Team NBC does the Economic Crisis

Team USADan IngramPenelope Filyo Austyn FosterJamie Keith Shannon Lozon

NBC Nightly News Overview

Ranked #1 last 12 years 2008 - averaged 8.609

million viewers, 10% more than ABC's "World News" (7.818 ,mill) & 42% more "CBS Evening News" (6.053 mill).

Avg. age of viewer ~ 60 In the 25- to 54-year-old

demographic prized by advertisers - “Nightly” 2.59 million viewers

Financial Coverage September 2008

Sept 1-14th 9.3 minutes/343.1 total program minutes 2.6% economic/financial reporting

Sept 15-30th 122.3 minutes/372.3 total program

minutes 32.8% economic/financial reporting

Sept 15-30th 12 lead stories on economy/financial crisis

Timeline of Events

Coverage of Bear Stearns NBC Nightly News

February 2008 -April 2008

March 2008 6 stories focused on

Bear Stearns 8 others mentioning

falling economy Combined February and

April Only 3 stories

focusing on Bear Stearns

5 others mentioning economy in general

Noticeable Trends in Coverage Similar to all NBC coverage

Only a certain amount of time allotted to each story

Gave focus only at the time of Bear Stearns fall (March) Very little pre and post in

depth-analysis and coverage in general

Over-reliance on CNBC financial "experts" to explain the crisis

Presidential Primaries and Oil are head of News Headlines

Signs of Trouble

NBC Nightly News 7/10/08

First discussion of Fannie and Freddie facing trouble

15 billion lost in bad mortgages

“Don’t let us down” “Due to high oil prices” Real explanation

missing

Bailout Version 2.0 NBC Nightly News 9/6/08 Bailout of Fannie and

Freddie officially announced

“Lenders caught napping”

Information from authority figures

4 million Americans behind in payment or in foreclosure on their mortgages.

“Saving” American Mortgages

NBC Nightly News 9/7/08

“History in the making” Meets objective of:

Market stability Mortgage availability Tax payer protection

Seriously?!? Making mortgages

cheaper and more readily available

Failed Fortuneteller

NBC Nightly News 7/13/08

Reassurance without factual support

“Continue to do so in their current form”

Bolster confidence Feel good vs. actual

solution Actual explanation “It was good”

Fannie and Freddie Trends

Reliance on CNBC Failure to explain how

things happened Continued prophecies Emphasis on

reinforcing the status quo rather than addressing the problems in the system

Lehman Brothers Coverage

THURSDAY - Sept 11th – 40 seconds

One of great names in investment banking on Wall Street is in trouble.

Gov’t trying to find a buyer

No word if tax payer money will be used to back the sale

Lehman Under Pressure

Sunday Sept.14th - 1.5 min.

Future of Lehman? 4th largest investment bank; merger talk

Go to Steve Leisman CNBC Seems they have failed to find a buyer so

government moving on to help the next tier – Merrill Lynch and Bank of America merger talk; AIG is trying to raise 50 billion before markets open tomorrow

Big story - government has refused to be involved Plug for special live coverage on CNBC Lehman on the Brink

Sept 15th - Lead Story; 11min

Worst financial crisis in modern times Lehman is the largest bankruptcy ever; Merrill

Lynch, AIG struggling How did this all happen? - CNBC

housing crisis; loose regulation and risk Explanation of buyer fallout for Lehman Negatives - layoffs; tight credit Is my money safe? Do not dump stocks!

Williams at CNBC Segment 1 Williams at CNBC Segment 2 Williams at CNBC Segment 3

Lehman Bros. Coverage Trends

Coverage very simple; basic introduction lacking details & historical context Focus on ramifications and not cause

The crisis stems from housing crisis, risk, and bad investment no details of sub-prime loans, money

markets, derivatives Reliance on official sources and CNBC

analysts Wall Street vs. “Main Street

"Congratulations! You're now the proud owner of AIG."

NBC Nightly News 9/17/08

Day of AIG Bailout Money markets

“Safest” place to keep money

“Can anyone stop this thing?”

The Bailout is Passed Bailout debates Taxpayer money

“What exactly are we paying for?”

“Us” versus “Them” Now we wait.

Biggest threat: The economy

NBC Nightly News 2/12/09

Obama administration announced the economy and terrorism was the biggest national threat

Global recession Flooding country

with refugees Developing countries

hardest hit

Global mess

NBC Nightly News 10/6/08

“Proof today that this is a global economic crisis”

Weak US economy means rest of the world will face crisis

Markets plunging around the world

“Why can’t we do that?”

NBC Nightly News 10/13/08

“Hang on to something nailed down.”

Banks around the world flushed money into the banks

British acted most efficiently to save financial system 65 million to

partially nationalize banks

NBC Nightly News 10/13/08

“Hang on to something nailed down.”

Banks around the world flushed money into the banks

British acted most efficiently to save financial system 65 million to

partially nationalize banks

What about the rest of the world?

NBC Nightly News 3/31/09

Williams in London “We haven’t heard

as much about the problems over here.”

Many economists thought Hungary would be the first in Europe to go bankrupt.

Spain’s high unemployment