Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Tyndall:CNN and FNC NOT In The Same Business
Source: AJC This article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is a must read. Provides details of CNN's coverage from the phone call alerting CNN-I Managing Editor Chris Cramer of the disaster to the dispatching of the many correspondents that have flooded the area since. Read the article HERE.(free registration required)
Here are some quotes from the article:
"What this does is reaffirm the distinction between CNN and Fox News," said media analyst Andrew Tyndall, who writes the weekly Tyndall Report about television news.
"They're not in the same business," he said. "Fox did very well when the election was on because it's much more of a political and opinion-based network. CNN did better with the tsunami coverage because it's a much better news-gathering operation. This is a total morale boost for CNN no matter what the financial benefits may be."
Tyndall maintains that the perception of a belated reaction by those networks is unfounded.
"We monitor the networks' nightly newscast, and there's no evidence they didn't jump on it immediately," he said. "There's never been a global natural disaster with this intensity of coverage. The networks initially had trouble getting people to the scene because of the logistics. That was a problem CNN didn't have because of CNN International. There was no evidence they failed to get there because of an editorial decision that this wasn't an important story."
Fox News has shuttled a staff of about 30 to work with British news groups with which it is affiliated, giving the channel "a surprisingly robust operation," according to Kevin Magee, vice president of news programming.
He takes issue with any notion that Fox focuses mostly on closer-to-home issues and pales as a news-gatherer.
"We present fair and balanced news, whether it's international or domestic," he said. "On the weekend, we do more live news than the other guys. All our [weekend] shows were overwhelmed with tsunami coverage."
"There are literally millions of stories to report on the scene," Klein said. "It's not where we are repeating ourselves. I don't think it's reached that point yet."
# posted by ATN @ 9:10 PM 
