 |           |
TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM JULY 16, 2009
The dog days of summer are here. It was such a newsfree day that a 40-year-old TV event qualified as Story of the Day. The televised images were those sent back from the surface of the moon from the Apollo 11 spacecraft. The anniversary of the start of that mission in 1969 had the flimsiest of contemporary news hooks, the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour. Appropriately, none of the newscasts led with a new digitally enhanced version of NASA's moonwalk videotape--it was the closer on both NBC and ABC. ABC's lead was an update on the healthcare reform debate; NBC and CBS chose the latest dismal statistics from the housing market. Yet not a single development was deemed newsworthy enough to warrant coverage by a correspondent on all three newscasts.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR JULY 16, 2009: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
BABYBOOM NOSTALGIA OCCUPIES NEWS DOLDRUMS The dog days of summer are here. It was such a newsfree day that a 40-year-old TV event qualified as Story of the Day. The televised images were those sent back from the surface of the moon from the Apollo 11 spacecraft. The anniversary of the start of that mission in 1969 had the flimsiest of contemporary news hooks, the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour. Appropriately, none of the newscasts led with a new digitally enhanced version of NASA's moonwalk videotape--it was the closer on both NBC and ABC. ABC's lead was an update on the healthcare reform debate; NBC and CBS chose the latest dismal statistics from the housing market. Yet not a single development was deemed newsworthy enough to warrant coverage by a correspondent on all three newscasts.
Only ABC assigned a reporter to update us on the Space Shuttle Mission. Ryan Owens filed from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, telling us that yet again a "series of nicks and scratches" has appeared in the spacecraft's heat-shield tiles caused by falling foam at liftoff. "Endeavour astronauts spent their first full day in space tediously examining the underbelly of the Shuttle."
As for that Apollo 11 videotape, ABC's David Wright reminded us how poor the pictures were when they were first broadcast--"grainy, black and white images of an otherworldly scene." Astonishingly the globe's 600m viewers did not see the video that Apollo beamed back to Earth. Instead the images were filmed off a TV monitor in Australia and then retransmitted. NASA's newly released images are clearer--but not because we can now see the original video. Wright outlined the snafu: "A lot of folks saved the front page of the newspaper that day as a keepsake--which makes it all the more extraordinary that NASA seems to have erased the original tape." A Hollywood firm has been hired to clean up the broadcast images, which makes the entire enterprise very Capricorn One
NBC's Tom Costello added that NASA's Apollo anniversary hoopla also includes an online posting of private conversations between astronauts as they orbited the moon's mountains and craters. Buzz Aldrin: "There is a big mother over here too." Michael Collins: "Come on now Buzz. Do not refer to them as big mothers. Give them some scientific name."
SOTOMAYOR GOES 4-FOR-4 ON NBC, ABC CBS decided that neither the third nor the fourth day of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee was worthy of coverage by a correspondent. ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg and NBC's Pete Williams both went four-for-four this week, but both implied that the hearings were so uneventful that CBS' news judgment was credible. NBC's Williams concluded that it was "likely that Judge Sotomayor will be on the Supreme Court within a few weeks." ABC's Crawford Greenburg reminded us of Sen Lindsey Graham's prediction that her confirmation was assured, absent a "meltdown." Commented Crawford Greenburg: "We saw the opposite. She really kept her cool throughout." Far from seeming the liberal activist, "Sotomayor calmly, persistently, repeatedly, described herself differently, sounding almost conservative."
HEALTHCARE MOMENTUM STALLS Only ABC continued Wednesday's momentum from the White House, when Barack Obama succeeded in making healthcare reform the Story of the Day. Jake Tapper covered the continuing debate as the lead item on ABC's newscast yet neither NBC nor CBS even mentioned the day's developments. "The President's case was dealt a body blow," Tapper declared as the Congressional Budget Office found no evidence of cost-cutting in the legislation being drafted by Senate committees. The comeback from the White House was that CBO "does not account for the savings that they hope to achieve from Medicare and Medicaid."
Instead of healthcare, CBS and NBC focused on the housing market. CBS' Ben Tracy reminded us of Obama's "highly touted" plan launched in February to slow down the pace of foreclosures. Evictions are expected from 3m homes this year, yet only 325,000 have been helped by the President's plan. On NBC, CNBC's Scott Cohn warned that 22% of homeowners are "under water" on their mortgages, meaning that they owe more than the property is worth. "Some are just walking away." CNBC's Cohn suggested that the next assistance program may prevent evictions by allowing distressed homeowners to convert to tenants. The housing market "just got completely out of balance," Cohn's sources told him.
SHOPPING GOES INTO RED, TOWARDS GREEN ABC and CBS filed a couple of contrasting stories about retail. CBS' Nancy Cordes was full of doom and gloom as she warned that CIT--the finance firm that supports such chains as Dunkin Donuts, Filene's Basement and Dairy Queen--is about to go bankrupt. "Retailers are bracing for a chain reaction, more layoffs and store closures." Dan Harris saw a green future on ABC's A Closer Look as Walmart launched a plan for eco-labels. Each ware will be rated according to a 15-point sustainability index that measures how harmful to the planet it might be. Harris offered examples: "How much does making or using your product contribute to global warming? How much waste was produced in making it? Are the materials environmentally friendly?"
FASHION POLICE This light day of news included only a couple of overseas stories. CBS' Mandy Clark filed from Afghanistan where the USArmy is sending mixed messages with a leaflet campaign in an attempt to find an unnamed soldier held prisoner by Taliban guerrillas. Half of the leaflets contain a "blunt warning," Clark told us: "If you do not free the American soldier you will be hunted." The other half is conciliatory, "a simple plea for information." NBC's Dawna Friesen filed from France, where the state already bans Moslem girls from wearing head scarves at school. Now President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed a street ban on burqas. Friesen pointed to France's "cherished secularism" as Sarkozy told the national parliament: "The burqa is not a religious sign. It is sign of enslavement."
NEWS FROM NEW AMSTERDAM Big Willie is the new nickname that a British insurance brokerage hopes will catch on for the Sears Tower. The Willis Group officially renamed the Chicago skyscraper that Sears vacated back in 1993. NBC anchor Brian Williams assigned Kevin Tibbles to a jocular feature on the perils of renaming, pointing out that NBC News is based in the RCA Building on Sixth Avenue, round the corner from the Pan Am Building.
Only ABC assigned a reporter to update us on the Space Shuttle Mission. Ryan Owens filed from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, telling us that yet again a "series of nicks and scratches" has appeared in the spacecraft's heat-shield tiles caused by falling foam at liftoff. "Endeavour astronauts spent their first full day in space tediously examining the underbelly of the Shuttle."
As for that Apollo 11 videotape, ABC's David Wright reminded us how poor the pictures were when they were first broadcast--"grainy, black and white images of an otherworldly scene." Astonishingly the globe's 600m viewers did not see the video that Apollo beamed back to Earth. Instead the images were filmed off a TV monitor in Australia and then retransmitted. NASA's newly released images are clearer--but not because we can now see the original video. Wright outlined the snafu: "A lot of folks saved the front page of the newspaper that day as a keepsake--which makes it all the more extraordinary that NASA seems to have erased the original tape." A Hollywood firm has been hired to clean up the broadcast images, which makes the entire enterprise very Capricorn One
NBC's Tom Costello added that NASA's Apollo anniversary hoopla also includes an online posting of private conversations between astronauts as they orbited the moon's mountains and craters. Buzz Aldrin: "There is a big mother over here too." Michael Collins: "Come on now Buzz. Do not refer to them as big mothers. Give them some scientific name."
SOTOMAYOR GOES 4-FOR-4 ON NBC, ABC CBS decided that neither the third nor the fourth day of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee was worthy of coverage by a correspondent. ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg and NBC's Pete Williams both went four-for-four this week, but both implied that the hearings were so uneventful that CBS' news judgment was credible. NBC's Williams concluded that it was "likely that Judge Sotomayor will be on the Supreme Court within a few weeks." ABC's Crawford Greenburg reminded us of Sen Lindsey Graham's prediction that her confirmation was assured, absent a "meltdown." Commented Crawford Greenburg: "We saw the opposite. She really kept her cool throughout." Far from seeming the liberal activist, "Sotomayor calmly, persistently, repeatedly, described herself differently, sounding almost conservative."
HEALTHCARE MOMENTUM STALLS Only ABC continued Wednesday's momentum from the White House, when Barack Obama succeeded in making healthcare reform the Story of the Day. Jake Tapper covered the continuing debate as the lead item on ABC's newscast yet neither NBC nor CBS even mentioned the day's developments. "The President's case was dealt a body blow," Tapper declared as the Congressional Budget Office found no evidence of cost-cutting in the legislation being drafted by Senate committees. The comeback from the White House was that CBO "does not account for the savings that they hope to achieve from Medicare and Medicaid."
Instead of healthcare, CBS and NBC focused on the housing market. CBS' Ben Tracy reminded us of Obama's "highly touted" plan launched in February to slow down the pace of foreclosures. Evictions are expected from 3m homes this year, yet only 325,000 have been helped by the President's plan. On NBC, CNBC's Scott Cohn warned that 22% of homeowners are "under water" on their mortgages, meaning that they owe more than the property is worth. "Some are just walking away." CNBC's Cohn suggested that the next assistance program may prevent evictions by allowing distressed homeowners to convert to tenants. The housing market "just got completely out of balance," Cohn's sources told him.
SHOPPING GOES INTO RED, TOWARDS GREEN ABC and CBS filed a couple of contrasting stories about retail. CBS' Nancy Cordes was full of doom and gloom as she warned that CIT--the finance firm that supports such chains as Dunkin Donuts, Filene's Basement and Dairy Queen--is about to go bankrupt. "Retailers are bracing for a chain reaction, more layoffs and store closures." Dan Harris saw a green future on ABC's A Closer Look as Walmart launched a plan for eco-labels. Each ware will be rated according to a 15-point sustainability index that measures how harmful to the planet it might be. Harris offered examples: "How much does making or using your product contribute to global warming? How much waste was produced in making it? Are the materials environmentally friendly?"
FASHION POLICE This light day of news included only a couple of overseas stories. CBS' Mandy Clark filed from Afghanistan where the USArmy is sending mixed messages with a leaflet campaign in an attempt to find an unnamed soldier held prisoner by Taliban guerrillas. Half of the leaflets contain a "blunt warning," Clark told us: "If you do not free the American soldier you will be hunted." The other half is conciliatory, "a simple plea for information." NBC's Dawna Friesen filed from France, where the state already bans Moslem girls from wearing head scarves at school. Now President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed a street ban on burqas. Friesen pointed to France's "cherished secularism" as Sarkozy told the national parliament: "The burqa is not a religious sign. It is sign of enslavement."
NEWS FROM NEW AMSTERDAM Big Willie is the new nickname that a British insurance brokerage hopes will catch on for the Sears Tower. The Willis Group officially renamed the Chicago skyscraper that Sears vacated back in 1993. NBC anchor Brian Williams assigned Kevin Tibbles to a jocular feature on the perils of renaming, pointing out that NBC News is based in the RCA Building on Sixth Avenue, round the corner from the Pan Am Building.
