20,000 but is now "a ghost town in brutal conditions" where some 300 Marine Corps fighters square off against Taliban guerrillas for control of a strategic smugglers' riverbed. "There are no hearts and minds to win--instead a no man's land riddled with mines and IEDs." And check out those scary killer wasps.
LEGLESS AND BRAIN DAMAGED CBS had a gruesome Marine Corps story too. Pentagon correspondent David Martin profiled the legless Casey Owens, injured in Iraq in 2004. "The amputation on his right leg kept on failing and the Veterans Administration told him he would need a fourth operation to repair the stump." Quipped Owens: "I did not have much more of my leg to give." So he held out for six months in excruciating pain with a raw stump until the VA agreed to an alternate procedure. Then there was Owens' Traumatic Brain Injury. "I have gone to the VA and complained but it is usually just shrugged off as either sinus headaches or migraines or stress." Owens researched treatments himself and found charity funding for pressurized oxygen chamber therapy at a clinic near New Orleans. "Casey now plans to start college in the fall--and he had to do it on his own."
SURFERS FOR PEACE Last week NBC's Martin Fletcher told us of the West Bank children who live just 60 miles from the Mediterranean but had never seen sea or sand because of Israel's roadblocks against Palestinians. Now ABC's Simon McGregor-Wood introduces us to the 20 members of the Gaza Surfing Union. They can go to the beach all right but were unable to ride the waves because Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip included surfing equipment. McGregor-Wood introduced us to Dorian Paskowitz, an 88-year-old Hawaiian physician, who persuaded Israel to relent. Now the surfers of Gaza have twelve boards to ride.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT FLIGHTS OUT OF RIO? "That is why the airlines recommend you wear your seatbelt loosely at all times even if the light is off." Thus CBS' Nancy Cordes concluded her cautionary tale about Continental Airlines Flight 128. It hit an air pocket over the Dominican Republic during an overnight flight from Rio de Janeiro to Houston. The jolt was so steep that sleeping passengers slammed their heads against the cabin ceiling. "Witnesses say some passengers shot out of their seats like missiles," NBC's Kerry Sanders reported. The Boeing 767 diverted to Miami where, CBS' Cordes noted, "bruised, gashed and bloodied" passengers were taken to hospital.
GET YOUR D’S Pediatrics, the medical journal, snared coverage on all three newscasts for its study of Vitamin D deficiency. NBC's in-house physician Nancy Snyderman quoted the statistics: 9% of those aged one to 21 are D-deficient, totaling 7.6m people nationwide, with another 50.8m having insufficient levels. "Getting enough Vitamin D is free," she pointed out. "It means getting out in the sunshine about 10 or 15 minutes a day without sunscreen." CBS' in-house physician Jennifer Ashton did not suggest the free way: "They can get enough from fortified foods such as milk, cereal, fish or orange juice"--otherwise a multivitamin does the trick. ABC's John McKenzie pointed out that vitamin supplements are taken by only 4% of children. CBS anchor Katie Couric remembered another source: "That is why our parents made us take cod liver oil when we were kids."
