CONTAINING LINKS TO 58103 STORIES FROM THE NETWORKS' NIGHTLY NEWSCASTS
     TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM MARCH 11, 2011
The networks do not staff their Tokyo bureaus with A-list correspondents. When a massive undersea earthquake, 8.9 on the Richter Scale, sent an eight-meter-tall wall of water ashore in the form of a devastating tsunami, they resorted to rarely used reporters to bring us the latest from Japan itself. Yet thanks to advances in video technology, the downsized bureaus did not result in any shortage of riveting footage. The carnage in the Sendai region, northeast of the capital, was terrifying. All three networks led with a compilation of eyewitness cell-phone and YouTube video. Appropriately, the catastrophe attracted saturation coverage, accounting for fully 82% (50 min out of 61) of the three-network newshole. NBC called its newscast a special edition: Disaster in Japan; ABC chose Disaster in the Pacific.    
     TYNDALL PICKS FOR MARCH 11, 2011: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
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video thumbnailABCJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami: Richter 8.9Massive undersea shock off coast of SendaiDan HarrisNo Dateline
video thumbnailNBCJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami: Richter 8.9Massive undersea shock off coast of SendaiKaori EnjojiTokyo
video thumbnailCBSJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami: Richter 8.9Massive undersea shock off coast of SendaiLucy CraftTokyo
video thumbnailABCJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami: Richter 8.9Undersea shock produced terrifying wall of waterElizabeth VargasNew York
video thumbnailABCJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami: Richter 8.9Creates coastal nuclear power plant emergencyChris CuomoNew York
video thumbnailNBCJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami: Richter 8.9Pacific plate geology creates Ring of FireTom CostelloWashington DC
video thumbnailCBSJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami: Richter 8.9Pacific Ocean surge heads for Hawaii, CaliforniaJohn BlackstoneSan Francisco
video thumbnailABCEarthquake preparedness along Pacific coastJapan's problems expose California's weaknessesBill WeirCalifornia
video thumbnailNBCEarthquake preparedness along Pacific coastCalifornia conducts annual Great Shake out drillGeorge LewisLos Angeles
video thumbnailCBSFormer President Ronald Reagan rememberedSecret Service releases assassination bid audioBill PlanteWhite House
 
TYNDALL BLOG: DAILY NOTES ON NETWORK TELEVISION NIGHTLY NEWS
SCANT CORRESPONDENTS IN JAPAN; NO VIDEO SHORTAGE The networks do not staff their Tokyo bureaus with A-list correspondents. When a massive undersea earthquake, 8.9 on the Richter Scale, sent an eight-meter-tall wall of water ashore in the form of a devastating tsunami, they resorted to rarely used reporters to bring us the latest from Japan itself. Yet thanks to advances in video technology, the downsized bureaus did not result in any shortage of riveting footage. The carnage in the Sendai region, northeast of the capital, was terrifying. All three networks led with a compilation of eyewitness cell-phone and YouTube video. Appropriately, the catastrophe attracted saturation coverage, accounting for fully 82% (50 min out of 61) of the three-network newshole. NBC called its newscast a special edition: Disaster in Japan; ABC chose Disaster in the Pacific.


FRIDAY’S FINDINGS Who are those Tokyo correspondents you have never heard of? CBS' Lucy Craft; ABC's Akiko Fujita; CNBC's Kaori Enjoji on NBC

ABC found that tsunami footage so compelling: first Dan Harris, then more video, than Elizabeth Vargas, then a photo essay

How to find a domestic angle on a Japanese disaster? NBC's Miguel Almaguer, CBS' John Blackstone on buffeted Californian marinas

How to find a domestic angle on a Japanese disaster? ABC's Bill Weir, NBC's George Lewis on lax Californian preps for The Big One

Quake…then tsunami…then The China Syndrome Japan-style? ABC's Chris Cuomo, CBS' Nancy Cordes, NBC's Anne Thompson

Plate Tectonics 101 on Ring for Fire from CBS' Harry Smith, NBC's Tom Costello: here was Christchurch, here Concepcion