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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM JUNE 14, 2010
The networks like to start each newscast with their Day Count. It is Day 56 since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and crude oil started gushing from the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico. Tyndall Report keeps a second counter--Weekday 25--the number of straight weekdays that the oil disaster has been Story of the Day. On this occasion CBS (19 min v ABC 9, NBC 8) led the way, with visiting anchor Katie Couric kicking off her newscast from the tourist beaches of Alabama. President Barack Obama was also visiting the Gulf Coast and ABC led with him. NBC started with the Congressional investigation into BP's costcutting at the rig.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR JUNE 14, 2010: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
DAY COUNT 56--WEEKDAY COUNT 25 The networks like to start each newscast with their Day Count. It is Day 56 since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and crude oil started gushing from the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico. Tyndall Report keeps a second counter--Weekday 25--the number of straight weekdays that the oil disaster has been Story of the Day. On this occasion CBS (19 min v ABC 9, NBC 8) led the way, with visiting anchor Katie Couric kicking off her newscast from the tourist beaches of Alabama. President Barack Obama was also visiting the Gulf Coast and ABC led with him. NBC started with the Congressional investigation into BP's costcutting at the rig.
The purpose of the President's trip was symbolic, ABC's Jake Tapper told us, "to project leadership…to provide clarity after weeks of missed messages." Tapper dinged Obama for once dismissing the idea of meeting with BP boss Tony Hayward, then reversing himself; once dismissing the importance of measuring the volume of the oil leak, then deploying sensors to monitor it; once shrugging off offers of help from foreign countries, then asking about booms and skimmers.
NBC's Chuck Todd noted that the President's visit was the start of a weeklong blitz, including that meeting with Hayward and an Oval Office televised address to the nation in primetime: "All of it is designed to send the message that the government finally has command and control of this crisis." On CBS, Chip Reid focused on Obama's photo-ops: a seafood meal to dramatize that some fisheries were still operating safely; and a stroll on a beach to urge would-be vacationers not to cancel their Gulf Coast plans.
ABC DISDAINS BP’S DYNAMITE E-MAILS Both CBS' Sharyl Attkisson and NBC's Lisa Myers publicized the internal e-mails obtained from BP by Congressional investigators dating back to the days immediately before the Deepwater Horizon exploded. On the face of it, the content is damning. It is not clear why ABC did not consider them newsworthy--the network's investigative correspondent Brian Ross filed on microchips in passports instead.
Here is what Ross did not consider worthy of his attention: the rig was labeled a "nightmare" by BP's own engineer…its cost overruns amounted to 43 days at a rate of $500K per day in excess of the scheduled 51 days…the well saved at least $7m by using cheap casings…it skimped on centralizers recommended by Halliburton, using six instead of the recommended 21…it skipped a couple of safety tests to check on the strength of the cement and the absence of gas.
Maybe ABC will catch up when BP CEO Tony Hayward testifies on Capitol Hill later in the week.
FIRE, SAND & SALAD SPINNERS Dynamic visuals from the front line of the oil slick were delivered by ABC's David Muir and CBS' Mark Strassmann. Strassmann followed up on Friday's Exclusive on the offshore burn zones where surface oil is ignited to prevent it from coming ashore. He labeled his second trip 60 miles out to sea an Exclusive too: "We got within 150 feet of this one. A roaring tornado of flames swirled inside. Up close there is a sound that burning oil makes, a crackling, bubbling noise." The oil is ignited with kerosene and accelerant gel, producing a fire as hot as 2,000F.
ABC's Muir traveled eight miles offshore to a barrier island that the Louisiana National Guard was reinforcing to try to keep the oil away from marshlands. He showed us sandbags being transported to the scene by Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters: "You hear it and you feel it when that 2,500 lbs of sand is dropped." CBS anchor Katie Couric warned us not to pay too much attention to the photo-ops of tarballs on beaches: "Beaches are relatively easy to clean; wetlands virtually impossible. About 40% of the nation's total wetlands are located in Louisiana."
That corrective did not stop CBS' Couric--nor NBC's Mark Potter--from visiting Orange Beach to cover Alabama's suffering tourist industry. Potter focused on the vacancy rate in hotels and summer rentals. Couric went into town to sympathize with the restaurateurs at the near-empty Shipp's Harbour Grill and the slowdown in sales at Mo's Bait & Tackle.
ABC anchor Diane Sawyer ran through some more FAQs from viewers about BP's prospects for containing the leak and completing the so-called relief well to plug it (NBC's Tom Costello had a clear explanation about the relief well earlier this month). Sawyer also had her former sidekick at Good Morning America, weathercaster Sam Champion, offer a celebrity angle on the oil disaster. Champion introduced us to movie star Kevin Costner. Costner's firm, Ocean Therapy Solutions, has landed a contract to sell 32 centrifuges to BP to separate oil and water. Champion called the device "a giant salad spinner."
BOULER’S BIRDS Meet ornithological illustrator Olivia Bouler. Steve Hartman introduced us to the artist for CBS' Assignment America. She wants to use her paintings and prints to save her feathered friends, slimed by BP's oil. She is offering her renditions online in exchange for donations to the Audubon Society's bird habitat fund. Bouler is eleven years old. Her work is here.
AL GREENE’S GREATEST HITS Lost in last week's Campaign 2010 coverage by ABC's Jonathan Karl and NBC's Kelly O'Donnell about victorious women in statewide primaries was a newsworthy winning man in South Carolina. Now NBC's O'Donnell plays catch-up on the triumphant Alvin Greene, Democratic contender for the Senate. He not only pulled in 100,000 votes in the primary despite holding no rallies and raising no campaign funds; he also managed to find a $10,000 filing fee despite being found indigent and qualifying for a public defender just months earlier. Why did he need a lawyer? "Greene is facing criminal obscenity charges, accused of showing porn to a college student."
THERE’S LITHIUM IN THEM THERE HILLS A couple of packages were filed from Afghanistan. ABC's Nick Schifrin covered the latest geological survey that claims $1tr in mineral deposits--lithium, iron, copper--lies unexploited in that nation. Schifrin ticked off just three problems with starting an Afghan Gold Rush: there is no infrastructure to get the wealth out; the government is corrupt; and there is a war going on. Speaking of which, NBC's Richard Engel is embedded with the USArmy's 82nd Airborne Division in the village of Arghandab in Kandahar Province. He filed footage of a 30-minute assault from Taliban guerrillas that required support by helicopter gunships to repel.
VUVUZELAS Filing from Johannesburg, neither NBC's Ian Williams nor ABC's John Berman could resist making those noisy plastic horns the highlights of the first weekend of World Cup play. "Louder than an alarm clock, louder than a chainsaw," exclaimed Berman. Williams heard FIFA officials defend the noise as a traditional means of support. He could not restrain himself: "Complaints have fallen largely on, well, deaf ears."
The purpose of the President's trip was symbolic, ABC's Jake Tapper told us, "to project leadership…to provide clarity after weeks of missed messages." Tapper dinged Obama for once dismissing the idea of meeting with BP boss Tony Hayward, then reversing himself; once dismissing the importance of measuring the volume of the oil leak, then deploying sensors to monitor it; once shrugging off offers of help from foreign countries, then asking about booms and skimmers.
NBC's Chuck Todd noted that the President's visit was the start of a weeklong blitz, including that meeting with Hayward and an Oval Office televised address to the nation in primetime: "All of it is designed to send the message that the government finally has command and control of this crisis." On CBS, Chip Reid focused on Obama's photo-ops: a seafood meal to dramatize that some fisheries were still operating safely; and a stroll on a beach to urge would-be vacationers not to cancel their Gulf Coast plans.
ABC DISDAINS BP’S DYNAMITE E-MAILS Both CBS' Sharyl Attkisson and NBC's Lisa Myers publicized the internal e-mails obtained from BP by Congressional investigators dating back to the days immediately before the Deepwater Horizon exploded. On the face of it, the content is damning. It is not clear why ABC did not consider them newsworthy--the network's investigative correspondent Brian Ross filed on microchips in passports instead.
Here is what Ross did not consider worthy of his attention: the rig was labeled a "nightmare" by BP's own engineer…its cost overruns amounted to 43 days at a rate of $500K per day in excess of the scheduled 51 days…the well saved at least $7m by using cheap casings…it skimped on centralizers recommended by Halliburton, using six instead of the recommended 21…it skipped a couple of safety tests to check on the strength of the cement and the absence of gas.
Maybe ABC will catch up when BP CEO Tony Hayward testifies on Capitol Hill later in the week.
FIRE, SAND & SALAD SPINNERS Dynamic visuals from the front line of the oil slick were delivered by ABC's David Muir and CBS' Mark Strassmann. Strassmann followed up on Friday's Exclusive on the offshore burn zones where surface oil is ignited to prevent it from coming ashore. He labeled his second trip 60 miles out to sea an Exclusive too: "We got within 150 feet of this one. A roaring tornado of flames swirled inside. Up close there is a sound that burning oil makes, a crackling, bubbling noise." The oil is ignited with kerosene and accelerant gel, producing a fire as hot as 2,000F.
ABC's Muir traveled eight miles offshore to a barrier island that the Louisiana National Guard was reinforcing to try to keep the oil away from marshlands. He showed us sandbags being transported to the scene by Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters: "You hear it and you feel it when that 2,500 lbs of sand is dropped." CBS anchor Katie Couric warned us not to pay too much attention to the photo-ops of tarballs on beaches: "Beaches are relatively easy to clean; wetlands virtually impossible. About 40% of the nation's total wetlands are located in Louisiana."
That corrective did not stop CBS' Couric--nor NBC's Mark Potter--from visiting Orange Beach to cover Alabama's suffering tourist industry. Potter focused on the vacancy rate in hotels and summer rentals. Couric went into town to sympathize with the restaurateurs at the near-empty Shipp's Harbour Grill and the slowdown in sales at Mo's Bait & Tackle.
ABC anchor Diane Sawyer ran through some more FAQs from viewers about BP's prospects for containing the leak and completing the so-called relief well to plug it (NBC's Tom Costello had a clear explanation about the relief well earlier this month). Sawyer also had her former sidekick at Good Morning America, weathercaster Sam Champion, offer a celebrity angle on the oil disaster. Champion introduced us to movie star Kevin Costner. Costner's firm, Ocean Therapy Solutions, has landed a contract to sell 32 centrifuges to BP to separate oil and water. Champion called the device "a giant salad spinner."
BOULER’S BIRDS Meet ornithological illustrator Olivia Bouler. Steve Hartman introduced us to the artist for CBS' Assignment America. She wants to use her paintings and prints to save her feathered friends, slimed by BP's oil. She is offering her renditions online in exchange for donations to the Audubon Society's bird habitat fund. Bouler is eleven years old. Her work is here.
AL GREENE’S GREATEST HITS Lost in last week's Campaign 2010 coverage by ABC's Jonathan Karl and NBC's Kelly O'Donnell about victorious women in statewide primaries was a newsworthy winning man in South Carolina. Now NBC's O'Donnell plays catch-up on the triumphant Alvin Greene, Democratic contender for the Senate. He not only pulled in 100,000 votes in the primary despite holding no rallies and raising no campaign funds; he also managed to find a $10,000 filing fee despite being found indigent and qualifying for a public defender just months earlier. Why did he need a lawyer? "Greene is facing criminal obscenity charges, accused of showing porn to a college student."
THERE’S LITHIUM IN THEM THERE HILLS A couple of packages were filed from Afghanistan. ABC's Nick Schifrin covered the latest geological survey that claims $1tr in mineral deposits--lithium, iron, copper--lies unexploited in that nation. Schifrin ticked off just three problems with starting an Afghan Gold Rush: there is no infrastructure to get the wealth out; the government is corrupt; and there is a war going on. Speaking of which, NBC's Richard Engel is embedded with the USArmy's 82nd Airborne Division in the village of Arghandab in Kandahar Province. He filed footage of a 30-minute assault from Taliban guerrillas that required support by helicopter gunships to repel.
VUVUZELAS Filing from Johannesburg, neither NBC's Ian Williams nor ABC's John Berman could resist making those noisy plastic horns the highlights of the first weekend of World Cup play. "Louder than an alarm clock, louder than a chainsaw," exclaimed Berman. Williams heard FIFA officials defend the noise as a traditional means of support. He could not restrain himself: "Complaints have fallen largely on, well, deaf ears."
