 |           |
TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM NOVEMBER 18, 2009
The new guidelines recommending that most women should have fewer mammograms starting later in life to screen for breast cancer were the Story of the Day for the third straight day, selected as the lead item on all three newscasts. The federal government intervened with Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in effect, contradicting the changes suggested by her own panel of experts: "Our policies remain unchanged. Keep doing what you have been doing for years." Sebelius granted interviews to the two female anchors on duty, Katie Couric on CBS and Ann Curry in the substitute's chair for NBC's Brian Williams as he picked up an award in Arizona named for CBS' Walter Cronkite.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR NOVEMBER 18, 2009: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
MAMMOGRAPHY TURNS POLITICAL The new guidelines recommending that most women should have fewer mammograms starting later in life to screen for breast cancer were the Story of the Day for the third straight day, selected as the lead item on all three newscasts. The federal government intervened with Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in effect, contradicting the changes suggested by her own panel of experts: "Our policies remain unchanged. Keep doing what you have been doing for years." Sebelius granted interviews to the two female anchors on duty, Katie Couric on CBS and Ann Curry in the substitute's chair for NBC's Brian Williams as he picked up an award in Arizona named for CBS' Walter Cronkite.
CBS led off with Wyatt Andrews reporting on the political criticism of the Preventive Services Taskforce. "Several" Republicans in Congress "called the new study a glimpse of the rationing and government interference that is coming under Democratic healthcare reform." ABC's John McKenzie picked up on the same undercurrent, noting that the new guidelines match those found in Canada and most of Europe--"countries with nationalized healthcare." NBC's in-house physician Nancy Snyderman described women's reactions to the taskforce: "They are blogging about it, tweeting about it, e-mailing about it."
CBS' Andrews found Republicans "hoping the anger over the guidelines might be used to help kill off healthcare reform" even as he contradicted the basis for such anger: "For most insurance plans if the doctor prescribes a mammogram you are covered."
Enter Health Secretary Sebelius. Is she not "essentially throwing the panel under the bus?" wondered NBC's Curry. "It is an independent body of healthcare providers and scientists," the Secretary answered, fudging the fact that it is federally appointed. "Does this panel not fall under the purview of the Department of Health & Human Services?" inquired CBS' Couric. "It is an independent group of scientists and advisors so they do not work for HHS. They are appointed independently…They have no policymaking authority. We make policy."
Secretary Sebelius professed that "frankly I would be stunned if private insurers change any coverage decisions." CBS' Couric was incredulous. If the panel has decided that screening for low-risk fortysomethings is useless, "why would you think that private insurers will not take advantage of that and stop covering them?"
BENDING THE COST CURVE Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' capitulation on mammograms in the face of patients who insist on the healthcare system paying for screening even when it does no good speaks ill of the Obama Administration's sincerity when it promises that its reform legislation will reduce costs in the long run. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell nevertheless repeated the estimates by the Congressional Budget Office that insuring 31m currently uninsured over the next decade will only cost the federal government $849bn--or less than $2,800 per person per year--and that federal borrowing will be $127bn lower as a consequence.
Meanwhile ABC's David Muir picked up on the same projection of healthcare cost inflation over the next decade that CBS' Jeff Glor covered Tuesday. Add together diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and cancer and the average obese American will be spending $8,300 on healthcare each year a decade from now, "that is nearly $2,500 more than people who are not overweight."
KSM TO GO ON SHOW TRIAL Attorney General Eric Holder was called to Capitol Hill to testify before a Senate panel on his decision to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators for plotting the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. The three networks assigned their Justice Department correspondent--Pete Williams on NBC, Bob Orr on CBS, Pierre Thomas on ABC--rather than their Congressional correspondent to the hearings. All three quoted Holder's soundbite concerning Mohammed's claimed preference to be tried for war crimes not for a civilian murder plot: "He will not select the prosecution venue, I will select it."
The justice correspondents' coverage focused on three objections to Holder's decision. NBC's Williams cited the worry that Mohammed would use the trial for his own propaganda. Holder's answer was that he could use a Guantanamo Bay tribunal just as easily. CBS' Orr suggested that "counterterrorism methods could be compromised." Without using the T-word, Orr quoted Holder as pledging that there was "ample evidence outside of harsh interrogations" to obtain a conviction. ABC's Thomas mentioned the possibility of an acquittal by jury. Holder's reply was that such a verdict was "highly unlikely."
That last objection leads to a fourth one--that Holder is not proposing impartial justice at all but a show trial with no presumption of innocence. NBC's Chuck Todd brought up that concern with Barack Obama in a separate interview. Obama referred to a future facing Mohammed "when he is convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." Todd pressed the "former Constitutional law professor" whether this was prejudging the verdict. Obama restated his "when" to an "if that is the outcome." Holder was less scrupulous about Constitutional niceties: "Failure is not an option," was how ABC's Thomas quoted him. "These are cases that have to be won." Even if the jury happened to acquit, "Mohammed could still be held as an enemy combatant," Holder promised. So, yes, this will be a show trial.
ELITE RIDING STABLE ABC's Brian Ross, as part of his Exclusive, did not know whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was one of the eight-or-so "suspected high value al-Qaeda figures" who were tortured in a secret, illegal CIA prison in Lithuania between the spring of 2004 and the fall of 2005. Ross himself did not use the T-word--"harsh tactics to interrogate" was his euphemism--but his source John Sifton, a "human rights investigator," did. The prison was hidden inside the barn at a riding academy used for show horses run by Elite LLC, a Panamanian front company for the CIA. Ross reported that Lithuania let the CIA operate in Vilnius after "the United States pledged support for Lithuania's efforts to joining NATO."
DOES CBS OPPOSE OPENNESS IN GOVERNMENT? A week ago ABC's Jake Tapper claimed an Exclusive for his sitdown with Barack Obama at the White House. It turns out that a q-&-a with the President is not such a rare commodity. Both NBC's Chuck Todd and CBS' Chip Reid questioned him in Beijing during his East Asia diplomacy. Both asked about his policy deliberations over Afghanistan and his personal wellbeing. Is he wasting away from weight loss? "He laughed off speculation," NBC's Todd told us. "My weight fluctuates about 5lbs. It has for the last 30 years." Todd also challenged the President on apparent his failure to grant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the presumption of innocence to which he is entitled.
CBS' Reid appeared to oppose his own profession's commitment to openness and transparency when he quoted Defense Secretary Robert Gates as being "furious" because the debate about future policy in Afghanistan is not confined behind closed doors but is being illuminated by a series of leaks. His follow-up questions seemed supportive of secrecy. "Are you that angry about these leaks? Do you think it does make you look uncertain?" "I think I am probably angrier than Bob Gates," replied the erstwhile champion of open government.
FROM TURPAN TO KASHGAR Tyndall Report is certainly looking forward to future episodes in the series Terry McCarthy kicked off from China on CBS to coincide with Barack Obama's visit to the Great Wall. It is called Traveling the Silk Road and it sets out to follow the ancient trade route from Xian through central Asia to the Mediterranean. McCarthy showed us the western end of the Great Wall where the road leaves China and enters barbarian territory. He showed us the raisin harvest in Turpan and the ethnic melting pot that is Kashgar. "Historically China has prospered when it has been most open," McCarthy generalized. "The era of the Silk Road is still remembered in China as a time of growing wealth, flourishing culture, religious freedom and largely peaceful borders."
MAVERICKY ON STEROIDS NBC sent Andrea Mitchell and ABC sent Kate Snow to the Barnes & Noble in Grand Rapids where readers camped out overnight in the freezing cold to be at the first stop in Sarah Palin's Going Rogue book tour. "This is a book tour on steroids," marveled ABC's Snow as the print run has already been increased to 1.8m copies. NBC's Mitchell quoted from the book itself about Palin's plan to campaign in Michigan at a grassroots rally even after John McCain had withdrawn from the state back in 2008: "It would be fast. It would be free. It would be mavericky." Mitchell also quoted Palin's greeting to her fans, droppin' her g's as is her hallmark: "Alaska and Michigan have so much in common with the huntin' and the fishin' and the hockey moms."
MOTORCYCLES FROM RECYCLABLES NBC continued is western swing for its corporatewide Green is Universal series. Monday Lee Cowan looked for eco-friendly flatscreen TV sets in California. Tuesday Anne Thompson studied water conservation in Arizona's high desert. Now Thompson is in Oregon for an Our Planet feature on the "motorcycle gang for the climate change era." She offered free publicity to Enertia, the 60 mph, 45-mile-per-charge, all-electric motorcycle. Enertia recharges at a standard electric socket for just 28c and is on sale exclusively for $8,000 at Best Buy.
CBS led off with Wyatt Andrews reporting on the political criticism of the Preventive Services Taskforce. "Several" Republicans in Congress "called the new study a glimpse of the rationing and government interference that is coming under Democratic healthcare reform." ABC's John McKenzie picked up on the same undercurrent, noting that the new guidelines match those found in Canada and most of Europe--"countries with nationalized healthcare." NBC's in-house physician Nancy Snyderman described women's reactions to the taskforce: "They are blogging about it, tweeting about it, e-mailing about it."
CBS' Andrews found Republicans "hoping the anger over the guidelines might be used to help kill off healthcare reform" even as he contradicted the basis for such anger: "For most insurance plans if the doctor prescribes a mammogram you are covered."
Enter Health Secretary Sebelius. Is she not "essentially throwing the panel under the bus?" wondered NBC's Curry. "It is an independent body of healthcare providers and scientists," the Secretary answered, fudging the fact that it is federally appointed. "Does this panel not fall under the purview of the Department of Health & Human Services?" inquired CBS' Couric. "It is an independent group of scientists and advisors so they do not work for HHS. They are appointed independently…They have no policymaking authority. We make policy."
Secretary Sebelius professed that "frankly I would be stunned if private insurers change any coverage decisions." CBS' Couric was incredulous. If the panel has decided that screening for low-risk fortysomethings is useless, "why would you think that private insurers will not take advantage of that and stop covering them?"
BENDING THE COST CURVE Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' capitulation on mammograms in the face of patients who insist on the healthcare system paying for screening even when it does no good speaks ill of the Obama Administration's sincerity when it promises that its reform legislation will reduce costs in the long run. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell nevertheless repeated the estimates by the Congressional Budget Office that insuring 31m currently uninsured over the next decade will only cost the federal government $849bn--or less than $2,800 per person per year--and that federal borrowing will be $127bn lower as a consequence.
Meanwhile ABC's David Muir picked up on the same projection of healthcare cost inflation over the next decade that CBS' Jeff Glor covered Tuesday. Add together diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and cancer and the average obese American will be spending $8,300 on healthcare each year a decade from now, "that is nearly $2,500 more than people who are not overweight."
KSM TO GO ON SHOW TRIAL Attorney General Eric Holder was called to Capitol Hill to testify before a Senate panel on his decision to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators for plotting the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. The three networks assigned their Justice Department correspondent--Pete Williams on NBC, Bob Orr on CBS, Pierre Thomas on ABC--rather than their Congressional correspondent to the hearings. All three quoted Holder's soundbite concerning Mohammed's claimed preference to be tried for war crimes not for a civilian murder plot: "He will not select the prosecution venue, I will select it."
The justice correspondents' coverage focused on three objections to Holder's decision. NBC's Williams cited the worry that Mohammed would use the trial for his own propaganda. Holder's answer was that he could use a Guantanamo Bay tribunal just as easily. CBS' Orr suggested that "counterterrorism methods could be compromised." Without using the T-word, Orr quoted Holder as pledging that there was "ample evidence outside of harsh interrogations" to obtain a conviction. ABC's Thomas mentioned the possibility of an acquittal by jury. Holder's reply was that such a verdict was "highly unlikely."
That last objection leads to a fourth one--that Holder is not proposing impartial justice at all but a show trial with no presumption of innocence. NBC's Chuck Todd brought up that concern with Barack Obama in a separate interview. Obama referred to a future facing Mohammed "when he is convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." Todd pressed the "former Constitutional law professor" whether this was prejudging the verdict. Obama restated his "when" to an "if that is the outcome." Holder was less scrupulous about Constitutional niceties: "Failure is not an option," was how ABC's Thomas quoted him. "These are cases that have to be won." Even if the jury happened to acquit, "Mohammed could still be held as an enemy combatant," Holder promised. So, yes, this will be a show trial.
ELITE RIDING STABLE ABC's Brian Ross, as part of his Exclusive, did not know whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was one of the eight-or-so "suspected high value al-Qaeda figures" who were tortured in a secret, illegal CIA prison in Lithuania between the spring of 2004 and the fall of 2005. Ross himself did not use the T-word--"harsh tactics to interrogate" was his euphemism--but his source John Sifton, a "human rights investigator," did. The prison was hidden inside the barn at a riding academy used for show horses run by Elite LLC, a Panamanian front company for the CIA. Ross reported that Lithuania let the CIA operate in Vilnius after "the United States pledged support for Lithuania's efforts to joining NATO."
DOES CBS OPPOSE OPENNESS IN GOVERNMENT? A week ago ABC's Jake Tapper claimed an Exclusive for his sitdown with Barack Obama at the White House. It turns out that a q-&-a with the President is not such a rare commodity. Both NBC's Chuck Todd and CBS' Chip Reid questioned him in Beijing during his East Asia diplomacy. Both asked about his policy deliberations over Afghanistan and his personal wellbeing. Is he wasting away from weight loss? "He laughed off speculation," NBC's Todd told us. "My weight fluctuates about 5lbs. It has for the last 30 years." Todd also challenged the President on apparent his failure to grant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the presumption of innocence to which he is entitled.
CBS' Reid appeared to oppose his own profession's commitment to openness and transparency when he quoted Defense Secretary Robert Gates as being "furious" because the debate about future policy in Afghanistan is not confined behind closed doors but is being illuminated by a series of leaks. His follow-up questions seemed supportive of secrecy. "Are you that angry about these leaks? Do you think it does make you look uncertain?" "I think I am probably angrier than Bob Gates," replied the erstwhile champion of open government.
FROM TURPAN TO KASHGAR Tyndall Report is certainly looking forward to future episodes in the series Terry McCarthy kicked off from China on CBS to coincide with Barack Obama's visit to the Great Wall. It is called Traveling the Silk Road and it sets out to follow the ancient trade route from Xian through central Asia to the Mediterranean. McCarthy showed us the western end of the Great Wall where the road leaves China and enters barbarian territory. He showed us the raisin harvest in Turpan and the ethnic melting pot that is Kashgar. "Historically China has prospered when it has been most open," McCarthy generalized. "The era of the Silk Road is still remembered in China as a time of growing wealth, flourishing culture, religious freedom and largely peaceful borders."
MAVERICKY ON STEROIDS NBC sent Andrea Mitchell and ABC sent Kate Snow to the Barnes & Noble in Grand Rapids where readers camped out overnight in the freezing cold to be at the first stop in Sarah Palin's Going Rogue book tour. "This is a book tour on steroids," marveled ABC's Snow as the print run has already been increased to 1.8m copies. NBC's Mitchell quoted from the book itself about Palin's plan to campaign in Michigan at a grassroots rally even after John McCain had withdrawn from the state back in 2008: "It would be fast. It would be free. It would be mavericky." Mitchell also quoted Palin's greeting to her fans, droppin' her g's as is her hallmark: "Alaska and Michigan have so much in common with the huntin' and the fishin' and the hockey moms."
MOTORCYCLES FROM RECYCLABLES NBC continued is western swing for its corporatewide Green is Universal series. Monday Lee Cowan looked for eco-friendly flatscreen TV sets in California. Tuesday Anne Thompson studied water conservation in Arizona's high desert. Now Thompson is in Oregon for an Our Planet feature on the "motorcycle gang for the climate change era." She offered free publicity to Enertia, the 60 mph, 45-mile-per-charge, all-electric motorcycle. Enertia recharges at a standard electric socket for just 28c and is on sale exclusively for $8,000 at Best Buy.
