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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM MAY 18, 2009
Cars topped the news agenda for the third straight weekday. Last week saw first Chrysler, then General Motors select hundreds of longtime dealerships for closure. All three newscasts kicked off the new week with the automotive future. They each led with the leak of an impending announcement about new rules for fuel efficiency. The Story of the Day was that each manufacture's fleet of newly sold vehicles must average 35 mpg by 2016. CBS also kicked off the new week with new graphics, adopting sans serif caps to identify reporters and talking heads; upper-and-lower case serifs for its story titles.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR MAY 18, 2009: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
EFFICIENT MILEAGE: CLEANER AIR OR CHEAPER DRIVING? Cars topped the news agenda for the third straight weekday. Last week saw first Chrysler, then General Motors select hundreds of longtime dealerships for closure. All three newscasts kicked off the new week with the automotive future. They each led with the leak of an impending announcement about new rules for fuel efficiency. The Story of the Day was that each manufacture's fleet of newly sold vehicles must average 35 mpg by 2016. CBS also kicked off the new week with new graphics, adopting sans serif caps to identify reporters and talking heads; upper-and-lower case serifs for its story titles.
Making vehicles more energy-efficient will have a combination of two consequences. It could either reduce the amount of carbon burned for the same amount traveled or it could increase the number of miles driven on the same consumption of fossil fuels. NBC's green correspondent Anne Thompson sided with the former outcome: "Environmentalists hail the national standard for greenhouse gas emissions as a complete victory." Chip Reid, CBS' White House correspondent, agreed, saying that the new rules "are expected to stimulate development of cleaner burning vehicles and reduce harmful tailpipe emissions that contribute to global warming" although he did free-market caution: "If consumer really want fuel-efficient cars then car companies will make them," no need for government diktat.
ABC's Jonathan Karl reminded us that "the auto industry has long opposed these moves" but now backs them. So what has changed? "After the federal bailout of Chrysler and GM, some of the companies are not in much position to oppose the White House on something like this." Karl commented that President Barack Obama has "broad political support" for the new rules. His announcement will be endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican Governor of the green-leaning state of California, and Jennifer Granholm, Democratic Governor of the auto-dependent state of Michigan.
NBC followed up with CNBC's automobile correspondent Phil LeBeau. Anchor Brian Williams inquired whether the mileage standards will be accomplished by using the old-fashioned internal combustion engine. LeBeau predicted that automakers will be "giving us engines in the future that deliver eight-cylinder performance but only use six cylinders of gas." Later Williams turned to Adrienne Mong in Shenzhen for NBC's In Depth feature. She showed us BYD's E6, a mass-produced, all electric, lithium ion battery car retailing for approximately $20,000. "The desire to become the world's leading producer of electric cars is a goal BYD shares with the Chinese government, which wants to cut oil dependency and growing pollution," Mong told us. BYD, by the way, stands for Build Your Dreams.
For those who cannot wait for BYD or for a fuel efficient 2016, CBS' Ben Tracy offered a free plug for the fire sale at your local soon-to-closed Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership. There are 44,000 new cars nationwide on front courts of dealers that will have to bring down the Chrysler sign in just three weeks and will no longer be able to offer a Chrysler warranty. A $37,000 Chrysler 300, for example, has been marked down by Star Chrysler Jeep near Los Angeles to just $22,000.
PALESTINIANS ARE LOSING GROUND Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was at the White House for talks with President Barack Obama. The three newscasts had different assessments of the importance of the meeting. CBS mentioned it only in passing. In fact, CBS did not assign a single correspondent to any overseas story in its newscast. NBC had Savannah Guthrie file from the White House but filed no follow-up. ABC treated it most seriously, with Simon McGregor-Wood in Jerusalem and Jake Tapper in Washington.
The Obama-Netanyahu talks had two main agenda points: the prospect of a Palestinian state; and the prospect of nuclear-armed Iran. An unidentified "senior Israeli official" told ABC's Tapper that Obama told Netanyahu that "stopping Iran's nuclear program supersedes all other issues." NBC's Guthrie noted that ending Iran's nuclear ambition was certainly Netanyahu's "one urgent priority;" Obama merely restated his "commitment to pursue diplomatic talks with Iran."
As for the creation of a state of Palestine, NBC's Guthrie saw "key divisions remain" between the United States and Israel: Obama called for "a two-state solution" while "the Prime Minister pointedly did not use those words." ABC's Tapper also saw "clear differences" noting that "Netanyahu would not commit to any Palestinian state." The Israeli leader rejected any right to return home for descendants of Palestinians "who were expelled in 1948 when Israel was created" and he insisted that Palestinians "recognize Israel as a Jewish state" rather than an integrated one.
ABC's Tapper quoted Obama's demand--"Settlements have to be stopped"--while pointing out that Netanyahu supports their expansion. Tapper's colleague McGregor-Wood showed us one West Bank settlement, population 40,000, where "construction shows no sign of slowing down. Palestinians want this land for their state. Israel calls it natural growth and says the building must continue on land they insist will stay Israeli in any peace deal." Meanwhile, inside Jerusalem itself, Palestinians "are also losing ground. Dozens more homes are under threat to make way for more Israeli homes and parks."
SIGHTSEEING FROM SPACE It may not have been the most newsworthy story but it was certainly visually compelling. ABC's Ned Potter got his last licks in for his Rescue Mission series as the spacewalkers from Atlantis completed their fifth day of repairs on the Hubble space telescope, logging almost 37 hours of fixes. NBC's Tom Costello summarized their handiwork too: "Hubble now sports six new batteries, new gyroscopes, a new camera and a new light-splitting spectograph that will search 13bn years deep into the cosmos." If the repairs work, Hubble may keep looking for five to ten more years.
SPRINGTIME FOR SWINE ‘FLU The swine strain of the influenza virus is not observing the calendar. NBC's Robert Bazell updated us on Friday: "It does look a lot more like the middle of winter than the middle of May." Now the in-house physicians at CBS and ABC are filling us in with conflicting assessments. Jon LaPook at CBS offered the nationwide statistics that six patients have died out of 5,123 infections. "In a typical 'flu season about one in 1,000 people die from the virus." That led him to conclude that the H1N1 strain is average in its severity. On ABC, Timothy Johnson disagreed: "The cases are mild; hospitalizations are rare; deaths are extremely rare." The good doctors agreed on one thing--and with NBC's Bazell. This 'flu is lingering unusually late into the spring.
MULTIMEDIA MISERY Both NBC and CBS introduced a multimedia feature series on the horrible state of the economy. CBS anchor Katie Couric kicked off a series dubbed Children of the Recession produced in partnership with USA Today. Couric's first entry profiled Safe Families, an eight-city charity for "economic orphans." Children who would otherwise be placed in the foster care system because their parents have hit hard times become temporary guests of the charity's volunteers, sometimes for a few days, at other times for more than a year.
The Elkhart Project is a year-long multimedia project of NBC News and msnbc.com profiling the Indiana manufacturing town that was once the center of the recreational vehicle industry and now suffers 20% unemployment. It seems that Elkhart's new major industry consists of posing as the poster town for hard times. CBS' Seth Doane (here and here) told us about its shuttered Dakota Restaurant. All three White House correspondents--ABC's Jake Tapper, CBS' Chip Reid, NBC's Chuck Todd--covered its need for fiscal stimulus. CBS' Dean Reynolds and ABC's Bill Weir used Elkhart to illustrate the scourge of joblessness. NBC's Kevin Tibbles showed us care packages for the hungry. ABC' Weir, again, offered the prospect of green jobs.
Now NBC's Tibbles visits again. He checked out the town's Time Was Museum to show that other industries, too, had come and gone even before Elkhart earned the nickname Trailer Town. Once upon a time Elkhart made musical instruments from the world--and then it was the home of Alka-Seltzer.
CRITTERS GO THREE-FOR-THREE An animal story is often the selection for a closer for one newscast or another. This time there was no escape. In a blanket three-for, CBS' Michelle Miller (no link) closed on the prospect of the filly Rachel Alexandra racing in the Belmont Stakes after her Preakness victory on Saturday. NBC's Making a Difference closer with Chris Jansing told us the story of Tuesday, a prize show pony killed by a tornado last spring. Tuesday's eggs were harvested from her dead body for in vitro fertilization and this spring a pair of colts is born. Jansing loved the "beautiful buckskin." Animal offspring was the theme on ABC too as Neal Karlinsky showed us a real life Making Way for Ducklings on the streets of Spokane. Check out the sure-handed banker. In Karlinsky's words, "a center fielder could not have done better."
Making vehicles more energy-efficient will have a combination of two consequences. It could either reduce the amount of carbon burned for the same amount traveled or it could increase the number of miles driven on the same consumption of fossil fuels. NBC's green correspondent Anne Thompson sided with the former outcome: "Environmentalists hail the national standard for greenhouse gas emissions as a complete victory." Chip Reid, CBS' White House correspondent, agreed, saying that the new rules "are expected to stimulate development of cleaner burning vehicles and reduce harmful tailpipe emissions that contribute to global warming" although he did free-market caution: "If consumer really want fuel-efficient cars then car companies will make them," no need for government diktat.
ABC's Jonathan Karl reminded us that "the auto industry has long opposed these moves" but now backs them. So what has changed? "After the federal bailout of Chrysler and GM, some of the companies are not in much position to oppose the White House on something like this." Karl commented that President Barack Obama has "broad political support" for the new rules. His announcement will be endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican Governor of the green-leaning state of California, and Jennifer Granholm, Democratic Governor of the auto-dependent state of Michigan.
NBC followed up with CNBC's automobile correspondent Phil LeBeau. Anchor Brian Williams inquired whether the mileage standards will be accomplished by using the old-fashioned internal combustion engine. LeBeau predicted that automakers will be "giving us engines in the future that deliver eight-cylinder performance but only use six cylinders of gas." Later Williams turned to Adrienne Mong in Shenzhen for NBC's In Depth feature. She showed us BYD's E6, a mass-produced, all electric, lithium ion battery car retailing for approximately $20,000. "The desire to become the world's leading producer of electric cars is a goal BYD shares with the Chinese government, which wants to cut oil dependency and growing pollution," Mong told us. BYD, by the way, stands for Build Your Dreams.
For those who cannot wait for BYD or for a fuel efficient 2016, CBS' Ben Tracy offered a free plug for the fire sale at your local soon-to-closed Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership. There are 44,000 new cars nationwide on front courts of dealers that will have to bring down the Chrysler sign in just three weeks and will no longer be able to offer a Chrysler warranty. A $37,000 Chrysler 300, for example, has been marked down by Star Chrysler Jeep near Los Angeles to just $22,000.
PALESTINIANS ARE LOSING GROUND Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was at the White House for talks with President Barack Obama. The three newscasts had different assessments of the importance of the meeting. CBS mentioned it only in passing. In fact, CBS did not assign a single correspondent to any overseas story in its newscast. NBC had Savannah Guthrie file from the White House but filed no follow-up. ABC treated it most seriously, with Simon McGregor-Wood in Jerusalem and Jake Tapper in Washington.
The Obama-Netanyahu talks had two main agenda points: the prospect of a Palestinian state; and the prospect of nuclear-armed Iran. An unidentified "senior Israeli official" told ABC's Tapper that Obama told Netanyahu that "stopping Iran's nuclear program supersedes all other issues." NBC's Guthrie noted that ending Iran's nuclear ambition was certainly Netanyahu's "one urgent priority;" Obama merely restated his "commitment to pursue diplomatic talks with Iran."
As for the creation of a state of Palestine, NBC's Guthrie saw "key divisions remain" between the United States and Israel: Obama called for "a two-state solution" while "the Prime Minister pointedly did not use those words." ABC's Tapper also saw "clear differences" noting that "Netanyahu would not commit to any Palestinian state." The Israeli leader rejected any right to return home for descendants of Palestinians "who were expelled in 1948 when Israel was created" and he insisted that Palestinians "recognize Israel as a Jewish state" rather than an integrated one.
ABC's Tapper quoted Obama's demand--"Settlements have to be stopped"--while pointing out that Netanyahu supports their expansion. Tapper's colleague McGregor-Wood showed us one West Bank settlement, population 40,000, where "construction shows no sign of slowing down. Palestinians want this land for their state. Israel calls it natural growth and says the building must continue on land they insist will stay Israeli in any peace deal." Meanwhile, inside Jerusalem itself, Palestinians "are also losing ground. Dozens more homes are under threat to make way for more Israeli homes and parks."
SIGHTSEEING FROM SPACE It may not have been the most newsworthy story but it was certainly visually compelling. ABC's Ned Potter got his last licks in for his Rescue Mission series as the spacewalkers from Atlantis completed their fifth day of repairs on the Hubble space telescope, logging almost 37 hours of fixes. NBC's Tom Costello summarized their handiwork too: "Hubble now sports six new batteries, new gyroscopes, a new camera and a new light-splitting spectograph that will search 13bn years deep into the cosmos." If the repairs work, Hubble may keep looking for five to ten more years.
SPRINGTIME FOR SWINE ‘FLU The swine strain of the influenza virus is not observing the calendar. NBC's Robert Bazell updated us on Friday: "It does look a lot more like the middle of winter than the middle of May." Now the in-house physicians at CBS and ABC are filling us in with conflicting assessments. Jon LaPook at CBS offered the nationwide statistics that six patients have died out of 5,123 infections. "In a typical 'flu season about one in 1,000 people die from the virus." That led him to conclude that the H1N1 strain is average in its severity. On ABC, Timothy Johnson disagreed: "The cases are mild; hospitalizations are rare; deaths are extremely rare." The good doctors agreed on one thing--and with NBC's Bazell. This 'flu is lingering unusually late into the spring.
MULTIMEDIA MISERY Both NBC and CBS introduced a multimedia feature series on the horrible state of the economy. CBS anchor Katie Couric kicked off a series dubbed Children of the Recession produced in partnership with USA Today. Couric's first entry profiled Safe Families, an eight-city charity for "economic orphans." Children who would otherwise be placed in the foster care system because their parents have hit hard times become temporary guests of the charity's volunteers, sometimes for a few days, at other times for more than a year.
The Elkhart Project is a year-long multimedia project of NBC News and msnbc.com profiling the Indiana manufacturing town that was once the center of the recreational vehicle industry and now suffers 20% unemployment. It seems that Elkhart's new major industry consists of posing as the poster town for hard times. CBS' Seth Doane (here and here) told us about its shuttered Dakota Restaurant. All three White House correspondents--ABC's Jake Tapper, CBS' Chip Reid, NBC's Chuck Todd--covered its need for fiscal stimulus. CBS' Dean Reynolds and ABC's Bill Weir used Elkhart to illustrate the scourge of joblessness. NBC's Kevin Tibbles showed us care packages for the hungry. ABC' Weir, again, offered the prospect of green jobs.
Now NBC's Tibbles visits again. He checked out the town's Time Was Museum to show that other industries, too, had come and gone even before Elkhart earned the nickname Trailer Town. Once upon a time Elkhart made musical instruments from the world--and then it was the home of Alka-Seltzer.
CRITTERS GO THREE-FOR-THREE An animal story is often the selection for a closer for one newscast or another. This time there was no escape. In a blanket three-for, CBS' Michelle Miller (no link) closed on the prospect of the filly Rachel Alexandra racing in the Belmont Stakes after her Preakness victory on Saturday. NBC's Making a Difference closer with Chris Jansing told us the story of Tuesday, a prize show pony killed by a tornado last spring. Tuesday's eggs were harvested from her dead body for in vitro fertilization and this spring a pair of colts is born. Jansing loved the "beautiful buckskin." Animal offspring was the theme on ABC too as Neal Karlinsky showed us a real life Making Way for Ducklings on the streets of Spokane. Check out the sure-handed banker. In Karlinsky's words, "a center fielder could not have done better."
