Morning News Review - 'CBS This Morning'

[NOTE: this is the third--and sadly last--of an originally anticipated five-part series critiquing morning news offerings from US broadcast and cable news providers that I started back in June 2012.  Like the others, I will provide my take on the composition, the hosts, the 'aesthetics', and any overt/covert 'messaging' that might be present and meant to attract your attention at the breakfast table.]

SHOW:  CBS This Morning
NETWORK/LOCAL AFFILIATE (IF APPLICABLE): CBS/WHIO, Dayton, OH
DATE/TIMES:  7 January 2014/0700-0730
YEAR STARTED: 2012
LOCATION: CBS Broadcast Center, New York, NY
HOSTS: Charlie Rose (co-host), Norah O'Donnell (co-host), Gayle King (co-host)
CORRESPONDENTS: Dean Reynolds (Chicago, IL), Rebekka Schramm (affiliate/Atlanta, GA), Elaine Quijano (LaGuardia International Airport, NY), Megan Glaros (affiliate/Chicago, IL), John Blackstone (San Francisco, CA), Major Garrett (White House), Elizabeth Palmer (Amman, Jordan)
GUESTS: None

FLOW:  The show started promptly at 7AM with a quick three-toned graphic-assisted intro followed by strings/horns playing through the anchor's greetings and a zoom-in to the center of the studio.  Charlie Rose started off the top news items with mentioning the record Arctic blast going through the mid-sections (and approaching the eastern regions) of the country.  Norah O'Donnell brought up the BCS championship football game played the previous evening and also provided a "teaser" for a segment on the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas that would be aired later in the two-hour broadcast.

My Personal JFK Reflections

Aaron Shilker's posthumously commissioned official White House portrait of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Up until the tragic events of 9/11, people of my age group (and younger) did not have their own "where were you?" moment like those born before 1957-1958 did when our nation's 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas' Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.  While our nation had experienced similar terrible events in its past (Pearl Harbor, the similar political killings of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, natural disasters like the 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake), what made the Kennedy murder much more profound was in the way we all learned about it.  News of the Japanese attack on our Hawaiian naval and aviation outposts (and FDR's subsequent declaration of war against Japan) was disseminated via the most modern technology of that time--radio; however, because of its remote location, it took nearly two weeks for some newspapers to get the initial images of the damage and several months later for people to see the devastation in newsreel coverage at their local movie theaters.

In Memorium: Neil Armstrong

If you are a reader of my blog, you will know that this is only the second time that I have used "In Memorium" in the title of a post.  Many others have deserved such recognition in the period between that November 2011 item on Andy Rooney and this piece on the passing of American astronaut Neil Armstrong and I apologize for not being as vigilant as I should concerning my submissions.

In that previous post, I said I would use that slug individuals "deserving thanks for their contributions to journalism and/or the media."  You might be scratching your head right now trying to see the connection between the Ohio astronaut and those two areas but, for me and scores of millions of people around the world, his July 1969 achievement was the first news story that we can actually remember happening in our lifetimes.

First Impressions -- 'The Newsroom'

Cast of the new HBO series, The Newsroom: (from left to right) Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Sam Waterston, Olivia Munn, Dev Patel, Thomas Sadoski, Alison Pill and John Gallagher, Jr.

If I can carry on the Christmas anticipation theme of my last post about this show, I am slowly coming down from the post-unwrapping 'high' that I got late Sunday evening after watching the debut episode of HBO's newest drama series, The Newsroom.  Estimates put the number of people who caught the premiere on the television outlet (and through various other online places like HBO.com and YouTube) at a respectable 3 million total.  Reviews have been mixed to negative by media critics, many posted before the show actually aired, with most of the criticism focused on series creator Aaron Sorkin, his 'brand' of drama, and his general unfamiliarity with the news industry.  Sorkin readily pleads guilty to the last one while the others are subjectively related to how familiar the reviewer is with his work.  I will admit to the world that I am not a professional television critic but I do want to mention here what I liked, what I didn't, and my overall impressions of the show so far from the perspective of a regular (although perhaps biased) viewer.

I'm "Old School", Too

Sunday's "Hi and Lois" comic strip (courtesy of King Features Syndicate)

I love being educated when I least expect it and this Sunday's edition of the Hi and Lois comic strip did not disappoint me. In the 8-panel strip seen above, Hirum 'Hi' Flagston announces to his family members that he is heading out to the local market to buy a copy of the Sunday newspaper.  When he tells his wife Lois, she gives him an automatic "that's nice" response while typing away on her desktop computer.  When he walks down the hallway, he informs the twins of his plans and they give similar nonchalant replies while engrossed in their portable electronic devices (a laptop computer and some sort of tablet device).  As he heads out the door, he tells his older son Chip, who is lying on the couch with a laptop, what he's doing and gets a somewhat ageist--although authentic teenaged-- comment in return ("so old school").

In Memoriam: Andy Rooney

(NOTE: this entry was originally going to be called 'In Appreciation' but, unfortunately, Mr. Rooney died before I could compose the post.  I will use that 'slug' for others deserving thanks for their contributions to journalism and/or the media.)

There isn't much to say about Andrew Aitken "Andy" Rooney that hasn't already been said by his fans, his critics or the man himself.  A fixture at the end of CBS News' '60 Minutes' programs since 1978, he shared his thoughts on a myriad of subjects in those few allotted minutes that drew applause, criticism, or simply just a faint empathy of viewers to the ongoing observations of America’s favorite curmudgeon.

Rooney passed away on November 4th at the age of 92 due to post-operative complications after an undisclosed surgical procedure.  Although he achieved his professional reputation as an essayist, humorist and television writer/personality, he began his long and distinguished career as a military journalist and it is this part of his life that I want to reflect upon here.  Most of what I provide below are from two books about his time in uniform: My War, an account written by Rooney himself; and The Writing 69th, a record of World War II military journalism.