Network Morning Shows Hype Angelina Jolie's Mastectomies With Nearly 27 Min. of Coverage; Yawn at Gosnell Verdict
ABC and NBC led their morning shows on Tuesday with nearly 10 minutes
of "breaking news" coverage of Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy. This
celebrity-driven story was apparently deemed more important than
abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell being found guilty of three counts of
first-degree murder, as Good Morning America and Today combined devoted just 38 seconds to the Gosnell trial [audio clips of Jolie coverage available here; video below].
Altogether, the ABC and NBC morning newscasts aired 19 minutes and 3 seconds of coverage on Jolie. Tuesday's CBS This Morning
waited 12 minutes to cover the Hollywood news item, but ultimately
ended up setting aside 7 minutes and 49 seconds of air time to the
surgeries, versus a 18 second news brief on Gosnell. The total Big Three
coverage of Jolie on Tuesday morning, including CBS's reporting, added
up to 26 minutes and 52 seconds, as opposed to 56 seconds on the Gosnell case.
Today anchor Savannah Guthrie trumpeted the "stunning" news about Jolie's mastectomies, and hailed the actress as "courageous"
as she teased Dr. Nancy Snyderman's report on the medical procedures.
Snyderman turned to Ken Baker of the E! entertainment network as a
talking head during the segment, which further underlined the celebrity
component of the story. News anchor Natalie Morales' 21-second long news
brief on Gosnell aired eight minutes later.
Over
an hour after Dr. Snyderman's 5 minutes, 7 seconds-long report on
Jolie, Guthrie interviewed breast surgeon Dr. Alexandra Heerdt about the
actress' genetic risk for breast cancer, as well as the multiple
surgical procedures that she likely underwent. Morales also gave a news
brief recapping the news story that last 37 seconds. The news anchor
returned just after the top of the third hour of the Today show for a 1
minute, 56 second-long discussion segment about Jolie with NBC
colleagues Willie Geist and Al Roker.
Good Morning America anchors Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos also used the "stunning" label during their promos on the actress' "hardest choice." Roberts continued by gushing that Jolie wrote "such a moving op-ed in the New York Times."
Correspondent Paula Faris aired a full report on the news story, which
was followed by a segment with ABC senior medical contributor Dr.
Jennifer Ashton.
Eight minutes later, news anchor Josh Elliott gave his 17-second-long
news brief on the Gosnell trial. It was the first time that GMA
ever mentioned the case against the convicted murderer, and only the
second time that ABC covered the story. It took the network 56 days to air its first report about the abortionist on Monday's World News. Instead, ABC devoted 187 minutes to other gruesome criminal cases, including those of Jodi Arias and Amanda Knox.
Together, the Faris and Ashton segments on the movie star took up the
first four minutes and 42 seconds of the morning show. Faris returned
for a three minute, 41 seconds-long discussion segment during the second
hour of Good Morning America that included People magazine's Larry Hackett.
Instead of Jolie's mastectomies, CBS This Morning led with two
full reports on two recent controversies involving the Obama
administration: the IRS's targeting of Tea Party groups and the Justice
Departments probe into the Associated Press' phone records. Anchors
Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell also interviewed House Oversight
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa on the ongoing political battle over the
2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi before turning
to correspondent Ben Tracy for his report on the actress' medical
procedures. They also brought on CBS News contributor Dr. David Agus to
discuss the issue. Rose then gave his 18 second-long news brief on
Gosnell after the Tracy and Agus segments.
The full transcript of the Gosnell news briefs on ABC's Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, and NBC's Today on Tuesday:
05/14/2013
07:13 am EDT
NBC – Today
[NBC News Graphic: "Penalty Phase: Abortion Doctor Convicted Of Murder, Jury To Weigh Death Penalty"]
NATALIE MORALES: The Philadelphia abortion doctor convicted of
first-degree murder now awaits a verdict on whether or not he should
face the death penalty. Dr. Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of murder on
Monday in the deaths of three babies, and he was found guilty of
involuntary manslaughter in the death of an abortion patient. Both
pro-choice and pro-life groups are supporting the guilty verdict.
05/14/2013
07:14 am EDT
ABC – Good Morning America
[ABC News Graphic: "Abortion Doctor Convicted: Could Face Death Penalty"]
JOSH ELLIOTT: Meanwhile, a Philadelphia abortion doctor could face the
death penalty now after being found guilty of killing three newborns.
Prosecutors describe as a house of horrors. A grand jury report found
that D. Kermit Gosnell's clinic had not been inspected for 15 years.
05/14/2013
07:17 am EDT
CBS This Morning
[CBS News Graphic: "Abortion Doctor Verdict: Gosnell Found Guilty Of Murder"]
CHARLIE ROSE: After ten weeks of testimony, a Philadelphia abortion
doctor has been found guilty of murder. A jury found 72-year-old Kermit
Gosnell guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. He was convicted
in the deaths of three babies that were delivered at his abortion clinic
in West Philadelphia. At his sentencing hearing next week, Gosnell
could face the death penalty.
