With the Afghan war marking its eight-year anniversary this week, Frederik Pleitgen went on a training exercise where German troops try to instruct members of the Afghan army on how to work together to take a defended position. It definitely gives you a sense of how much of an uphill battle (pardon the pun) the NATO troops are facing:
Over the weekend, Atia Abawi reported on one of the deadliest attacks on Americans in the entire war:
Yesterday, Atia gave an overview of the mission so far:
Dan Rivers with a follow-up on the devastation in Indonesia after the earthquakes of last week. The search for survivors has been called off, and although schools are re-opening, the losses are horrific:
Arwa Damon tours what was once a busy market. The ceiling collapsed in an instant, burying untold numbers of people:
Ali Velshi was recently back on Mediaite Office Hours talking about the olympics, the economy, heath care and his October 10th wedding.
Rick Sanchez is mentioned in Motor Trend Magazine. His current vehicles: a 2006 Mercedes -Benz E350 and a 2007 Dodge Ram.
Roland Martin will be the keynote speaker at the "Political Minds in Action" event in Savannah, GA held by the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority on Saturday October 10th at noon.
Roland Martin also has an article in Houston Style Magazine about the White House's stance on NY Governor Paterson running for another term.
Starpulse.com has posted some pictures of Soledad O'Brien arriving at the ALMA awards on 9/17. Click here for additional pictures.
Soledad also was the keynote speaker for "Something to Chair-ish" hosted by the Methodist Hospital Volunteers in Partnership on 10/2. Her new book, Latino in America, also came out on 10/6.
Ratings for the week September 28, 2009 - October 2, 2009
8PM^
Adults 25-54
FOX
840,400
CNN
186,600
MSNBC
268,800
HLN
253,400
9PM^
Adults 25-54
FOX
597,000
CNN
294,400
MSNBC
219,800
HLN
185,250 1
10PM^
Adults 25-54
FOX
532,800
CNN
249,200
MSNBC
216,000 1
HLN
221,800
FOX swept all three prime time hours in first place in the Adults 25 - 54 demographic.
At 8PM, MSNBC comes in second place after two place, two third place, and one fourth place finish. HLN comes in third place after three second place and two third place finishes. CNN remains in fourth place after one third place and four fourth place finishes.
At 9PM, CNN comes in second place after coming in second all five nights. MSNBC came in third place after four third place and one fourth place finish. HLN's new programming comes in fourth after one third place and three fourth place finsihes (excludes Monday night programming).
At 10PM, CNN placed second for the week after two second place and three third place finishes. HLN comes in third place after two second, one third, and two fourth place finishes. MSNBC comes in fourth after one second place and three fourth place finishes (excludes Friday night's special programming).
Below are the Adult 25 - 54 demographic average ratings for prime time for regularly scheduled programming for the month of September.
SEPTEMBER 2009
Adults 25 - 54
8PM ET
FOX
865,952
1
CNN
191,286
4
MSNBC
331,300
2
HLN
289,273
3
9PM ET
FOX
745,000
1
CNN
318,909
2
MSNBC
274,250
3
HLN
185,900
4
10 PM ET
FOX
585,050
1
CNN
268,773
2
MSNBC
225,200
3
HLN
222,045
4
1 4 night average used. HLN at 9PM excludes Monday night- new regularly scheduled programming began on Tuesday night; MSNBC at 10PM excludes Friday night's special programming.
^ Courtesy Nielsen Media Research; Demographics where noted; Live + Same Day (LS) Fast Track Nationals.
The South Pacific has been pummeled by natural disasters for the past week, with huge death tolls in several countries. On Friday, both Arwa Damon and Dan Rivers reported on rescue efforts in Padang, Indonesia:
Saturday morning, Arwa had a longer piece from the site of a collapsed school in Padang:
For this week's look at BackStory on Domestic, Michael Holmes brought a report from John Vause about covering the celebration of China's "National Day" marking 60 years of communist rule. It's a good look at what it sometimes takes to get a story -- in this case, 10 hours of effort:
Kevin Flower is the Jerusalem bureau chief, but on Friday he got in front of the camera to report on the "proof of life" video of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, whose kidnapping by Palestinian militants in June of 2006 was a major contributor to the Israel/Lebanon war later that summer:
Kevin also did a second report for The Situation Room, showing more of the PoL video as well as footage of some of the 19 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for the video:
Sunday on Christiane Amanpour's program, the first focus was on the nuclear agreement with Iran that will have them reducing their uranium stockpile by selling much of it to Russia and France.
Christiane spoke (via translator) with Iran's top diplomat at the Geneva talks, Saeed Jalili. (He emphasized that the not-secret site they have was revealed earlier than was legally required. Nice way to gloss over the SECRET site, huh?)
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Also on to talk about the agreement were Mohammed Marandi, a professor at Tehran University who said that Iran wants US opinions towards Iran to change, and Ray Takeyh, a former Obama administration adviser who said that the US wants Iran to be more transparent, to lower their stockpile of uranium, and to have on-going dialogue rather than episodic.
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The rest of the program focused on the situation in Somalia, including a report from Sudanese journalist Nima Elbagir in Mogadishu. Insurgents now control three-quarters of the city and are encouraging fighters from other countries to come to Somalia and join them.
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Ken Menkhaus, a former UN adviser in Somalia, thinks al Qaeda would be at risk if they based there, that Somali militants would not tolerate a large force of outsiders.
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Another report from Nima Elbagir about the situation for civilians. About one-third of the residents of Mogadishu have fled the city. Refugee camps line the road running north from the city, but the radical Islamic group that controls the area does not tolerate foreign aid groups coming into the area. Half the Somali population, nearly 4 million people, are completely reliant on aid. Oxfam calls it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
(You can follow Christiane on Twitter @ AmanpourCNN.)
MONDAY: Morgan Neill was in Zurich, Switzerland; Dan Rivers was in Manila, Philippines; MohammedJamjoon was in Baghdad. Suzanne Malveaux was in for Wolf Blitzer.
TUESDAY: Awra Damon tweeted that she was heading to Viet Nam, although bad weather prevented her arrival there.
WEDNESDAY: Don Lemon was in for Kyra Phillips; John Roberts was in for Campbell Brown.
THURSDAY: Ed Henry was in Copenhagen, Denmark; Matthew Chance was in Geneva, Switzerland; Ted Rowlands was in Leone, American Samoa; Dan was in Padang, Indonesia; Candy Crowley was in Atlanta; Ali Velshi was in Chicago.
FRIDAY: Bureau Chief Kevin Flower reported from Jerusalem; Arwa was in Padang; Dr. Sanjay Gupta was in Tromso, Norway, north of the Arctic Circle (above); John King was in Washington. Christine Romans was in for John Roberts; Jim Moret was in for Larry King.
(Only posting Mon-Fri right now because WITW will be moving back to Saturdays later this week and will cover the prior Saturday-Friday.)
National Security Advisor General James Jones (Retired) was John King's first guest this morning on State of the Union. King asked Gen. Jones about war in Afghanistan: new strategy and troop levels. Many of King's questions focuses on Gen. McChrystal's actions and public comments. In response to Sen. McCain's criticism that he is playing politics with decisions regarding Afghanistan and the troops, Jones responded that McCain knows that he doesn't play politics (period). Neither he nor the President is playing to any sort of base with decisions regarding the troops.
In the second segment of the interview, they discussed Iran and the new nuclear facility that Iran has built. The General stated that they are still working towards meeting the January 2010 deadline of closing Guantanamo Bay. When asked about the "don't ask; don't tell" policy, the General said that the President has a lot on his "desk" right now, but he intends to do something about this "when the time is right." What keeps Gen. Jones up at night? Weapons proliferation.
Next on the program were Senator Barbara Boxer (D) and Senator Jon Kyl (R). King asked the Senators about General Jones comments; the troops in Afghanistan; and the New York Times article stating that Iran has the ability to make a bomb.
The second part of the interview with the Senators turned to the ethics investigations of Senator John Ensign (R) (an affair, a possible cover up, and possible improper lobbying). Neither Senator would comment on the investigation. They then turned to the economy and job creation. Senator Boxer defended the climate bill that is currently being looked at in the Senate. King asked for a yes/no answer on the Senate health care bill and (surprise) didn't get it from Sen. Boxer (he did get a much longer answer). Sen. Kyl isn't happy that the Republican amendments to the bill have not been included.
In the American Dispatch, King went to North Dakota: the place that has the lowest unemployment rate at just 4.3% (compared to 15.2% in Michigan). King visited a Bobcat plant which is still in business, but has not been immune to the economic turn down.
A taped Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz this morning. Kurtz started the hour with a discussion about David Letterman's blackmail and sex scandal. The panel included Lisa Bloom, Amy Argetsinger, and Ben Mankiewicz.
Continuing the sex scandal theme, the next topic: the capture of Roman Polanski and the celebrity outcry over it.
The next panel included: Byron Pitts, Amanda Carpenter, and Joan Walsh. They discussed Obama's trip to back the US bid for the Olympic games and the harsh criticism that the President received when the US didn't win. The discussion then moved to the extreme language being used against politicians (the President) and made by politicians.
Kurtz then spoke with (Baltimore native) Byron Pitts about his book Step Out On Nothing: How Faith & Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challengees. Pitts was illiterate at age 12 and stuttered until he was in college.
John King was back at the top of the hour for the Sound of Sunday.
The hour started off with James Carville and Mary Matalin. (I believe that in the above screen cap, Carville is laughing at King's tag line: we've been watching all the other Sunday shows, so maybe you don't have to.) King asked them about Gen. Jones' response to Gen. McCrystal's comments, McCain's comments about Gen. Jones playing politics, and who will the President listen to.
In the second part of the panel discussion, they covered the ethics investigation of Senator Ensign, other ethical issues facing both parties and the health reform bill.
King then mentioned that he moderated a panel at the First Draft of History event that was held at the Newseum in Washington on October 2, 2009. Steve Schmidt and Bob Shrum were the panelists and King asked Schmidt about Gov. Palin's book. Schmidt, who was McCain's campaign manager, did not have favorable views of the former Governor. Clips from the panel are available at the Atlantic's website.
King asked Carville and Matalin to respond to Schmidt's comments. To wrap up the discussion, King asked them about comments Senator Graham made on Fox News this morning about Glenn Beck not representing the Republican party. Carville's opinion of Beck: He wouldn't know the difference between a football, a bat and a hockey court. This guy is not -- he's just all -- he's just all weeping. (Source: CNN Transcript, State of the Union with John King October 4, 2009)
And my completely frivolous comment for the week: I loved Carville's shoes.
The CNN Diner segment this week came from TNT's Diner in West Fargo, North Dakota. King spoke with Craig Olsen, Jamie Higensen, John Stratman about health care reform legislation, why is the unemployment rate so low in North Dakota, and the troop levels in Afghanistan.
The hour continued with Ed Henry, Gloria Borger, and Joe Johns joining King in the studio.
They discussed the comments that Gen. Jones made about Gen. McCrystal's comments about the troop levels in Afghanistan as well as would leaving the Taliban in Afghanistan leave the US vulnerable to future al Qaeda attacks.
The second segment focused on domestic issues: unemployment/ economy and Gen. Jones' "punt" when asked about changing the "don't ask; don't tell" policy. King saved the topic of the President and the Olympics for the Lightening Round where Ed Henry summed it up by referring to it as the "Audacity of Nope."
The Last Word went to Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm (D). The Governor's state has the highest unemployment rate in the country. What can the federal government do to help with job creation? Auto suppliers in her state are having a hard time finding capital in order to diversify their production lines into parts that support the solar and wind industry. Fuel efficient vehicles are going to be more expensive and the Governor is looking for federal government incentives. And of course, King couldn't help asking her about the playoff spot still in the question for the Detroit Tigers. The Governor expects to see the Tigers playing the Yankees for the division playoffs. Boston native, King took a bit offense that answer.
The Behind The Scenes preview of State of the Union returned this week. Taped at TNT's Diner in West Fargo, North Dakota, King talked about the upcoming program.
Congratulations to Suzanne Malveaux who was named Journalist of the Year at an awards reception hosted by ESSENCE & Southern Company as part of the 2009 Congressional Black Caucus.
Ed Henry is mentioned in the latest issue of Capitol File magazine. Amy Holmes is in the issue as well.
James Carville has an article in bestofneworleans.com about how he would run for mayor of New Orleans if he could. Because Carville has only lived in New Orleans for a little over a year the city's current charter doesn't allow him to run, requiring at least five years of residence.
The Commercial Dispatch has an article on Mary Matalin and James Carville's speaking event last Tuesday, 9/29, at Mississippi State University.
Next week you will see a few changes to the week's line up of posts. Out of the Box and Saturday's Scoop will be combined into one post on Wednesday and Where in the World which had been on Mondays will now be on Saturday. Thanks to Tedi B for all her work on Out of the Box!
Last night, John Roberts (sitting in for Campbell Brown) hosted a conversation with Michael Ware and Gloria Borger about the future of the US's commitment to the war in Afghanistan. As President Obama gets new advice from his generals on the ground, will politics or reality be the deciding factor?
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Earlier in the day, Wolf Blitzer interviewed Thomas Ricks about the new team leading the American effort in Iraq. Things not sounding great there...
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And Mohammed Jamjoom filed a report about medical clinics in Baghdad that are being run on solar power as a way to deal with the still-spotty supply of electricity in the city:
