January 30, 2006
"ONE OF OUR OWN IS DOWN" -- LET THE LOVEFEST AND INAPPROPRIATE COVERAGE BEGIN
Yesterday's news was swift, accurate, and as is unfortunately always the case when one of their own goes down, inappropriate and over done. ABC's World New Tonight co-anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured in a roadside explosion in Taji, Iraq Sunday. Both are now listed in "serious condition" and are being treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl/Kirchberg, Germany.
As is so often the case when a celebrity or high profile member of a network news team goes down, the entire network--from its local affiliates and national evening news team, to its national morning news show and cable counterparts--kicks into high gear to tell us all about the situation and how wonderful a person so-and-so was or still is. Case in point: Peter Jennings.
When Jennings, the foreign news correspondent and anchor of ABC's World News Tonight died last August of complications associated with lung cancer at age 67, ABC News devoted enormous amounts of on-air time to tell us everything there ever was to know about this quintessential career newsman's life and career. But what was even more astonishing and deplorable (in my opinion) than the time ABC spent on this non-story, was the fact that every other leading national and cable network--from CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and even ESPN--had their anchors and morning show hosts' put on dark suits to report the same thing, day after day, adnausium.
According to the Tyndall Report, which monitors the American television networks' weekday nightly newscasts, Jennings death received 56 minutes worth of coverage out of the 285 total minutes in which national evening news--excluding commercials--was aired on all three major networks for the week of August 8-12, 2005. Now, you might be saying to yourself that 56 minutes doesn't seem like a lot of air time, especially when compared to the total number of minutes in which actual news aired (285). But I would argue that when one looks at those 56 minutes Jennings' death received as a percentage of the total time allotted for all news--it turns out to be nearly twenty percent (20%)--that the amount of time devoted to his death was significantly disproportionate to what matters and what should be considered newsworthy in the lives of ABC's and the other networks viewers. Throw into the mix the amount of time Good Morning America focused on Jennings death, and you'd easily have on your hands a network--ABC--that devoted nearly forty percent (40%) of news for the week ending August 12, 2005, on the death of one person... a person, mind you, who worked for the very network broadcasting the 'news.'
During this morning's second hour of ABC's Good Morning America, co-host Charlie Gibson (who by the way goes by "Charles" Gibson when he fills in on ABC World News Tonight) said, "We are all very aware that every death or injury in Iraq is a deeply personal experience for the families of those killed or injured, but this one just happens to have happened in our family, so that's why we're devoting so much time to it." Talk about over-the-top belly-button gazing. ABC News, and indeed all of the networks, would be better served by focusing time, attention, and resources on gathering and reporting news that demands to be reported, rather than focusing the news on their own personnel or on things that just don't matter.
For example, did you know that during the month of June, 2005, ABC News ran 10 segments covering government-backed genocide that unfolded in the Darfur region of the Sudan, verses 45 segments discussing the "Runaway Bride" and 468 segments covering Michael Jackson's trial? It's true, and ABC's track record on Darfur isn't even the worst of the lot. Over at NBC and CBS, the numbers are worse: 0 stories on the Sudan, 38 on the Runaway Bride, and 614 on Michael Jackson (for NBC), while CBS weighed in with 5 on Darfur, 85 on the Runaway Bride, and 526 on Michael Jackson. (These figures, by the way, come straight from the American Progress Action Fund's www.BeAWitness.org, just in case anyone's interested.)
My point in sharing all of this is to point out the serious problem our leading news gathering sources have with gathering and reporting what's newsworthy. All across the globe, and right here in our own backyards, more pressing issues loom than the health and well-being of one particular journalist and cameraman who intentionally put themselves in harms way. Here in Indianapolis, as is the case in thousands other towns across the United State of America and the rest of the world, the causes and cures for domestic violence, homelessness, child abuse, and fraud against seniors often gets overlooked by news gathering organizations who seemingly care more about ratings and satisfying their own urges than they do about reporting on the types of issues we really need to know about.
It's high time for the fraternity that is ABC, NBC, and CBS to step up to the plate and do as good a job or better at reporting the news as they do when they choose to focus inwardly and report on themselves.
That's what I think. How about you?
Posted by Mikal at January 30, 2006 10:32 AM
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