Interview With Missionary Jim Allen, Tiger Woods Crap, Update On The BRESMA Orphans, and CPAC Coverage

Hi everyone. Sorry about the absence of Thursday's review. I was mad at Anderson Cooper for ditching out on us the night before, so I ditched out on him. Kidding. Naw, I was just being a slacker. And apparently I picked the wrong day. Because Thursday night? Pretty good show. Tonight? Well...at least we got some great reportage from the always awesome Gary Tuchman, so I guess there's that. Anyhoo, the Silver Fox has gone missing again and this time we have John King manning the anchor desk.

After some intro stuff to let us know that yes, they will be talking about Tiger, we move into a Joe Johns piece for a recap of the American missionary story they've been following, complete with timeline. As I'm sure most of you know by now, eight of the ten detained individuals have been released and are now back in the states. You know what this means, right? Let the interviews begin!

While Anderson isn't gracing us with his presence live and in person tonight, he is doing us the honor of some taped face time. Next, we're played an interview that he conducted earlier with freed missionary Jim Allen. There's two other people sitting with him as well (presumably his wife and lawyer), but they never speak. That's not weird at all. I'm guessing this has been edited down. From Jim, we learn that he only knew two other people in the group and did not know Laura Silsby at all.

Though he did see papers being filled out and signed as the children boarded the bus, he never saw any documents from officials. He indicates he was operating under the belief that they had everything they needed except some papers on the Haiti side, which they planned to acquire. No, he didn't know the children had parents. Jim tells us he's not mad at the Haitian government and holds no grudges. And that was pretty much that. WTF?

I'm a bit stunned at how little Anderson questioned him about Silsby. I know the men and women were eventually separated, but they were all detained together for a while. Were they able to talk? Does he have any thoughts on her and why she's still in Haiti? He says he holds no grudges, so does that mean he thinks this is all just a big misunderstanding? I'm flummoxed. Like I said, this is taped. Whether this is a case of incomplete questioning or poor editing I suppose remains to be seen.

So hey, I'm not sure you heard this, but it turns out that Tiger Woods gave a press conference today. I know! Predictably, our media had themselves one big newsgasm. Everybody wanted a piece of the spectacle. Everyone, except golf writers that is, who as it turns out, may just be the most principled journalists in the country. Go them! So, did I tune in? Um, that would be a hell to the no.

What we have next is a whole hot mess of Tiger Woods coverage...and I could not run over to MSNBC fast enough. Sorry CNN. Michael Jackson. Anna Nicole Smith. O.J. Part Two. I'm not doing this crap anymore. I did, however, flip back just long enough to find Tom Foreman at the Magic Wall, analyzing the golfer's appearance, including the "dark circles under his eyes." Oh dear lord. Please tell me they didn't have on a body language expert.

Transitioning to something that people should actually care about: Haiti. Just like Anderson and Sanjay Gupta before him, the intrepid Gary Tuchman has recently returned to the country. In his report tonight, he follows up with some of the remaining BRESMA orphans. Those of you who follow my tweets know that Jamie and Ali McMutrie have returned to Haiti (read the latest Facebook note from their sister-in-law here) in order to try to bring more of the children to the states. They've been asking for help in cutting through the red tape.

Gary speaks with Margarette Saint Fleur, owner of BRESMA orphanage where 36 orphans remain, only six of which have permission to leave. Some of the children are becoming ill (see photos at link) and one has even been hospitalized for pneumonia. But Gary reports that most appear healthy. Jamie and Ali are currently working to bring 12 of the children to the U.S., while the rest will probably be placed in French homes. Following his piece, Gary tells us the missionary mess has really slowed down the adoption process. Actions always have consequences.

The taped version of Anderson is back now for discussion about the CPAC conference with Bill Bennett and Erick Erickson. Oh boy! To be fair, Erick makes a distinction between conservatives and republicans, which I think is important. Other than that though, there's nothing to write home about here. I found it amusing when Bill was passionately defending Washington. Because from my end? That seems to be the place where good ideas go to die.

As for CPAC, this afternoon I found myself all discombobulated when I heard that a homophobic speaker was booed off the stage. ZOMG, is this progress? Perhaps so. But hold off on getting your conservative love on just yet. While they did in fact do the totally cool aforementioned booing, they also booed...wait for it...wait for it...the notion that waterboarding is torture. Now there's the conservatives I know and don't love! Le sigh. Well, one out of two ain't bad?

Anyway! I've been digging on Rachel Maddow's CPAC coverage. Actually, I've been digging on Rachel Maddow period. Have you seen her on Meet the Press? Girl's got skills. Plus, she talks to people she disagrees with (unlike someone who airs before her and shall remain nameless), and while she always aggressively holds feet to the fire, she's never not polite. This is no pundit to be dismissed. Check out the video below of her CPAC visit:

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I think that'll do it for me. As I said up top, not the best show, Gary's report obviously being the exception. I think he's going to be in Haiti all next week, so I look forward to his reporting. Is this the end of the Tiger coverage? One can only hope.

Update: I came across this video and thought you regulars would be interested. Aw, Anderson getting some well-deserved love and appreciation.

Anderson Cooper 360 Reports Live From Haiti Following The "Hope For Haiti Now" Telethon

Hi everyone. I hope you donated during the "Hope For Haiti Now" telethon. If you missed out, there's still an opportunity to do so online. The benefit featured some pretty cool musical acts. For those wondering about Wyclef Jean's shout out to Anderson Cooper, I'm pretty sure it was just because he's high profile and was the first network reporter to make it into the country. Anderson interviewed Wyclef on 360 the night he left. There's no "beef" there. No anger.

Tonight's broadcast felt like a wrap-up of sorts. There were a lot of updates on stories our CNN friends have been following the past 10 days. For those visiting here for the first time, you can see my prior posts for more extensive recaps of those stories and accompanying video. The show began with a report from Anderson on little Monley Elize, the five-year-old boy pulled from the rubble by his uncle after almost eight days. At that time he looked near death. Now he looks amazing! That's the (very) good news. The bad news is that Monley is now an orphan. He's currently living in a tent with his uncles, but they cannot afford to continue caring for him. His future is still very much up in the air.

After his piece, Anderson talked live with Gabriella McAdoo, a registered nurse who helped treat Monley, and the little boy sat with them as well. Our anchor then interviewed George Clooney--host of tonight's telethon--via satellite. Of particular note was the discussion about keeping Haiti in the news. We've all heard this song before. Sure Haiti's on our minds now, trending on Twitter, but soon people will forget. The news cycle moves quickly, and unlike Katrina, our politicians have no constituents in Haiti. This is an election year. The suits of the networks will be tempted to move on. It will be up to the reporters who have seen the horror to keep the story alive. A big burden to bear. You can view the interview with Clooney below.



Sanjay Gupta reported from a tent city and found conditions relatively clean. There is a worry of a wave of infectious disease spreading throughout the people, but the doctor believes these concerns may be overblown. However, the heat continues to present a risk to survivors' health. Sanjay came across one adorable baby girl who was wearing a shirt that said, "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" You can find a laugh in the most unlikely place.



Karl Penhaul then talked with Anderson about the mass exodus out of Port-au-Prince. Residents simply want out. He also relayed a very disturbing story about a woman who was leaving the city. Her two young children were crushed to death in the earthquake and when asked if she had time to bury them, she simply replied, "I threw them away." Karl then asked her, "Why don't you Haitians cry?" Her reply: "There's no point." We've barely scratched the surface on the trauma these people are going through. Karl and Anderson's talk is below.



As noted up top, this broadcast contained some recapping and updating of previous stories. Gary Tuchman has been covering the story of the Bresma orphans and tonight he happily gave us the good news that's occurred. When his initial report (see my prior posts) on the orphans aired, Elizabeth Dowling was watching and was delighted to see her daughter Jenna featured. After a lot of previously reported logistical maneuvering, Jenna is now home in Colorado.

A little boy named Alexander David was also one of the Bresma orphans. His parents, Jean Griffith and Ross Haskell, contacted CNN to try to find information on their son and Gary was able to find him. Again, much logistical maneuvering, but again another child ultimately ending up home in the states (Kansas this time). Ironically, these orphans' adoptions would still be pending if not for the earthquake.

As they have been most nights lately, Anderson, Sanjay, Gary, and Ivan Watson all gathered at the live shot to talk about their day's experiences. Ivan reported learning of a localized tsunami that had killed at least seven. Video of Ivan at the location is below.



Gary spent time with a 109-year-old woman and her family today. She's blind, her house was destroyed, yet she still smiles. Amazing. The men also gave us some behind-the-scenes info. According to Ivan, there really is no plan on a given day. They just drive and the stories are all around. As for at night, the CNNers are shacked up in a hotel, but Gary informed us not all of them are comfortable sleeping inside. Given the aftershock we saw on camera last night, I can't really blame them.

For the record, Anderson confirmed that he does sleep inside, but I think regular viewers already knew that. Because we're well aware he's crazy. Not that sleeping inside is crazy, but I think you know what I mean. For our light moment of the night (there always miraculously seems to be one), a quote from our anchor: "I will say when one of the aftershocks hit I put on a pair of jeans and stood in the doorway and I kind of thought to myself, is this how I would want to be found?" I'm not laughing at him, I'm laughing with him. Whenever there's tornado weather here, along with finding a flashlight, I always do a quick clothes check. Because nobody wants to be found in their stained sweatshirt and socks with the holes in them.

The broadcast basically wrapped up with Anderson introducing photojournalist Jonathan Torgovnik who has been taking pictures for Getty Images. You can view some of his work here. Given the general tone of the show tonight, I assumed that the reporters we've been watching are getting ready to rotate out of Haiti. But then Anderson said they will be there all next week if they can.

The State of the Union address is coming up, so I'm not sure how that will all work. I have a feeling that Anderson (and perhaps others) will have to be pried out of the country. He stayed a month in New Orleans, as well as Israel. I want them to stay, but I also think they need a break. I guess we'll see what happens. The coverage remains stellar. Besides Jonathan Torgovnik, other shout outs tonight included photojournalist Neil Hallsworth, producer Charlie Moore, producer Mary Anne Fox, and translator Vlad Duthiers. I also know that Sanjay's producer's name is Danielle Dellorto. Kudos to all. CNN needs to name-check all their people on-the-ground. Their hard work should be acknowledged. (Update: Anderson's "Reporter's Notebook" is below.)



I hope to get another post up sometime this weekend, be it Haiti-related or not. I'm just going with the flow right now. My spiel: At this time, my main focus is distributing information, and highlighting the stellar work of the CNNers, which is causing the world to take notice of the crisis. As previously noted, I've been doing a lot of Haiti-related tweeting, and you can follow me at @newsjunkie365. I've also set up a special Twitter List of journalists and a few others on-the-ground in Haiti. And as always, check out CNN Impact to learn how to help.

Anderson Cooper 360 Reports Live From Haiti One Week After The Earthquake And Republican Scott Brown Wins Ted Kennedy's Senate Seat

Hi everyone. Tonight's broadcast brought us a tale of two worlds. Anderson Cooper continued his anchoring from Haiti, a country that remains in hell, death and destruction everywhere. But we were also reminded of the political realities at home--partisanship, bickering, all covered by mind-numbing punditry. The contrast was so stark, it was as if the show was coming at us from two different planets. And it was.

I'll touch on the politics in a bit, but first want to start in Haiti. It was exactly one week ago that the country was devastated by the earthquake, and today there was some amazing news. A woman in her 70's named Ena Zizi was pulled alive from the wreckage of the National Cathedral. That's one tough lady. Her femur was broken, and like with many others, there was great difficulty getting her treatment, but she was eventually transported to a ship for surgery. I hope she makes it. Below is Anderson's live report from when the rescue occurred.



Our anchor's second report was from a Doctors Without Borders clinic where there simply aren't enough supplies to treat the patients. Quake survivors with infections have no choice but to wait and pray that help comes before death. The doctors have been reduced to avoiding eye contact with patients because they know they will be asked for assistance they cannot give. They've even resorted to using saws normally used to cut metal as surgical instruments. To make matters more infuriating, cargo planes with supplies have attempted to get to them, but have been diverted away from the airport on several occasions. It's unbelievable. The organization really needs help. To donate, click here.

Anderson also did a lot of talking with both Sanjay Gupta and Ivan Watson regarding the rescues they've been seeing (Ivan tells us an eight and ten-year-old have been pulled out today also), as well as the general frustrations of the overall situation. I know it's not exactly reporting, but I like to see these conversations among the boots-on-the-ground. It's more raw and gives viewers a better sense of what it's like there.

Tonight we also learned that Haiti still has a government. Sort of. Gary Tuchman tracked them down and spoke with both the President and Prime Minister. Remarkably, all members of the Cabinet are alive. As for what the hell they've been doing all this time, the President claims to have been giving radio interviews, which Gary was able to confirm with one radio host. My sense is that they're at least trying. I guess the leadership could be worse.



Gary Tuchman also again updated the orphan story. Little David Alexander is with his parents at last! The majority of the rest of the children trying to leave last night made it to the states as well, with only one little girl remaining behind because she fell asleep on the bus. Aw. Don't worry, Jamie McMutrie stayed with her and is following (or already followed) the rest of the group. This blog is posting updates.

Finally, here's a piece from Ivan that we didn't see during the broadcast:



As previously noted, I've been doing a lot of Haiti-related tweeting, and you can follow me at @newsjunkie365. I've also set up a special Twitter List of journalists and a few others on-the-ground in Haiti. And as always, check out CNN Impact to learn how to help.

The other world we visited tonight was the world of politics, specifically the special election between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown for Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat. By the time the broadcast began, we already knew the winner was Brown. But CNN can't get through an election night without analysis from The Best Political Team on Television (TBPTOT), so we were subjected to quite a bit of punditry.

The Haiti disaster has preoccupied my news time lately, so I pretty much only know the basics of this race and am therefore unable to determine whether or not the media retained their tendency to trend toward idiocy regarding specifics. But I'm guessing if I were to shake a Magic Eight Ball, that sucker would tell me "outlook good." What is it about TBPTOT that makes me want to jam something sharp into my eye?

I loved Wolf Blitzer telling Jessica Yellin that Coakley "got a call from the president of the United States, saying, too bad." Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly how Obama said that. Because that doesn't make him sound like a jerk at all. But I think my award for most cringe-worthy moment of the night goes to Dana Bash using the phrase "political tsunami." Little tip: When your colleague was just on air reporting from an actual disaster of imaginable proportions, it's probably best not to use a similar disaster as a metaphor for a political race. Classy.

As for that race, I'm really upset about the Brown win because I'm fearful for the future of health care reform, but there's really no point worrying too much about it now when things are up in the air. Also? David Gergen pondering about Obama governing too far to the left had me wanting to pull my hair out. Our president has practically pulled a muscle bending over backwards in the name of bipartisanship, yet the Villagers think he's governing too far to the left. Unbelievable.

One thing's pretty clear in all this though: The Democrats are idiots. As always, Jon Stewart nails it:



For a little more fun (God knows we need it these days), I give you the CNN Magic Wall Trailer:

CNN Magic Wall Trailer from Marjoe Aguiling on Vimeo.

Anderson Cooper 360 Broadcasts Another Phenomenal Show Live From Haiti

Hi everyone. A new week begins and Haiti remains in hell. But our CNN friends continue to produce amazing coverage. I'm in awe of what I've been seeing. If you're not watching, my only question is: "Why not?" Tonight's broadcast brought us not only scenes of chaos and small moments of triumph, but a palpable growing frustration in our anchor. I haven't seen Anderson Cooper this worked up since Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. Maybe the night of the Sago Mining Tragedy as well, but that's it.

First though, the chaos. Anderson and crew witnessed things take a turn for the worse, with young men looting candles for profit. American businessman Tony Bennett attempted to keep them at bay by having police fire their guns into the air.



Then of course there is the talk of the Internet: Anderson saving an injured young Haitian boy. That video (airing earlier in the day) is below. For the broadcast tonight, that video and the one above were produced into a single exceptional piece, but I'm afraid I don't have that right now (update: here's the piece that ran during 360). As for Anderson saving the boy from the looters, wow. Just wow. I know there will be critics who claim he did it to showboat, or that the incident was even staged. Utter bullshit. The situation was clearly perilous, there was no one helping that boy, the camera wasn't even on him when he began the rescue, and he ditched his D.V. camera to do it (which he uses quite a bit on these field shoots). What he did was heroic. (Regarding the camera, I'm pretty sure he got it back because there was footage from it in the piece.)



Anderson's second piece was absolutely heartbreaking. A search-and-rescue team from the L.A. County Fire Department tried all day to find survivors in the rubble of a daycare center. The experience was no doubt a roller-coaster of emotions, as they intermittently found signs of life and then ultimately silence. I thought Anderson's voice-over during the last try was particularly poignant: "In the movies, this is when a small sound would be heard, a faint tap, a child's cry. But this is Haiti. And this is real. And, despite their best hopes, they hear no sound of life." CNN's translator Vlad Duthiers, who had been helping the rescuers since they didn't have one, then had to assist in breaking the news to the waiting family members. So sad.



Sanjay Gupta continues to be unbelievably awesome. Not only did he and his team stay behind to care for abandoned patients Friday night, he just saved the life of a 12-year-old girl named Kimberly who had shrapnel in her brain. Apparently, there are basically no neurosurgeons in Haiti right now, so the good doctor was tracked down. The following video contains Sanjay explaining the situation, as well as frustration from both he and Anderson.



The situation from Friday was also brought up. Earlier, Gary Tuchman actually interviewed the Chief Coordinator for BFAST to get to the bottom of it all.



We had some non Haiti-related news tonight as well. Jessica Yellin broke down the senate race for Ted Kennedy's seat. Honestly, even though I am very much invested in health care reform (and the Democrats losing this seat could be devastating to the bill), I just cannot get into this race. I'm not up on it at all. Right now political bickering just feels really...stupid.

Soledad O'Brien's report on the orphans was devastating (the video is from earlier). All those little babies.



Gary Tuchman's piece on the Bresma orphans at least offered us a bit of good news. Six of the children we saw Friday have been flown to their adoptive parents in the U.S. We're also told that Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (the women who run the orphanage are from PA) came to Haiti to get more of the orphans, but was only able to obtain approval for about half the number they had hoped (28 granted approval to leave). Gary reminds us that Haiti now has many new orphans as well, showing us a very sick little boy. No one even knows his name. (For updates on the Bresma orphans, you can go to this blog.)



Anderson's conversation with Gary brought us what I thought was the most unintentionally funny moment of the past week. Our anchor is clearly upset and frustrated regarding the bureaucracies of aid and rescue organizations. After implying that it might have been better to prioritize getting aid into the country over flying orphans out (with the orphans obviously being aided where they were), Anderson noted that he would no doubt get angry emails over that. Adding, "I like orphans very much," which caused me to burst out laughing. It was just so bizarrely funny. Yes, Anderson saves a boy's life by day and by night he hates orphans and perhaps kicks puppies. Keep Annie away from that guy. Anyone who sends an angry email to Anderson over this...I don't know...hates freedom or something. Because I mean, really? The guy deserves a medal. They all do.

Keeping on our frustration theme, the interview with Dr. Irwin Redlener definitely had me asking "WTF?" Pediatric experts are WAITING to get into Haiti? What the hell is the hold up? Sanjay cannot save the entire country by himself (I know there are other MDs there now, but you know).

Aside from the confusion, Chris Lawrence's report was pretty cool. It's amazing that people are still being pulled out of the rubble alive. Again, CNN lends a hand, or in this case, a flatbed truck.



Anderson's (most excellent) rant about the Haitian government and his outrage over people dying needlessly due to aid bureaucracies are sure to get some media traction on Tuesday. It's a tough situation. On one hand you wonder, "My God, why can't people stop planning and just do it?!" The thing is though, every situation in Haiti seems so dire right now that without a coordinated effort, the most at risk might not be treated first. Someone on the ground sees orphans living outside with little food and thinks to themselves that they're seeing the worst. But maybe they're not.

I think our anchor was arguing both sides of this point: there needs to be a coordinated effort to prioritize AND people need to just start taking initiative (like the PA governor). But he's in hell right now, so that's understandable. The timeliness of the response is definitely bordering on ridiculous, and I hope CNN does look into the reason why. People are dying. As for Anderson, his outrage is genuine and righteous and will surely light a fire under some people, but it also must be exhausting and he's still going to be there at least through Friday. I hope he doesn't hit his breaking point before then.

Below is some more video you should see. Warning: disturbing and graphic:


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That last one was taken by a local on the day after the earthquake. As previously noted, I've been doing a lot of Haiti-related tweeting, so give me a follow if you're not already (@newsjunkie365). I've also set up a special Twitter List of journalists and a few others on-the-ground in Haiti. And as always, check out CNN Impact to learn how to help.