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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM APRIL 6, 2009
Istanbul and Italy were the major datelines. All three White House correspondents filed from Istanbul after Barack Obama addressed the Turkish parliament in Ankara. Natural disaster beat out Presidential diplomacy for Story of the Day honors, however. All the newscasts kicked off with images of destruction from the mountains of Abruzzo where an overnight earthquake rattled the medieval city of L'Aquila. At least 150 people were killed and more than 50,000 have been rendered homeless.
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ABRUZZO’S OVERNIGHT DISASTER Istanbul and Italy were the major datelines. All three White House correspondents filed from Istanbul after Barack Obama addressed the Turkish parliament in Ankara. Natural disaster beat out Presidential diplomacy for Story of the Day honors, however. All the newscasts kicked off with images of destruction from the mountains of Abruzzo where an overnight earthquake rattled the medieval city of L'Aquila. At least 150 people were killed and more than 50,000 have been rendered homeless.
The earthquake registered 6.3 on the Richter Scale but its epicenter was shallow, explained CBS' Allen Pizzey, "which makes the tremors more powerful and devastating." It struck on the edges of the Apennine Mountains northeast of Rome. NBC's Stephanie Gosk pointed out that it is "an active earthquake fault" between the Eurasian and African plates, where a similarly deadly quake struck 30 years ago. "The quake was so violent that roads turned into gaping holes, swallowing cars hole," remarked ABC's Miguel Marquez. "Much of the area's cultural heritage is severely damaged--some buildings over 500 years old--but it is the newer construction that was flattened."
CBS FINDS ITS OWN POLL MORE INTERESTING THAN TURKEY NBC's Chuck Todd and ABC's Jake Tapper went into the most detail about Barack Obama's speech in Turkey. Tapper mentioned his support for Turkish membership of the European Union and his calls for progress on human rights for Turkey's Kurds. Todd cited Obama's request for Turkey's support in diplomacy towards Iran and Israel. Both reporters noted his allusion to the Ottoman Empire's genocide of Armenians in 1915 without using the G-word itself. Tapper reckoned "hundreds of thousands" of Armenians were slaughtered; Todd called them "millions."
CBS' Chip Reid used some of the same soundbites--"The United States is not and will never be at war with Islam"--before switching to the results of the latest opinion poll by his own network and The New York Times. It puts Obama's approval rating at 66%.
There was one unnerving image that all three correspondents used. The sound of a ceremonial cannon made the President jump. "Startled" was the word both Tapper and Reid used; Todd chose "visibly flinched," pointing out that "because this is a volatile region, security is tight."
DATELINE PENTAGON All three Pentagon correspondents landed an assignment even though the storylines were different. ABC and CBS both chose Secretary Robert Gates' presentation of his $534bn budget, a $19bn increase over last year's. NBC covered a coffin ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, the first one observed by the news media since 1991.
ABC's Martha Raddatz was impressed at the scope of Gates' proposals. She called it "the most sweeping change in military thinking in generations" that proposes scrapping equipment programs "that would have seemed untouchable just years ago." She ticked off plans to shift from the F-22 to the F-35 fighter jet, the decommissioning of an aircraft carrier and a build-up in special forces and unmanned Predator drones. "Gates has truly taken on all the sacred cows in the military budget." On CBS, David Martin added a note of caution: "Congress gets the final say and the V-22 Osprey and the B-1 Bomber are just two of the big ticket items previous Defense Secretaries tried to kill but Congress bought anyway."
NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and ABC's David Kerley both brought us the coffin ceremony for USAF Sgt Phillip Myers, a munitions demolition expert who won his first Bronze Star in Iraq and his second, posthumously, in Afghanistan. "This sacred ceremony has happened nearly 5,000 times since the start of the wars but this is the first time we were able to see this nearly silent homecoming," ABC's Kerley observed. NBC's Miklaszewski pointed out that "even out of public view the military cared for America's war dead with the same dignity and precision of a full and open honors ceremony."
SUMMERS, MICROSOFT & STANFORD The networks' investigative units had a busy evening. NBC's Lisa Myers reported on Lawrence Summers, the chief economic advisor at the White House. He earned $7.9m in 2008 consulting for a hedge fund and making speeches to Wall Street firms: "While he once helped deregulate Wall Street during the Clinton years, he is now pushing for more regulation of hedge funds and Wall Street banks, which paid him those handsome fees."
On CBS, Sharyl Attkisson filed a Follow the Money report from the state of Washington, checking how federal fiscal stimulus funds are being spent in Redmond. There are two bridges there. The South Park Bridge is 76 years old, dilapidated, with corroded concrete and rotten timber. The other is a $25m project, not built yet, with "fancy landscaping, a bike lane and pedestrian walkway" to cross a freeway to connect two campuses at Microsoft's corporate headquarters. Guess which bridge will get $11m in federal funds. Microsoft--because the funds are dedicated for economic development not for safety.
ABC's investigative man Brian Ross had most fun, hanging out at midnight outside Houston's Vic & Anthony's restaurant as a lounge singer crooned Cole Porter in the background. Ross' Exclusive companion was Sir Allen Stanford, the financier under investigation for selling fraudulent certificates of deposit and laundering narcotics profits in his Caribbean banks. When Ross mentioned the laundering, the knight replied: "If you say it to my face again I will punch you in the mouth." "You are going to punch me in the mouth?" "No. I am not going to punch you in the mouth. But I am just saying that that is an absolutely ludicrous thing to say."
VOONG COPIED CHO, CBS’ ORR BELIEVES CBS and ABC each assigned a reporter to file a follow-up to Friday's Story of the Day, the suicidal shooting rampage at a community center in Binghamton. ABC's Stephanie Sy filed from upstate New York, where she profiled 61-year-old Shirley DeLucia. DeLucia worked at the American Civic Association and was shot in the abdomen while at her desk. She "crawled to the phone, hid under her desk and called for help," staying on the line with 911 for 54 minutes and "giving police critical information about the horror that was unfolding inside." On CBS, Bob Orr filed from Washington, referring to the dead killer as Jiverly Wong, not the Voong spelling that was used Friday. Voong "dropped his death manifesto in the mail." The package arrived today at News 10 Now, a cable TV station in Syracuse. Orr was convinced that Voong was copying Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech gunman, who mailed his manifesto to NBC News.
SPRING IS HERE… …so now it is time to check how cold winter was. NBC's Anne Thompson brought us NASA's pictures of the Arctic Ocean and the news was not encouraging. The ice cover "was the fifth smallest on record," she told us, "and the ice that is there was the thinnest ever…the most susceptible to summer melting." Less ice means less reflection of solar rays, which means more absorption of heat by ocean waters, which means less ice.
By the way, the Antarctic ice bridge that attaches the Wilkins Ice Shelf to the continent has just collapsed. The shelf could now break free.
AND SPRING IS HERE… …so now it is time to look forward to the boys of summer. ABC anchor Charles Gibson took in a guided tour of the two new baseball stadiums in New York City. The Mets' field has 15,000 fewer seats than Shea Stadium as the National League goes for intimacy. The new Yankee Stadium has precisely the same dimensions as the old stadium: "The Babe might feel right at home here." The American League goes for opulence, offering alternatives to hot dogs. "Eating lobster at the baseball park is God's way of telling you that you have got too much money."
The earthquake registered 6.3 on the Richter Scale but its epicenter was shallow, explained CBS' Allen Pizzey, "which makes the tremors more powerful and devastating." It struck on the edges of the Apennine Mountains northeast of Rome. NBC's Stephanie Gosk pointed out that it is "an active earthquake fault" between the Eurasian and African plates, where a similarly deadly quake struck 30 years ago. "The quake was so violent that roads turned into gaping holes, swallowing cars hole," remarked ABC's Miguel Marquez. "Much of the area's cultural heritage is severely damaged--some buildings over 500 years old--but it is the newer construction that was flattened."
CBS FINDS ITS OWN POLL MORE INTERESTING THAN TURKEY NBC's Chuck Todd and ABC's Jake Tapper went into the most detail about Barack Obama's speech in Turkey. Tapper mentioned his support for Turkish membership of the European Union and his calls for progress on human rights for Turkey's Kurds. Todd cited Obama's request for Turkey's support in diplomacy towards Iran and Israel. Both reporters noted his allusion to the Ottoman Empire's genocide of Armenians in 1915 without using the G-word itself. Tapper reckoned "hundreds of thousands" of Armenians were slaughtered; Todd called them "millions."
CBS' Chip Reid used some of the same soundbites--"The United States is not and will never be at war with Islam"--before switching to the results of the latest opinion poll by his own network and The New York Times. It puts Obama's approval rating at 66%.
There was one unnerving image that all three correspondents used. The sound of a ceremonial cannon made the President jump. "Startled" was the word both Tapper and Reid used; Todd chose "visibly flinched," pointing out that "because this is a volatile region, security is tight."
DATELINE PENTAGON All three Pentagon correspondents landed an assignment even though the storylines were different. ABC and CBS both chose Secretary Robert Gates' presentation of his $534bn budget, a $19bn increase over last year's. NBC covered a coffin ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, the first one observed by the news media since 1991.
ABC's Martha Raddatz was impressed at the scope of Gates' proposals. She called it "the most sweeping change in military thinking in generations" that proposes scrapping equipment programs "that would have seemed untouchable just years ago." She ticked off plans to shift from the F-22 to the F-35 fighter jet, the decommissioning of an aircraft carrier and a build-up in special forces and unmanned Predator drones. "Gates has truly taken on all the sacred cows in the military budget." On CBS, David Martin added a note of caution: "Congress gets the final say and the V-22 Osprey and the B-1 Bomber are just two of the big ticket items previous Defense Secretaries tried to kill but Congress bought anyway."
NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and ABC's David Kerley both brought us the coffin ceremony for USAF Sgt Phillip Myers, a munitions demolition expert who won his first Bronze Star in Iraq and his second, posthumously, in Afghanistan. "This sacred ceremony has happened nearly 5,000 times since the start of the wars but this is the first time we were able to see this nearly silent homecoming," ABC's Kerley observed. NBC's Miklaszewski pointed out that "even out of public view the military cared for America's war dead with the same dignity and precision of a full and open honors ceremony."
SUMMERS, MICROSOFT & STANFORD The networks' investigative units had a busy evening. NBC's Lisa Myers reported on Lawrence Summers, the chief economic advisor at the White House. He earned $7.9m in 2008 consulting for a hedge fund and making speeches to Wall Street firms: "While he once helped deregulate Wall Street during the Clinton years, he is now pushing for more regulation of hedge funds and Wall Street banks, which paid him those handsome fees."
On CBS, Sharyl Attkisson filed a Follow the Money report from the state of Washington, checking how federal fiscal stimulus funds are being spent in Redmond. There are two bridges there. The South Park Bridge is 76 years old, dilapidated, with corroded concrete and rotten timber. The other is a $25m project, not built yet, with "fancy landscaping, a bike lane and pedestrian walkway" to cross a freeway to connect two campuses at Microsoft's corporate headquarters. Guess which bridge will get $11m in federal funds. Microsoft--because the funds are dedicated for economic development not for safety.
ABC's investigative man Brian Ross had most fun, hanging out at midnight outside Houston's Vic & Anthony's restaurant as a lounge singer crooned Cole Porter in the background. Ross' Exclusive companion was Sir Allen Stanford, the financier under investigation for selling fraudulent certificates of deposit and laundering narcotics profits in his Caribbean banks. When Ross mentioned the laundering, the knight replied: "If you say it to my face again I will punch you in the mouth." "You are going to punch me in the mouth?" "No. I am not going to punch you in the mouth. But I am just saying that that is an absolutely ludicrous thing to say."
VOONG COPIED CHO, CBS’ ORR BELIEVES CBS and ABC each assigned a reporter to file a follow-up to Friday's Story of the Day, the suicidal shooting rampage at a community center in Binghamton. ABC's Stephanie Sy filed from upstate New York, where she profiled 61-year-old Shirley DeLucia. DeLucia worked at the American Civic Association and was shot in the abdomen while at her desk. She "crawled to the phone, hid under her desk and called for help," staying on the line with 911 for 54 minutes and "giving police critical information about the horror that was unfolding inside." On CBS, Bob Orr filed from Washington, referring to the dead killer as Jiverly Wong, not the Voong spelling that was used Friday. Voong "dropped his death manifesto in the mail." The package arrived today at News 10 Now, a cable TV station in Syracuse. Orr was convinced that Voong was copying Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech gunman, who mailed his manifesto to NBC News.
SPRING IS HERE… …so now it is time to check how cold winter was. NBC's Anne Thompson brought us NASA's pictures of the Arctic Ocean and the news was not encouraging. The ice cover "was the fifth smallest on record," she told us, "and the ice that is there was the thinnest ever…the most susceptible to summer melting." Less ice means less reflection of solar rays, which means more absorption of heat by ocean waters, which means less ice.
By the way, the Antarctic ice bridge that attaches the Wilkins Ice Shelf to the continent has just collapsed. The shelf could now break free.
AND SPRING IS HERE… …so now it is time to look forward to the boys of summer. ABC anchor Charles Gibson took in a guided tour of the two new baseball stadiums in New York City. The Mets' field has 15,000 fewer seats than Shea Stadium as the National League goes for intimacy. The new Yankee Stadium has precisely the same dimensions as the old stadium: "The Babe might feel right at home here." The American League goes for opulence, offering alternatives to hot dogs. "Eating lobster at the baseball park is God's way of telling you that you have got too much money."
