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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM JANUARY 20, 2009
Barack Hussein Obama is the new President of the United States. Inauguration Day was ubiquitous on the nation's television screens all day and was almost the sole topic on the nightly newscasts. All three networks expanded their newsholes to accommodate the historic day: they each aired fewer commercials, courtesy of a single sponsor (Audi, the automaker, was the sole advertiser on all three newscasts); they each expanded their half-hour newscasts to 60 or 90 minutes (for consistency's sake Tyndall Report monitors just the regular first 30 minutes). The Story of the Day attracted 64 minutes of coverage (91% of the 70 min three-network newshole) as all three were anchored from the inauguration ceremonies in Washington DC.
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BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA MAKES HISTORY Barack Hussein Obama is the new President of the United States. Inauguration Day was ubiquitous on the nation's television screens all day and was almost the sole topic on the nightly newscasts. All three networks expanded their newsholes to accommodate the historic day: they each aired fewer commercials, courtesy of a single sponsor (Audi, the automaker, was the sole advertiser on all three newscasts); they each expanded their half-hour newscasts to 60 or 90 minutes (for consistency's sake Tyndall Report monitors just the regular first 30 minutes). The Story of the Day attracted 64 minutes of coverage (91% of the 70 min three-network newshole) as all three were anchored from the inauguration ceremonies in Washington DC.
ABC and NBC both had their anchors, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams, lead off their newscasts with a tick-tock of the day's events. An Episcopalian prayer service was followed by coffee at the White House with President George Bush, which was followed by a bungled Oath of Office on Capitol Hill, which was followed by an 18-minute Inaugural Address, which was followed by lunch inside the Capitol as the Bushes helicoptered away, which was followed by the Inaugural Parade along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. CBS assigned the tick-tock to White House correspondent Chip Reid. "Chief Justice John Roberts misstated the Presidential oath," Reid pointed out, by calling the job President to the United States and misplacing the adverb faithfully. NBC's Williams explained that the Chief Justice "went without notes." ABC's Gibson diplomatically shared the blame: the Chief Justice and the President "never got quite in sync."
SOUNDBITE SHORTLIST Besides the fact itself of the ceremony--what ABC anchor Charles Gibson called the "28 remarkable seconds for America to be transformed"--the two key newsworthy elements of Inauguration Day were President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address and the breathtaking size of the crowd watching the ceremonies in the freezing cold from the DC Mall. The three newscasts handled coverage of the speech variously. NBC anchor Brian Williams included extended portions in his lead-off package and sought only brief analysis from Meet the Press anchor David Gregory. ABC used shorter clips in Gibson's report but ran a longer analysis by George Stephanopoulos, anchor of This Week. CBS assigned the speech to its political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, a former speechwriter himself, running only a single soundbite in Chip Reid's report.
"The challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time." This was one of the two lines from the address that all three newscasts agreed was worth the soundbite. The other clip selected by all three had Obama channeling his predecessor's Global War on Terrorism: "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken," he boasted, to "those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror." In addition, all three referred to Obama's call to "set aside childish things"--referring to the politics of "petty grievances and false promises," of "recriminations and worn-out dogmas"--with CBS and NBC quoting the soundbite directly and ABC's Stephanopoulos remarking: "Look at the scripture he chose to quote, St Paul's letter to the Corinthians."
As for the other lines vying to qualify for history from the speech, these were the prime candidates:
From the Broadway musical: "We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America" (CBS and NBC).
The speech's slogan: "A new era of responsibility." (ABC)
Kennedyesque outreach to the globe: "We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist" (ABC) and "Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity" (CBS and NBC)
His riposte to both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton: "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small but whether it works." (CBS and NBC)
His echo of FDR's bleak assessment of hard times: "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices." (CBS)
A lone racial reference: "A man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served in a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath." (CBS)
The peroration: "Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end; that we did not turn back nor did we falter. And with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations." (ABC and NBC)
CBS' Greenfield called the speech "far more conversational than oratorical…listeners may have been disappointed if they were expecting sweeping rhetoric and high-flown metaphors." ABC's Stephanopoulos called it a "very tough speech" towards his predecessor's administration, "a repudiation of the time of President Bush" and NBC's Gregory called it "a real break from the past eight years," citing Obama's claim that the United States is ready to lead again. "He did that standing about five feet away from a seated President Bush. That was a direct shot aimed at him."
As for Tyndall Report, the line in the Inaugural Address that sticks in the mind was another that referred to America's racist history. "We have tasted the bitter swill of Civil War and segregation." None of the newscasts aired that soundbite.
PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN Almost two million celebrants--1.5m in the Mall, 400,000 in the side streets--braved the 19F cold to cheer their new President. "Festive, excited," NBC's Ron Allen called them, "so many people, especially people of color, said they could not imagine not being there." ABC's Bill Weir filed from the Lincoln Memorial at the other end of the Mall: "Never have so many people shivered so long with such joy. From above even the seagulls must have been awed by the blanket of humanity." On CBS, Byron Pitts picked up on a couple of phrases on the lips of the crowd: Proud to be an American, "we heard that phrase over and over" and spiritual, "not just from churchgoing people."
After the ceremonies, when the new President and the new First Lady left their limousine to join the Inaugural Parade "it was a moment of pure excitement," reported CBS' Sharyl Attkisson. "For a President known for his eloquence, this was his supporters' turn to speak and speak they did. Some exploded in cheers; others ran alongside to keep up."
Bob Schieffer, anchor of CBS' Face the Nation, begged: "Excuse me for being Pollyanna," as he predicted that the enormous crowd would act to pressure politicians to cooperate across party lines. "This was such a wonderful day," the observer of inaugurations since Lyndon Johnson rejoiced. "Twelve of them I have seen and I never saw one like this one."
NBC anchor Brian Williams asked historian Doris Kearns Goodwin what the ingredients are for an historic inauguration. She came up with two categories. Did the new President break a barrier? Was there a national crisis? Her first examples were Andrew Jackson, the first non-aristocrat, and John Kennedy, the first Roman Catholic. Her second examples were Abraham Lincoln, before secession, and Franklin Roosevelt, in the depths of the Great Depression. A President who lives up to expectations that he will change people's lives is very rare, she conceded. Yet she still wondered, 100 years from now, whether there will be historians like her asking: "What was it like on the day when Barack Obama became President?"
FIRST AFRICAN (NOT HYPHENATED) AMERICAN PRESIDENT Many millions more watched the inauguration across the country and the world. It was truly a multi-platform media event. NBC's Lee Cowan took us to a giant outdoor screen on a Chicago street corner that "fell silent, almost becoming a political cathedral." CBS' Dean Reynolds went inside St Columbanus Church on the South Side where parochial school students took their civics class by watching a giant screen. ABC's Dan Harris visited a school in Harlem where the students held their own Inaugural Ball after listening to the speech. Citizens watched at home and at work, in bars and in barbershops, on cellphones and in movie theaters. Even, we kid you not, in a hospital operating theater and in a Chicago aquarium. "Denizens of the deep shared top billing with the doings of DC," quipped CBS' Reynolds.
ABC's Ron Claiborne filed from Kogelo, the Obamas' ancestral village. "In the United States, Barack Obama is known as the first African-American President" yet in Kenya "he is known by many as the first African American President." Claiborne visited with 17-year-old Collins Ochieng in his mud hut. "What is Yes We Can in the Luo language?" "An ya lo ti mo."
YOU GOTTA BE CRAZY TO TAKE THIS JOB NBC assigned White House correspondent Savannah Guthrie to report on the distaff side of Inauguration Day. She found Michelle and her daughters "glamorous and yet simultaneously really seeming like a pretty ordinary American family." She quoted the Rev Joseph Lowery lavishing praise on First Daughters Malia and Sasha in his benediction. "Angelic," the minister called them. The girls are skipping their parents' Inaugural Balls: "They have a better idea. They are going to stay home here at the White House and watch movies."
ABC turned its attention to their father, running a series of introspective soundbites from the Campaign '08 archive. Barack loved his mother and felt the lack of his father. He also came up with this riskily honest self-assessment that already set him apart from ordinary politicians when he said it this time last year: "If you do not have enough self-awareness to see the element of megalomania involved in thinking you can be President, then you probably should not be President. There is a slight madness to thinking that you should be the Leader of the Free World."
ABC and NBC both had their anchors, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams, lead off their newscasts with a tick-tock of the day's events. An Episcopalian prayer service was followed by coffee at the White House with President George Bush, which was followed by a bungled Oath of Office on Capitol Hill, which was followed by an 18-minute Inaugural Address, which was followed by lunch inside the Capitol as the Bushes helicoptered away, which was followed by the Inaugural Parade along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. CBS assigned the tick-tock to White House correspondent Chip Reid. "Chief Justice John Roberts misstated the Presidential oath," Reid pointed out, by calling the job President to the United States and misplacing the adverb faithfully. NBC's Williams explained that the Chief Justice "went without notes." ABC's Gibson diplomatically shared the blame: the Chief Justice and the President "never got quite in sync."
SOUNDBITE SHORTLIST Besides the fact itself of the ceremony--what ABC anchor Charles Gibson called the "28 remarkable seconds for America to be transformed"--the two key newsworthy elements of Inauguration Day were President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address and the breathtaking size of the crowd watching the ceremonies in the freezing cold from the DC Mall. The three newscasts handled coverage of the speech variously. NBC anchor Brian Williams included extended portions in his lead-off package and sought only brief analysis from Meet the Press anchor David Gregory. ABC used shorter clips in Gibson's report but ran a longer analysis by George Stephanopoulos, anchor of This Week. CBS assigned the speech to its political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, a former speechwriter himself, running only a single soundbite in Chip Reid's report.
"The challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time." This was one of the two lines from the address that all three newscasts agreed was worth the soundbite. The other clip selected by all three had Obama channeling his predecessor's Global War on Terrorism: "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken," he boasted, to "those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror." In addition, all three referred to Obama's call to "set aside childish things"--referring to the politics of "petty grievances and false promises," of "recriminations and worn-out dogmas"--with CBS and NBC quoting the soundbite directly and ABC's Stephanopoulos remarking: "Look at the scripture he chose to quote, St Paul's letter to the Corinthians."
As for the other lines vying to qualify for history from the speech, these were the prime candidates:
From the Broadway musical: "We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America" (CBS and NBC).
The speech's slogan: "A new era of responsibility." (ABC)
Kennedyesque outreach to the globe: "We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist" (ABC) and "Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity" (CBS and NBC)
His riposte to both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton: "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small but whether it works." (CBS and NBC)
His echo of FDR's bleak assessment of hard times: "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices." (CBS)
A lone racial reference: "A man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served in a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath." (CBS)
The peroration: "Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end; that we did not turn back nor did we falter. And with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations." (ABC and NBC)
CBS' Greenfield called the speech "far more conversational than oratorical…listeners may have been disappointed if they were expecting sweeping rhetoric and high-flown metaphors." ABC's Stephanopoulos called it a "very tough speech" towards his predecessor's administration, "a repudiation of the time of President Bush" and NBC's Gregory called it "a real break from the past eight years," citing Obama's claim that the United States is ready to lead again. "He did that standing about five feet away from a seated President Bush. That was a direct shot aimed at him."
As for Tyndall Report, the line in the Inaugural Address that sticks in the mind was another that referred to America's racist history. "We have tasted the bitter swill of Civil War and segregation." None of the newscasts aired that soundbite.
PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN Almost two million celebrants--1.5m in the Mall, 400,000 in the side streets--braved the 19F cold to cheer their new President. "Festive, excited," NBC's Ron Allen called them, "so many people, especially people of color, said they could not imagine not being there." ABC's Bill Weir filed from the Lincoln Memorial at the other end of the Mall: "Never have so many people shivered so long with such joy. From above even the seagulls must have been awed by the blanket of humanity." On CBS, Byron Pitts picked up on a couple of phrases on the lips of the crowd: Proud to be an American, "we heard that phrase over and over" and spiritual, "not just from churchgoing people."
After the ceremonies, when the new President and the new First Lady left their limousine to join the Inaugural Parade "it was a moment of pure excitement," reported CBS' Sharyl Attkisson. "For a President known for his eloquence, this was his supporters' turn to speak and speak they did. Some exploded in cheers; others ran alongside to keep up."
Bob Schieffer, anchor of CBS' Face the Nation, begged: "Excuse me for being Pollyanna," as he predicted that the enormous crowd would act to pressure politicians to cooperate across party lines. "This was such a wonderful day," the observer of inaugurations since Lyndon Johnson rejoiced. "Twelve of them I have seen and I never saw one like this one."
NBC anchor Brian Williams asked historian Doris Kearns Goodwin what the ingredients are for an historic inauguration. She came up with two categories. Did the new President break a barrier? Was there a national crisis? Her first examples were Andrew Jackson, the first non-aristocrat, and John Kennedy, the first Roman Catholic. Her second examples were Abraham Lincoln, before secession, and Franklin Roosevelt, in the depths of the Great Depression. A President who lives up to expectations that he will change people's lives is very rare, she conceded. Yet she still wondered, 100 years from now, whether there will be historians like her asking: "What was it like on the day when Barack Obama became President?"
FIRST AFRICAN (NOT HYPHENATED) AMERICAN PRESIDENT Many millions more watched the inauguration across the country and the world. It was truly a multi-platform media event. NBC's Lee Cowan took us to a giant outdoor screen on a Chicago street corner that "fell silent, almost becoming a political cathedral." CBS' Dean Reynolds went inside St Columbanus Church on the South Side where parochial school students took their civics class by watching a giant screen. ABC's Dan Harris visited a school in Harlem where the students held their own Inaugural Ball after listening to the speech. Citizens watched at home and at work, in bars and in barbershops, on cellphones and in movie theaters. Even, we kid you not, in a hospital operating theater and in a Chicago aquarium. "Denizens of the deep shared top billing with the doings of DC," quipped CBS' Reynolds.
ABC's Ron Claiborne filed from Kogelo, the Obamas' ancestral village. "In the United States, Barack Obama is known as the first African-American President" yet in Kenya "he is known by many as the first African American President." Claiborne visited with 17-year-old Collins Ochieng in his mud hut. "What is Yes We Can in the Luo language?" "An ya lo ti mo."
YOU GOTTA BE CRAZY TO TAKE THIS JOB NBC assigned White House correspondent Savannah Guthrie to report on the distaff side of Inauguration Day. She found Michelle and her daughters "glamorous and yet simultaneously really seeming like a pretty ordinary American family." She quoted the Rev Joseph Lowery lavishing praise on First Daughters Malia and Sasha in his benediction. "Angelic," the minister called them. The girls are skipping their parents' Inaugural Balls: "They have a better idea. They are going to stay home here at the White House and watch movies."
ABC turned its attention to their father, running a series of introspective soundbites from the Campaign '08 archive. Barack loved his mother and felt the lack of his father. He also came up with this riskily honest self-assessment that already set him apart from ordinary politicians when he said it this time last year: "If you do not have enough self-awareness to see the element of megalomania involved in thinking you can be President, then you probably should not be President. There is a slight madness to thinking that you should be the Leader of the Free World."
