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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM NOVEMBER 13, 2009
The terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, returned to the headlines. The Story of the Day was the decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute the alleged planners of the suicidal conspiracy. The five suspects have been incarcerated without trial for years by the USNavy at its base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Holder has now decided to transfer them to the criminal justice system. The trial will be held in a federal court in downtown Manhattan, just blocks from the ruins of the World Trade Center, the buildings they will be accused of successfully plotting to destroy, killing almost 3,000 people. ABC and CBS both led with Holder's decision. NBC chose the discovery of ice on the moon instead.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR NOVEMBER 13, 2009: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
9/11 TREATED AS CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY NOT ACT OF WAR The terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, returned to the headlines. The Story of the Day was the decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute the alleged planners of the suicidal conspiracy. The five suspects have been incarcerated without trial for years by the USNavy at its base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Holder has now decided to transfer them to the criminal justice system. The trial will be held in a federal court in downtown Manhattan, just blocks from the ruins of the World Trade Center, the buildings they will be accused of successfully plotting to destroy, killing almost 3,000 people. ABC and CBS both led with Holder's decision. NBC chose the discovery of ice on the moon instead.
The case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators "will arguably be the biggest trials since the Nazi was crime trials at Nuremberg after World War II," contended ABC anchor Charles Gibson. Certainly his newscast and those at CBS and NBC have given short shrift to ghastlier atrocities. In the past three years, only NBC's Martin Fletcher and ABC's Martha Raddatz have reported on the genocide in Rwanda; only NBC's Stephanie Gosk and ABC's Hilary Brown have reported on the prosecution of Radovan Karadzic for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Karadzic is accused of ordering the death of 8,000 in Srebrenica.
None of the newscasts bothered to go through the customary motions of a presumption of innocence. ABC's Gibson called Mohammed "the self-proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks." CBS anchor Katie Couric asked reporter Bob Orr: "If all the 9/11 suspects have already admitted their guilt, why a trial?" On NBC, Pete Williams reminded us that Mohammed "bragged in a hearing two years ago that he was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z." Terry Moran from ABC's Nightline dispensed with the "alleged" in previewing the trial of "the mastermind of 9/11." Listen to anchor Gibson's implicit expectation of a show trial rather than due process: "You cannot let these guys go. So how do they get, how can they have a fair trial?"
Credit goes to CBS' Orr for at least outlining the case against the five suspects. He called Mohammed "the headline defendant." Walid bin-Attash is accused of running camps; Ramzi bin al-Shibh is accused of conducting the training; Ali abdul-Aziz Ali is accused of organizing the finances; Mustafa al-Hawsawi is accused of providing the cash. Neither ABC's Pierre Thomas nor NBC's Williams even bothered.
There are two problems in jumping to the conclusion that a guilty verdict is automatic. All three newscasts mentioned the first--that Mohammed confessed to the conspiracy after he had been tortured. Only CBS' Orr alluded to the second--that his confession may amount to vainglorious braggadocio and that the prosecution may not have proof that such taunting boasts are based in fact. Orr recalled attending a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. Mohammed "stood up many times and pleaded guilty to a number of terror atrocities, said he wanted to die, he wanted to be martyred, said his co-conspirators would also plead guilty--but the government still needs to prove the case." CBS' in-house legal analyst Andrew Cohen told Orr that he inferred from Holder's decision that federal prosecutors have "extra evidence that does not rely upon his statements."
As for the torture, ABC uncharacteristically allowed the T-word to be used on its airwaves. Anchor Gibson is normally scrupulous about using the euphemism of "harsh" interrogation. Thomas cited "questions about whether evidence may have been gathered through torture" and Moran mentioned the challenge of "so-called" torture: "Human rights lawyers are going to say you cannot unwaterboard Khalid Sheikh Mohammed…that this case is what they call the fruit of the poisoned tree." NBC's Williams and CBS' Orr were mealy-mouthed. Williams predicted that "the CIA's harsh interrogation methods mean some evidence is likely inadmissible." Orr put it this way: "The suspects were subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, for years held in secret prisons with no access to attorneys."
ASIA TRIP UNDERCOVERED Barack Obama embarked on a tour of eastern Asia: Japan, an APEC Summit in Singapore, China and South Korea. The network newscasts paid the Presidential diplomacy little mind. None of the White House correspondents was assigned to file a preview. CBS had Celia Hatton file a feature on the problems faced by the Chinese manufacturing sector as its exports decline: American shoppers "used to be the Chinese economy's salvation" but trade has declined by 17% in the first three quarters of 2009 compared with 2008, a $32bn difference.
Obama is not visiting Vietnam but the USS Lassen is, on a goodwill mission. ABC's Clarissa Ward made the warship's captain her network's Person of the Week. Commander Hung Ba Le is the son of an officer in the navy of South Vietnam, emigrating to the United States at age five in 1975 as one of the boatpeople. "His homecoming is a powerful symbol of strengthening ties between the United States and Vietnam."
STRESS AT FORT HOOD Only CBS offered a follow-up on the Fort Hood shooting suspect Nidal Hasan. His defense lawyer told Armen Keteyian that the firefight that stopped him in his tracks has paralyzed his legs. He faces capital murder charges at court martial. Even though 15 members of the military have been sentenced to death in the past 25 years "the last time the military actually executed one of its own was back in 1961."
Janet Shamlian followed up on NBC's coverage of mental health counseling for members of the military suffering combat stress. Richard Engel told us about the outreach in the Afghan warzone from Bagram AFB on Thursday. Shamlian now files from Fort Hood, which sees "a spike in domestic violence, divorce and violent crime in the wake of each and every homecoming." The base has seen ten suicides in the last ten months.
THE DEMOCRATS’ CHOICE ON PRO-CHOICE The network newscasts have been slow to pick up on the abortion debate in Congress that was kick-started by last weekend's House vote on healthcare reform. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell mentioned it in passing on Monday. Now CBS' Nancy Cordes tells us about "a group of women Democratic senators that is scrambling to find a compromise." Cordes explained the controversy thus: since 1979, federal employees, Medicaid recipients and women in the military have all been denied coverage for abortions in their ob/gyn plans "except in extreme cases like rape." The House proposal, from Rep Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Michigan, presents an "unprecedented scenario," according to Cordes. "Stupak's amendment bars any woman who gets even one dollar of federal funding from buying a plan that contains abortion coverage."
The Democratic Party is "at a crossroads," Cordes claimed. Should it risk defeat of the healthcare bill in order to uphold its pro-abortion-rights tradition?
GO VET YOURSELF NBC's Andrea Mitchell previewed the book tour for Going Rogue Thursday. Now ABC's Kate Snow picks a copy of the "413-page book Palin wrote in a hurry." The memoir of Sarah Palin's unsuccessful Vice-Presidential candidacy in 2008 "contains few policy prescriptions," Snow sniffed. "Palin does suggest new tax cuts, more oil drilling" and recommends that Barack Obama "should not project weakness to terrorists and tyrants." NBC's Mitchell misspoke when she quoted Palin as saying she was charged $500,000 by John McCain's campaign to pay for her own Veep vetting; ABC's Snow quoted the cost at $50,000 even though "campaign aides deny they ever billed her."
FROZEN WATER WHETS APPETITE All three newscasts reminded us of the flub last month when NASA's ballyhooed LCROSS probe failed to produced its promised plume of dusty debris as it crashed into a lunar crater at 3,500 mph. Well the plume did exist. It was visible only by scientific instruments. Now all three newscasts--Ned Potter on ABC, Daniel Sieberg on CBS, Tom Costello on NBC--publicized the claim by NASA's astronomers that their readings found large quantities of ice. That means hydrogen and oxygen that might be used by astronauts for fuel, air and drink. NBC's Costello punned that finding frozen water "has only whet the appetite for a return trip to the moon" even as he poured cold water, as it were, on the idea. The Human Space Flight Review Committee has concluded that NASA's moon travel plan for 2020 is "unrealistic, underfunded by at least $3bn per year."
HOSE THROUGH THE GILLS ABC has a cross-promotion deal with National Geographic TV whereby World News can air preview footage of its documentaries. Examples over the last three years have included dinosaurs and Stonehenge, cute animal stories and fetal ultrasound. Neal Karlinsky narrates footage from NGTV's latest effort Expedition Great White in which marine biologists off Baja California hook sharks to attach microtransmittors to their dorsal fins. Check out the hose through the gills by which they keep a great white alive during their tight 20-minute deadline.
FEELING THE SWING OF THE BOAT Imagine buying a bottle of eye drops at a drugstore only to find the liquid was tampered with. Aerial Gilbert did 21 years ago. She poured drain cleaner into her eyes and was blinded for life. John Blackstone profiles Gilbert's triumph over her understandable anger and depression in CBS' American Spirit series. Joining a rowing eight was one way to put her life back on an even keel, as it were. "When I am rowing I am listening to the oars turning in the oarlocks and I am feeling the swing of the boat." The darkness of predawn training sessions on San Francisco Bay makes no difference to her. This fall Gilbert's eight from Marin Rowing Club competed in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Massachusetts.
The case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators "will arguably be the biggest trials since the Nazi was crime trials at Nuremberg after World War II," contended ABC anchor Charles Gibson. Certainly his newscast and those at CBS and NBC have given short shrift to ghastlier atrocities. In the past three years, only NBC's Martin Fletcher and ABC's Martha Raddatz have reported on the genocide in Rwanda; only NBC's Stephanie Gosk and ABC's Hilary Brown have reported on the prosecution of Radovan Karadzic for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Karadzic is accused of ordering the death of 8,000 in Srebrenica.
None of the newscasts bothered to go through the customary motions of a presumption of innocence. ABC's Gibson called Mohammed "the self-proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks." CBS anchor Katie Couric asked reporter Bob Orr: "If all the 9/11 suspects have already admitted their guilt, why a trial?" On NBC, Pete Williams reminded us that Mohammed "bragged in a hearing two years ago that he was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z." Terry Moran from ABC's Nightline dispensed with the "alleged" in previewing the trial of "the mastermind of 9/11." Listen to anchor Gibson's implicit expectation of a show trial rather than due process: "You cannot let these guys go. So how do they get, how can they have a fair trial?"
Credit goes to CBS' Orr for at least outlining the case against the five suspects. He called Mohammed "the headline defendant." Walid bin-Attash is accused of running camps; Ramzi bin al-Shibh is accused of conducting the training; Ali abdul-Aziz Ali is accused of organizing the finances; Mustafa al-Hawsawi is accused of providing the cash. Neither ABC's Pierre Thomas nor NBC's Williams even bothered.
There are two problems in jumping to the conclusion that a guilty verdict is automatic. All three newscasts mentioned the first--that Mohammed confessed to the conspiracy after he had been tortured. Only CBS' Orr alluded to the second--that his confession may amount to vainglorious braggadocio and that the prosecution may not have proof that such taunting boasts are based in fact. Orr recalled attending a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. Mohammed "stood up many times and pleaded guilty to a number of terror atrocities, said he wanted to die, he wanted to be martyred, said his co-conspirators would also plead guilty--but the government still needs to prove the case." CBS' in-house legal analyst Andrew Cohen told Orr that he inferred from Holder's decision that federal prosecutors have "extra evidence that does not rely upon his statements."
As for the torture, ABC uncharacteristically allowed the T-word to be used on its airwaves. Anchor Gibson is normally scrupulous about using the euphemism of "harsh" interrogation. Thomas cited "questions about whether evidence may have been gathered through torture" and Moran mentioned the challenge of "so-called" torture: "Human rights lawyers are going to say you cannot unwaterboard Khalid Sheikh Mohammed…that this case is what they call the fruit of the poisoned tree." NBC's Williams and CBS' Orr were mealy-mouthed. Williams predicted that "the CIA's harsh interrogation methods mean some evidence is likely inadmissible." Orr put it this way: "The suspects were subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, for years held in secret prisons with no access to attorneys."
ASIA TRIP UNDERCOVERED Barack Obama embarked on a tour of eastern Asia: Japan, an APEC Summit in Singapore, China and South Korea. The network newscasts paid the Presidential diplomacy little mind. None of the White House correspondents was assigned to file a preview. CBS had Celia Hatton file a feature on the problems faced by the Chinese manufacturing sector as its exports decline: American shoppers "used to be the Chinese economy's salvation" but trade has declined by 17% in the first three quarters of 2009 compared with 2008, a $32bn difference.
Obama is not visiting Vietnam but the USS Lassen is, on a goodwill mission. ABC's Clarissa Ward made the warship's captain her network's Person of the Week. Commander Hung Ba Le is the son of an officer in the navy of South Vietnam, emigrating to the United States at age five in 1975 as one of the boatpeople. "His homecoming is a powerful symbol of strengthening ties between the United States and Vietnam."
STRESS AT FORT HOOD Only CBS offered a follow-up on the Fort Hood shooting suspect Nidal Hasan. His defense lawyer told Armen Keteyian that the firefight that stopped him in his tracks has paralyzed his legs. He faces capital murder charges at court martial. Even though 15 members of the military have been sentenced to death in the past 25 years "the last time the military actually executed one of its own was back in 1961."
Janet Shamlian followed up on NBC's coverage of mental health counseling for members of the military suffering combat stress. Richard Engel told us about the outreach in the Afghan warzone from Bagram AFB on Thursday. Shamlian now files from Fort Hood, which sees "a spike in domestic violence, divorce and violent crime in the wake of each and every homecoming." The base has seen ten suicides in the last ten months.
THE DEMOCRATS’ CHOICE ON PRO-CHOICE The network newscasts have been slow to pick up on the abortion debate in Congress that was kick-started by last weekend's House vote on healthcare reform. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell mentioned it in passing on Monday. Now CBS' Nancy Cordes tells us about "a group of women Democratic senators that is scrambling to find a compromise." Cordes explained the controversy thus: since 1979, federal employees, Medicaid recipients and women in the military have all been denied coverage for abortions in their ob/gyn plans "except in extreme cases like rape." The House proposal, from Rep Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Michigan, presents an "unprecedented scenario," according to Cordes. "Stupak's amendment bars any woman who gets even one dollar of federal funding from buying a plan that contains abortion coverage."
The Democratic Party is "at a crossroads," Cordes claimed. Should it risk defeat of the healthcare bill in order to uphold its pro-abortion-rights tradition?
GO VET YOURSELF NBC's Andrea Mitchell previewed the book tour for Going Rogue Thursday. Now ABC's Kate Snow picks a copy of the "413-page book Palin wrote in a hurry." The memoir of Sarah Palin's unsuccessful Vice-Presidential candidacy in 2008 "contains few policy prescriptions," Snow sniffed. "Palin does suggest new tax cuts, more oil drilling" and recommends that Barack Obama "should not project weakness to terrorists and tyrants." NBC's Mitchell misspoke when she quoted Palin as saying she was charged $500,000 by John McCain's campaign to pay for her own Veep vetting; ABC's Snow quoted the cost at $50,000 even though "campaign aides deny they ever billed her."
FROZEN WATER WHETS APPETITE All three newscasts reminded us of the flub last month when NASA's ballyhooed LCROSS probe failed to produced its promised plume of dusty debris as it crashed into a lunar crater at 3,500 mph. Well the plume did exist. It was visible only by scientific instruments. Now all three newscasts--Ned Potter on ABC, Daniel Sieberg on CBS, Tom Costello on NBC--publicized the claim by NASA's astronomers that their readings found large quantities of ice. That means hydrogen and oxygen that might be used by astronauts for fuel, air and drink. NBC's Costello punned that finding frozen water "has only whet the appetite for a return trip to the moon" even as he poured cold water, as it were, on the idea. The Human Space Flight Review Committee has concluded that NASA's moon travel plan for 2020 is "unrealistic, underfunded by at least $3bn per year."
HOSE THROUGH THE GILLS ABC has a cross-promotion deal with National Geographic TV whereby World News can air preview footage of its documentaries. Examples over the last three years have included dinosaurs and Stonehenge, cute animal stories and fetal ultrasound. Neal Karlinsky narrates footage from NGTV's latest effort Expedition Great White in which marine biologists off Baja California hook sharks to attach microtransmittors to their dorsal fins. Check out the hose through the gills by which they keep a great white alive during their tight 20-minute deadline.
FEELING THE SWING OF THE BOAT Imagine buying a bottle of eye drops at a drugstore only to find the liquid was tampered with. Aerial Gilbert did 21 years ago. She poured drain cleaner into her eyes and was blinded for life. John Blackstone profiles Gilbert's triumph over her understandable anger and depression in CBS' American Spirit series. Joining a rowing eight was one way to put her life back on an even keel, as it were. "When I am rowing I am listening to the oars turning in the oarlocks and I am feeling the swing of the boat." The darkness of predawn training sessions on San Francisco Bay makes no difference to her. This fall Gilbert's eight from Marin Rowing Club competed in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Massachusetts.
