Nightline: minisubs, plus-size fashions, and the shuttle -- WTF?

[Bozita]

Is this suicide by Nightline's personnel or a slow, tortured homicide by the management?

from their daily email:


Nightline

Aug. 5, 2005

Stories from the sea into space.

Seven Russian sailors are trapped in a mini-submarine at the bottom of the Pacific. They are more than 600 feet under the water and oxygen is running out with each passing hour. The United States, Britain and Japan have rescue teams speeding to the scene. The crisis echoes a similar disaster in 2000, when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank after explosions on board, killing over 100 seamen. There are seven on board this sub. Anchor Terry Moran will discuss the situation with Ramsey Flynn, who interviewed dozens of government officials and families of those involved in the Kursk disaster to produce "Cry From the Deep," a detailed account of the that submarine tragedy. We'll bring you the latest on this dramatic race against time.

And, it's a $17 billion industry, but fashion designers don't seem interested in a slice of the plus-size apparel pie. The average size for women is a 14. For men, who probably don't know what that means, that's the largest size available for women in most stores. They spend a lot of money on clothes, but most stores don't stock the larger sizes. Michel Martin takes a look at this growing battle and the women who are fighting to get some respect. Michel also takes a look at a new show on the Oxygen Network called, "Fat Chance," hosted by comedienne Mo'Nique. She's trying to educate Americans about the plus-size generation. Her message is simple: It's time for women to stop feeling badly about their bodies and it's time for society to stop mocking them. Her candid and funny take on this sensitive subject is real and honest. And wait until you hear her take on skinny women...

And the shuttle Discovery is scheduled to come home on Monday morning. It hasn't exactly been a smooth mission, with debris falling off when the shuttle took off and concern about what effect that might have on the most critical part in the mission: re-entry back into the Earth's atmosphere. It is an intense experience for the crew of the shuttle and a tense one for mission control. The haunting memories of the 2003 Columbia mission are still raw. We've asked several astronauts to give us a first-hand account of what it's like to go through that incredible experience.

We hope you'll join us.

Gerry Holmes and the Nightline Staff
Washington, D.C.

[mitchtv]

1. Sounds like straight to Sundance

for me tonite. Al Franken, I hope he doesn't do too many oy oy type skits .

[Bozita]

2. If this thread dies for lack of comment, I wanna join the silent majority

[joemurphy]

4. Sounds like someone truly has their fingers on the nation's

pulse.

My thesis is that a lot of the trouble with content on so-called
news programs has a lot to do with:

(1)the sort of journalists that are being barfed out of university programs -- "pretty boy" and "pretty girl" communications majors that can read teleprompters but don't learn anything else at their universities;

(2)laziness on the part of journalists - an unwillingness to do basic research and dig for facts;

(3)an unwillingness to do stories on controversial subjects because of:

(a) fear of losing advertising revenues;

(b) fear of pissing off the corporate owners of the program; and

(c) fear of being labeled as biased.

(4) a lack of any real competition among television news media outlets.

(5) an unwillingness on the part of corporate media to spend money for expensive research or foreign correspondents

(6) extremely limited control of the media

(7) an erosion of the criteria for what passes for journalistic excellence.

What do you think?

[Hardrada]

3. This would seem to be a very strange

juxtaposition.

[bagimin]

5. Why not cover Aruba?

I'll watch Dave.

[ConfuZed]

6. Hmmm good point

I'll watch nightline :P