http://tyndallreport.com/ http://tyndallreport.com/comment/20/3088 Andrew Tyndall 2008-08-27T10:11:29-08:00 http://tyndallreport.com/comment/20/3087 Andrew Tyndall 2008-08-27T10:00:38-08:00 http://tyndallreport.com/comment/20/3086 Andrew Tyndall 2008-08-25T08:45:34-08:00 http://tyndallreport.com/comment/20/3085 Andrew Tyndall 2008-08-25T08:33:30-08:00 http://tyndallreport.com/comment/20/3084 Andrew Tyndall 2008-08-25T08:18:39-08:00 http://tyndallreport.com/comment/20/3083 Andrew Tyndall 2008-08-25T07:47:47-08:00 http://tyndallreport.com/comment/20/3082 Andrew Tyndall 2008-08-25T07:33:39-08:00 An Exasperatingly Stupid Day of News http://tyndallreport.com/comment/20/3081 Andrew Tyndall 2008-08-17T11:45:11-08:00 Fair enough, these are the dog days of August. Fair enough, Fridays are the most feature heavy day of the week. Fair enough, the regular anchors took the day off with ABC's Kate Snow and CBS' Harry Smith substituting. Fair enough, NBC is preoccupied with sports, rather than news, as anchor Brian Williams remains in Beijing for the Olympic Games, which yet again qualified as Story of the Day. Still, after the lead items on frictions with Russia--ABC and NBC on the Georgian flashpoint, CBS on Poland--this was an exasperatingly stupid day of news.

ABC's Sharyn Alfonsi (embargoed link) tried to tug at our heartstrings by recounting the fate of a premature fetus kept alive by emergency c-section when a school bus crushed a pregnant New York City traffic officer to death…CBS had Hari Sreenivasan cover a local story on draconian police tactics in a tiny Arkansas town in the Mississippi Delta…ABC sent John Berman (no link) to the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania where instant replays will help call home runs…NBC had anchor Brian Williams brag that his online videostreamed newscast is used to teach English in China…CBS assigned Debbye Turner Bell to report on the dispute that is roiling Dallas--over the next home for its mentally-ill zoo elephant.

And that does not even count Friday's weekending features. ABC's inspirational Persons of the Week were Hawaiian amputee veteran Wally Fanene and his physiotherapist Betty Michalewicz. John Donvan floated with Fanene as he is learning to surf again, paddling out to the break with one arm and trying to stand up on one leg. CBS' weekender on Steve Hartman's Assignment America was amateur organist Jack Moelmann, who forked over $118,182 of his life's savings to hire Radio City Music Hall in New York City to stage a three hour concert of his own stylings on its mighty Wurlitzer.

Please! Features are supposed to add a dash of flavor, highlight, personality, mood to the hard news diet. They should never dominate the menu.]]>