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TYNDALL HEADLINE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM FEBRUARY 5, 2013
For the second day in a row, the national networks converted a local Alabama story into major news. As they did on Monday, both CBS and ABC led with the FBI raid on an underground bunker in Dale County. The raid freed Ethan (last name not given), a five-year-old hostage, and killed Jimmy Lee Dykes, his 65-year-old captor. NBC was the exception, leading with a story of genuine consequence, which also happened to be its own Exclusive: correspondent Michael Isikoff obtained a copy of the memorandum that laid out the Justice Department's justification for the Central Intelligence Agency to use unmanned drones to kill -- including unindicted American citizens. CBS did not even consider the drone story newsworthy enough to mention. Thus the aftermath of the Alabama raid qualified as Story of the Day.
TYNDALL PICKS FOR FEBRUARY 5, 2013: CLICK ON GRID ELEMENTS TO SEARCH FOR MATCHING ITEMS
KILLER FBI TRUMPS KILLER CIA For the second day in a row, the national networks converted a local Alabama story into major news. As they did on Monday, both CBS and ABC led with the FBI raid on an underground bunker in Dale County. The raid freed Ethan (last name not given), a five-year-old hostage, and killed Jimmy Lee Dykes, his 65-year-old captor. NBC was the exception, leading with a story of genuine consequence, which also happened to be its own Exclusive: correspondent Michael Isikoff obtained a copy of the memorandum that laid out the Justice Department's justification for the Central Intelligence Agency to use unmanned drones to kill -- including unindicted American citizens. CBS did not even consider the drone story newsworthy enough to mention. Thus the aftermath of the Alabama raid qualified as Story of the Day.
Contrast the skepticism with which reporters in Alabama treated the FBI's conduct of its raid. ABC's Gio Benitez had the fewest qualms, describing the use of lethal force as self-defense. CBS' Mark Strassmann used the caveat of "officials believe" when recounting the agents' tale that Dykes fired, and missed, first. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez made no mentioned of a gunfight preceding the killing.
At CBS, John Miller, a former member of FBI brass, was the only reporter to ascribe a political motive to Dykes, a survivalist one. Miller told us that Dykes was an activist against the federal government. Ultimately, it seems, the federal government was active against him, in spades.
As for the CIA's killer drones, ABC's Jonathan Karl made a telling point: if torture is such a violation of human rights that the Obama Administration bans its spies from waterboarding, how come it permits them to assassinate from the sky? Scooper Isikoff found himself in the odd position of obtaining a soundbite on the previously-secret memo from NBC News' in-house terrorism analyst Michael Leiter, who had had a hand in writing it.
This either makes Leiter the best source imaginable…or it places NBC News in an impossible conflict of interest…or the entire dilemma is buried by the most anodyne reflection possible. No prizes for guessing how that turned out.
Funnily enough, despite the scoop and despite the in-house expertise, NBC has covered the manhunts for al-Qaeda leaders less heavily than the other two newscasts over the years.
TUESDAY’S TIDBITS All three newscasts assigned a correspondent to the $5bn lawsuit against Standard & Poor's for the sketchy AAA ratings it assigned to mortgage-backed investment securities as the storms of the financial crisis of 2008 gathered. NBC and ABC both treated it as a legal story, using Pete Williams and Pierre Thomas, their Justice Department reporters. CBS went to Anthony Mason, emphasizing the financial angle. CBS made the right call.
For a vivid example of the difference between the house styles of ABC and NBC, compare how Tom Costello and Cecilia Vega cover the same research on congested commuter traffic. ABC's Vega sees a personal problem -- traffic raises blood pressure and puts on weight -- and personal solutions: avoid Fridays, wake up earlier, GPS-plot alternate routes. NBC's Costello sees a societal problem -- greenhouse gas pumped into the atmosphere -- and societal solutions: improved infrastructure, more mass transit, bicycle-friendly cities.
Costello positioned himself perfectly for a tableau of Beltway gridlock…then "Murphy's Law!"
For a vivid example of the difference between the house styles of NBC and CBS, compare how Stephanie Gosk and Elaine Quijano deliver the latest update on the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. CBS' Quijano looks into plans to return residential coastal zones to wetlands by offering contrasting, vivid local personalities -- ya gotta love Joe Monte on Staten Island -- while NBC's Gosk showcases people Making a Difference, in this case Gaelic sporting superstars communing with the Irish diaspora of Breezy Point.
Yet CBS and NBC have a couple of Sandy things in common: they have both stuck with the story since the New Year, unlike ABC; and (almost) no males need apply (Seth Doane excepted).
See Todd Love kayak. See him jump out of airplanes. See him scuba-dive. See him drive a Demolition Derby. See him wrestle alligators on Animal Planet. See him surf, standing on one hand. See him play the piano -- also with one hand. Why? Because he lost the other arm, and both legs, in battle. CBS, which has been covering wounded warriors most heavily for a couple of years now, has Chip Reid revisit Love after his profile of 15 months ago. Video courtesy of Team X-T.R.E.M.E.org.
A pair of trivial beats often pounded by ABC resurfaced. For the last couple of years, ABC has been more enraptured with lottery gambling than both of the other two newscasts put together: see Nick Watt's latest entry. And Jim Avila routinely covers the minutiae of the airline industry -- here are 36 stories from just the last 13 months. Laser beams are his latest worry
It's 'flu season -- but Dr Rich runs his Real Answers test on bacteria not on viruses. "Yuck!"
Contrast the skepticism with which reporters in Alabama treated the FBI's conduct of its raid. ABC's Gio Benitez had the fewest qualms, describing the use of lethal force as self-defense. CBS' Mark Strassmann used the caveat of "officials believe" when recounting the agents' tale that Dykes fired, and missed, first. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez made no mentioned of a gunfight preceding the killing.
At CBS, John Miller, a former member of FBI brass, was the only reporter to ascribe a political motive to Dykes, a survivalist one. Miller told us that Dykes was an activist against the federal government. Ultimately, it seems, the federal government was active against him, in spades.
As for the CIA's killer drones, ABC's Jonathan Karl made a telling point: if torture is such a violation of human rights that the Obama Administration bans its spies from waterboarding, how come it permits them to assassinate from the sky? Scooper Isikoff found himself in the odd position of obtaining a soundbite on the previously-secret memo from NBC News' in-house terrorism analyst Michael Leiter, who had had a hand in writing it.
This either makes Leiter the best source imaginable…or it places NBC News in an impossible conflict of interest…or the entire dilemma is buried by the most anodyne reflection possible. No prizes for guessing how that turned out.
Funnily enough, despite the scoop and despite the in-house expertise, NBC has covered the manhunts for al-Qaeda leaders less heavily than the other two newscasts over the years.
TUESDAY’S TIDBITS All three newscasts assigned a correspondent to the $5bn lawsuit against Standard & Poor's for the sketchy AAA ratings it assigned to mortgage-backed investment securities as the storms of the financial crisis of 2008 gathered. NBC and ABC both treated it as a legal story, using Pete Williams and Pierre Thomas, their Justice Department reporters. CBS went to Anthony Mason, emphasizing the financial angle. CBS made the right call.
For a vivid example of the difference between the house styles of ABC and NBC, compare how Tom Costello and Cecilia Vega cover the same research on congested commuter traffic. ABC's Vega sees a personal problem -- traffic raises blood pressure and puts on weight -- and personal solutions: avoid Fridays, wake up earlier, GPS-plot alternate routes. NBC's Costello sees a societal problem -- greenhouse gas pumped into the atmosphere -- and societal solutions: improved infrastructure, more mass transit, bicycle-friendly cities.
Costello positioned himself perfectly for a tableau of Beltway gridlock…then "Murphy's Law!"
For a vivid example of the difference between the house styles of NBC and CBS, compare how Stephanie Gosk and Elaine Quijano deliver the latest update on the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. CBS' Quijano looks into plans to return residential coastal zones to wetlands by offering contrasting, vivid local personalities -- ya gotta love Joe Monte on Staten Island -- while NBC's Gosk showcases people Making a Difference, in this case Gaelic sporting superstars communing with the Irish diaspora of Breezy Point.
Yet CBS and NBC have a couple of Sandy things in common: they have both stuck with the story since the New Year, unlike ABC; and (almost) no males need apply (Seth Doane excepted).
See Todd Love kayak. See him jump out of airplanes. See him scuba-dive. See him drive a Demolition Derby. See him wrestle alligators on Animal Planet. See him surf, standing on one hand. See him play the piano -- also with one hand. Why? Because he lost the other arm, and both legs, in battle. CBS, which has been covering wounded warriors most heavily for a couple of years now, has Chip Reid revisit Love after his profile of 15 months ago. Video courtesy of Team X-T.R.E.M.E.org.
A pair of trivial beats often pounded by ABC resurfaced. For the last couple of years, ABC has been more enraptured with lottery gambling than both of the other two newscasts put together: see Nick Watt's latest entry. And Jim Avila routinely covers the minutiae of the airline industry -- here are 36 stories from just the last 13 months. Laser beams are his latest worry
It's 'flu season -- but Dr Rich runs his Real Answers test on bacteria not on viruses. "Yuck!"
