Breaking News And A 360 Review

Thursday, 12.27.07

I woke up this morning and as is my usual routine, I turned on my ‘puter to check out what is going on over at cnn.com. Imagine my sadness when I realized that breaking news was splashed all over the webpage about Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and the subsequent crisis situation brewing in Pakistan.

I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert in international policies and politics, but I know enough to realize how much of an impact this is going to have in the face of current mid-east turmoils and upcoming elections in Pakistan.

Anderson Cooper’s 360 web page does mention this story will be covered tonight. Will John be providing the coverage for 360 or will Anderson? Don’t know that yet but we shall of course find out soon. However, ATA mentions that Anderson is cutting his vacation short to come back to work in light of today’s developments.

John blogged this morning about learning today’s news while he was getting ready to report on election politics for American Morning. He also blogged about how tight security is in Pakistan, specifically recalling a time when he traveled to the country in March of 2000 with President Clinton.

Like most everyone, I’ll be staying tuned to CNN throughout the day for updates and analysis on today’s tragic turn of events.

Last night, John hosted AC360 from New York. It had been a while since he subbed for Anderson, as he has been on the road for an extended period of time this month. But it was great to see him back in the studio after all those weeks in the freezing snow.

The program started out with the horrible Christmas tragedy at the San Francisco Zoo. A tiger escaped his habitat, killing a zoo patron and injuring several other bystanders. A good chunk of the program was devoted to covering this story.

As John said, “Who would ever imagine such a thing?” He spoke with the communications director of the Miami Metro zoo, Ron McGill, about this tragedy.

McGill stated that at this point, there is still so much speculation and here-say about what actually happened, as well as what caused all this to happen, so we should wait for all the facts to come out before drawing any definite conclusions about the safety of the exhibit as well as the safety of other similar exhibits around the country.

Next up was the first of two 360 bulletins with Erica. She discussed her upcoming New Year’s Eve plans with Anderson Cooper in Times Square. John slid in this this tidbit: “Sounds like fun. I’m sneaking on a quick snowboarding break with Hannah and Noah King, but we will tune in.”

(Of course this isn’t them but I would imagine that’s what they are gonna look like having fun out in the snow!!)

Next up was a round table discussion with Dana Bash and Gloria Borger, who were both in Iowa, and with David Gergen who was in Boston. Topics discussed were Huckabee’s hunting practices and his “likability” over Mitt Romney, as well as more woes for Romney (his conservative credentials are apparently “under attack” by several leading conservative organizations.)

We had a quick Raw Politics with Bill Schneider (Should the time Hillary Clinton spent in the White House count?) and then a return back to Gloria and David for more analysis and commentary.

Next, John had this to say for a lead-in to a piece by Jeffrey Toobin about how caucuses operate: “By now you’ve probably heard the word ‘caucuses’ more times than Britney Spears had mocha frappuccinos”. He then quipped , “The caucuses might sound like much mumbo-jumbo to you, until now. Trust me and CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin.”

Yup, we trust ya John, we trust ya Jeffrey!

For Toobin’s crash course on this Iowa political tradition, check out his “Caucus 101” report right here.

After a second 360 bulletin, the shot of the day was aired: a van crashed into a mini-mart in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The incident was caught on tape from four different camera angles. Here is one of them:

John signed off for the evening requesting viewer’s shot ideas. I’ve never sent in one myself but who knows? Maybe I will someday come across something CNN will deem interesting enough to air.

We’ll be checking in tonight to see if John will again be hosting 360, and of course at the same be watching out for new developments in the Bhutto assassination story.

Have a great Thursday, folks! One more day and then the weekend will be here!

Monday Night With John King

Tuesday, 11.20.07

Monday’s AC360 started out with a crime story that happened last week in a neighborhood not too far from where I live.

The tragic events unfolded in a nice neighborhood of Pasedena, the last place you would think something like this could happen. A 61-year old man named Joe Horn shot and killed two burglars who were breaking in and stealing property from his next-door neighbor. The chilling audio and transcript were aired last night during a report by Gary Tuchman.

What makes this case so controversial is that a) it wasn’t his own property that Mr. Horn was trying to defend and b) the 911 operator so calmly and repeatedly told him not do do it, yet he continued to methodically carry out this horrible series of events to the very end.

Jeffrey Toobin came on the show to provide his legal analysis. He said there may be cause for indicting Mr. Horn with murder, but that decision will ultimately be left up to a grand jury to decide. Both John and Jeffrey (rightfully so) had nothing but compliments for the 911 operator who so calmly and professionally handed this very disturbing call.

After a quick check with Chad Meyers on holiday travel in the skies, the next guest was David Gergen.

Gergen discussed the latest poll numbers in New Hampshire, where Republican candidate Mitt Romney is gaining a lead and Fred Thompson is barely squeaking by. They also discussed John McCain picking up an endorsement from former New Jersey Governor and 9/11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean. On the Democratic side of election news, John and David discussed Iowa and new figures coming out of a “Washington Post”/ABC News” poll which reveal Barack Obama currently at 30 percent, Clinton at 26, John Edwards at 22, which amounts to “essentially a three-way dead heat”.

The main part of last night’s program was devoted to airing Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s special about Autism.

Dr. Gupta’s piece follows a young Vermont woman named Amanda Baggs as she reveals how her computer and the internet have transformed her way of communicating with family and friends, as well as others who are also living in the world of autism, such as 15 year-old D.J. Saverese, a young man who also relies on his computer and the internet to communicate with the world around him.

I thought it was rather interesting how Dr. Gupta came about putting this report together. He was intrigued by Amanda’s own sharing of her world, which she conveyed in a You-Tube video. He felt compelled to contact and meet Amanda in order to tell her story of courage and adaptation in a society not accustomed to what Autism is all about.

Here is the YouTube video (“In My Language”) which sparked Dr. Gupta’s special report:

More of Amanda’s story will be aired as a part of a repeat on Friday night’s AC 360.

Raw Politics was great last night as usual. AC360 aired one of Tom Foreman’s all-time funniest graphics, in my opinion. The boxing shots were humorous, but Bush on a “doomed ship” is absolutely priceless.

I think I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. Tom Foreman (or his producer) really needs to put together a “Best Of” segment for all of his quirky Raw Politics featurettes!

The program ended with a Shot of the day coming from Conroe, Texas, which is also a suburb here in Houston. Poor Santa, his beard got caught in his scaling rope as he was climbing down a billboard during a Christmas tree lighting event. All the kiddos saw him remove his hat and beard – I hope they are not traumatized by seeing Santa hatless and beardless!

It’s a good thing that his pants didn’t get caught. Seeing Santa in his underwear would not only traumatize the younglings, but it would possibly scar the adults as well! LOL!

Don’t know who will be hosting AC360 tonight, but if it is John, you won’t be hearing any complaints from my neck of the woods.

Take care everyone and have a great Tuesday!