CONTAINING LINKS TO 58103 STORIES FROM THE NETWORKS' NIGHTLY NEWSCASTS
     TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM APRIL 12, 2011
The cellphone video was grainy but its contents were compelling enough to inspire both NBC and ABC to use it as their lead item. The runway collision at JFK Airport between the wing of an Air France super-jumbo jet and the tail of a Delta Connection commuter jet was Story of the Day. No one on board either plane was injured yet the shocking visual contrast of the giant plane gliding by and the small one being spun around like a toy made up for the lack of any actual harm. On a light news day ABC used George Stephanopoulos as its substitute anchor. CBS opened with an investigative feature by Armen Keteyian into toxic pollution from leaks and spills by the oil and gas industry.    
     TYNDALL PICKS FOR APRIL 12, 2011: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
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video thumbnailNBCAir safety: airport runway collision dangersCommuter jet tail clipped by jumbo wing at JFKTom CostelloNew York
video thumbnailABCAirline travel: passengers suffer from fear of flyingAnxiety has no basis in safety statisticsJim AvilaNew Jersey
video thumbnailCBSOil industry causes toxic crude, chemical pollutionPervasive leaks, spills undocumented by EPAArmen KeteyianPennsylvania
video thumbnailCBSJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami, N-accidentFukushima disaster now graded at Chernobyl levelLucy CraftTokyo
video thumbnailABCJapan earthquake triggers killer tsunami, N-accidentVillages to empty in nuclear evacuation zoneBob WoodruffJapan
video thumbnailABCLibya politics: Moammar Khadafy is longtime rulerOpposition forces' weaponry is jury-riggedTerry MoranLibya
video thumbnailNBCSaudi Arabia royal family maintains powerKing Abdullah popular, orders fund distributionTom BrokawRiyadh
video thumbnailCBSFederal budget deficit spending continuesPresident Obama prepares speech on fiscal planChip ReidWhite House
video thumbnailABCHistorical figure of Jesus Christ investigatedTV docu on Roman nails, may be crucifixion relicAlex MarquardtTel Aviv
video thumbnailNBCCivil War history: 150th anniversaryReenactors commemorate outbreak at Fort SumterRon MottSouth Carolina
 
TYNDALL BLOG: DAILY NOTES ON NETWORK TELEVISION NIGHTLY NEWS
LIGHT NEWS DAY: LET’S GO TO THE CELLPHONE VIDEO The cellphone video was grainy but its contents were compelling enough to inspire both NBC and ABC to use it as their lead item. The runway collision at JFK Airport between the wing of an Air France super-jumbo jet and the tail of a Delta Connection commuter jet was Story of the Day. No one on board either plane was injured yet the shocking visual contrast of the giant plane gliding by and the small one being spun around like a toy made up for the lack of any actual harm. On a light news day ABC used George Stephanopoulos as its substitute anchor. CBS opened with an investigative feature by Armen Keteyian into toxic pollution from leaks and spills by the oil and gas industry.

All three newscasts had a correspondent at JFK Airport. NBC and ABC both used their DC-based transportation specialists, Tom Costello and Lisa Stark respectively. Both networks followed up with an airline-related story. NBC's Pete Williams used a yet more handheld amateur video, to show how child passengers are patted down as potential terrorists by TSA airport screeners. ABC's Jim Avila took a ride on an airline simulator in New Jersey to reassure us that fear of flying is all in our brains, with no basis in statistical fact. CBS treated the JFK Airport story least seriously, slotting it in later in its rundown with Elaine Quijano, a general assignment reporter from New York.


TUESDAY’S TIDBITS For the first time in two weeks, ABC revisits the power struggle in Libya, dispatching Nightline anchor Terry Moran. CBS & NBC have had a constant presence

The danger of the Fukushima disaster has been upgraded to Level Chernobyl. CBS' Lucy Craft, NBC's John Yang try to reassure us…

…while ABC's Bob Woodruff visits a dairy farm in Itate, inside the radiation exclusion zone: "This could be a wasteland"

Saudi Arabia sends troops to Bahrain to suppress protests. NBC former anchor Tom Brokaw lands an interview with the Foreign Minister in Riyadh…

…Prince Saud tells Brokaw: "If you have interference from outside it can only be to the detriment of change." Brokaw's follow-up? Nothing

CBS' Dean Reynolds sends mixed messages to college-bound youth: that crippling debt will distort your post-grad lifestyle; without that debt you'll never get a good job

NBC's in-house physician Nancy Snyderman sends reassuring messages to multitasking youth: concentrating on multiple things simultaneously is good for the brain

NBC sent Ron Mott to Fort Sumter to watch Confederate reenactors, 150 years later. ABC's Linsey Davis attended the secessionist Charleston Ball five months ago

In times of yore, Holy Land hawkers fleeced Christian pilgrims by digging up ancient artifacts and selling them as sacred relics…

…nowadays, an archeologist digs up Roman nails and puts them in a documentary to sell to cable TV channels: ABC's Alex Marquardt. Gadzooks!