Monday night's news 2-16-09

 

There are some missing days at the end of last week. Mostly because I was bored with the usual, unsurprising, predictable, ebb and flow of the TV news.  Maybe I’ll go back and fill in the gaps, but in the meantime here are Monday Night’s notes on the net newscasts.

 

ABC and NBC led with Flight 3407 and ABC took off with what Diane Sawyer called “the trillion dollar week.” In Buffalo there was a memorial service at a church and family of the victims were allowed to visit the site of the crash. All 3 pointed out the pilot was new to this particular aircraft but no one said he did the wrong thing. Still questions about why the autopilot was engaged until seconds before the crash. Horrible oscillations just before the disaster.

 

General Motors and Chrysler were to come up with restructuring plans by Tuesday but George Stephanopoulos said the fix was in and GM would get 4-billion. There’s not going to be a car czar, by the way. Instead the President has appointed a blue ribbon committee to over see the auto industry. That should help.

 

All watched Hillary arrive in Tokyo in a visit that’s more about money than diplomacy. No one (but Rachel Maddow, later) mentioned that her severe black overcoat hid a magnificent tapestry-like lining. Maybe a Chinese dragon print. Much classier than the previous Secretary’s S&M outfit.

 

The exclusives:

ABC:   Betsy Stark and a Closer Look segment tracked the ripple effect of job layoffs. Here. A family cut back on restaurant Sunday brunches which caused lower tips for the wait staff which meant they couldn’t afford dog sitters and fewer meat deliverymen were needed. A good reminder of how things are tied together.

 

CBS went to Mumbai and the setting for Slumdog Millionaire. Seth Doane says tourists are coming to look at the awful conditions  there. Here's the script. The following commercial for Tuscan Fancy Feast Cat Food dinners was a little disconcerting. Some shopping cart manufacturer is making a kind of minicamper homes for some of  LA’s 73,000 homeless. It unfolds into a tent they can sleep in. They all seemed cheerful.

 

NBC and Richard Engel proved again the importance of being there.  An excellent report from inside the province of Swat in Pakistan. You can see it here.  Less brilliant was a report on farmers who have seen the bottom drop out of the ethanol market. Couldn’t tell if the prices they were getting for corn how (half of what it was before) is back to where it was before.

 

And then there was that UFO seen over Texas. Diane was hoping it was a mysterious phenomenon. It wasn’t. It was a meteor the size of a pickup truck. Burned up.

Posted by Jon Ward at 2/17/2009 5:43 PM
Categories: uncategorized
 

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