We witnessed amazing television tonight. The good folks at CNN did a nice job, specifically Anderson Cooper, Gary Tuchman, and Karl Penhaul. At this time, four of the Chilean miners have been rescued. Prayers that the others soon join them without incident.
Video of the rescue capsule reaching the miners for the first time:
Anderson Cooper 360 Reporting Live From Haiti On The Continuing Humanitarian Crisis And Political Punditry At Home
Hi everyone. Tonight CNN once again bounced us back-and-forth between two very different worlds. The team on the ground in Haiti continues to produce amazing work. I am in awe of these people. All of them. Correspondents. Producers. Photojournalists. Translators. They work in hell to tell stories that are ultimately saving lives. It's hard to reconcile that with chatter from "The Best Political Team on Television" (TBPTOT). To me, Wolf Blitzer now sounds like the teacher from Charlie Brown, except more monotone. So, I'm not going to be covering what the pundits said...because I simply don't care.
This morning in Haiti there was a 6.0 aftershock, as if they don't have enough problems. But among the despair, the country still exhibits glimmers of hope. Anderson Cooper tells us about little Monley Alise (ph), a five-year-old that was pulled out of the rubble by his uncle, almost eight whole days after the quake. The boy is severely dehydrated, but has no broken bones. Good news. Earlier today, Anderson talked about the moment the boy was brought into General Hospital:
While at the hospital, Anderson learned that the facility is in dire need of supplies. They have no gloves for surgery or cannulas for oxygen. Literally the lack of simple rubber and tubing is going to result in people dying. Motrin is the only pain medication the doctors have to give patients post-amputation. It's unfathomable. And because of the aftershock, the patients spent the day outside, baking in the sun. After his piece, Anderson and Sanjay Gupta discussed the situation, and how medically things will probably only get worse. I can imagine that postoperative infections are going to be out of control. Also, our anchor may be known for his opinionless sleeves, but in Haiti, those sleeves have been replaced. Good for him. (The video below contains Anderson's piece from General Hospital and talk with Sanjay afterward.)
Ivan Watson's piece on the crowds waiting for ships to take them out of the city was pretty troubling. There's such a desire to leave that thousands are climbing on-board vessels that are only licensed for 600 people. As pointed out, it's a disaster waiting to happen. While on land (and actually again later on the ship), Ivan talks with a beautiful smiling little girl name Aniaka (ph). I could be mistaken, but I believe she has the same first name as the little 11-year-old who died after rescue. Not sure why I point that out. Maybe I'm hoping it means something good this time.
Anderson also visited a collapsed school where over 100 children died. The blackboard still holds the lessons from the day of the quake, math problems and a sentence to copy: "May God receive us in open arms." There's not really anything I can add onto that.
Sanjay spent some time with Haitian surgeons Jerry and Marlon Bitar. The piece is below. He also talked with Anderson, and again frustrations were aired. While our anchor has been exhibiting palpable outrage, the past couple of days Sanjay has been looking pretty dejected. I was hoping maybe he was just tired. But tonight he told us, "I feel a little hopeless. And I hate saying that. I hate feeling that way."
Perhaps the most disturbing piece of the night came from Gary Tuchman, who spent the day with survivors from the Port-au-Prince Municipal Nursing Home. The senior citizens there have nothing--no food, water. They're lying in soiled clothing. A doctor came to help today, but he has no supplies. It's sickening. The elderly always seem to be the first ones forgotten. In the video below, Gary sits with a woman with dementia. She doesn't respond to him, but he tells us that she put on her necklace because she knew she was going to be on TV. Heartbreaking.
The broadcast ends with Ivan, Sanjay, and Anderson talking about how aid organizations are putting too much emphasis on security for their people. None of the reporters have ever felt threatened in the country, and all seem to agree that there's mass over-cautiousness occurring that's leading to needless deaths. Sanjay makes the good point that providing aid will automatically improve the security situation because it takes away the desperation. You'd think the organizations would know that. But I suppose if I were to play devil's advocate, I'd have to say that if on the off chance something did happen, people would be asking why the group wasn't more careful. It's an un-winnable situation. The good news is that aid officials will now be sitting in the tower of the Port-au-Prince airport to ensure supplies get in.
Here's a Karl Penhaul piece worth watching:
In the coming days as the situation in Haiti hopefully improves, I will begin to talk about things like ratings and media write-ups currently being discussed. Eventually I will go back to my snarky review format. Those things just don't seem important now. 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:
