> "The only part of the story Fox appeared comfortable reporting was the ideological dispute over whether the US was giving enough aid," the Financial Times asserts.

> O'Reilly's Monday tease: "Asia Disaster Aid - Is the U.S. not doing enough, or has the Left just launched a smear campaign against the President? Bill separates fact from fiction." His Top Story topic was: "Is the United States 'stingy?'"

> FNC's Adam Housley filed a heartbreaking but hopeful FOXNews.com column from Phuket.

> On Countdown, Keith Olbermann apologized for airing a tsunami home video in which the word "fuck" could clearly be heard, an e-mailer says.

> Deborah Norville anchored "Tsunami: The World Responds" on MSNBC. "I think they've found their transition show," an e-mailer says. She talked to MSNBC.com's Will Femia about blogging.

Capitalizing on its extensive disaster coverage last week, CNN is broadcasting a primetime special report, "Turning The Tide," from 7 to 11pm this week. Paula Zahn is anchoring from New York, Anderson Cooper is hosting from Sri Lanka, and beginning on Tuesday, Aaron Brown is reporting from Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

"CNN Demonstrates Global Strength with Tsunami Coverage," a network press release proclaimed today. "In a demonstration of its power as an international news network, CNN continues to offer unprecedented round-the-clock coverage of the tsunami disaster," it says.

Story-telling: "Our producers, anchors and correspondents offer relevant, human reports of survival, suffering and heroism as only CNN can provide," Klein said in the release. Other notes:

> Klein has forced Paula Zahn to stay up past her bedtime: Her 8pm show used to be taped ahead of time.

> Soledad O'Brien is co-anchoring American Morning from Phuket.

> Presidents 41 and 42 were interviewed on Larry King Live tonight.

> CNN has deployed "74 of its top anchors, correspondents and producers," the P.R. says.

> Cooper and Christiane Amanpour will anchor a quickie documentary called "Saving the Children" Thursday at 10pm.

> Update: 11:20pm: "CNN International was the best place to experience this almost unimaginable story," Tim Cuprisin says. "CNNI is one of the many unfair advantages CNN has in covering any international story," Jon Klein told him.

> Update: 11:35pm: From an e-mailer: "CNN is getting much better under Klein. I like the packages and the storytelling. But they are suffering from attention deficit disorder. While it's great there's so much reporting from there -- halfway around the world -- there is still a war in Iraq, a crisis in Sudan, and plenty of other news. They shouldn't ignore that."

At right, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams speaks to residents of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. "In getting here, you see how this entire part of the world is consumed with this disaster," he said tonight. "You get to see the relief effort, and in arriving here, you get to see the hollow eyes of both children and adults who have seen way too much suffering over the last eight days. The areas destroyed by the tsunami look like the dark side of the moon..." Video of his report is on MSNBC.com.

"This is going to be one of events that is going to define Brian Williams as an anchor and differentiate him from the others in the level of commitment we made last week and this week," EP Steve Capus tells the AP.

NBC confirmed TVNewser's Sunday scoop in a press release today: "Williams will report throughout the week on the health crisis facing the region, on the international relief and recovery efforts currently underway, and how survivors are working to rebuild their lives." Williams also appeared on MSNBC's Hardball tonight...

At right, "CBS Anchorman Dan Rather and his news crew return to the USS Abraham Lincoln after touring the island of Sumatra, Indonesia." Here's the full-size picture. "John Roberts did a great hustle job on CBS tonight, anchoring the 'Evening News' from New York AFTER having interviewed Presidents Clinton and Bush I at the White House that morning," an e-mailer notes. "He tossed some softball questions to Dan Rather in Thailand and then said, 'Dan Rather from Thailand, nice talking to you my friend,' to which Rather gave him a thumbs up. Interesting development... perhaps a good sign for Roberts." "This was the first time I have seen Dan Rather getting interviewed on his own show," another viewer says: "Maybe a clue on who his replacement will be?" Another e-mailer noted that Dan was "very sunburned."

> Rather called the situation a disaster of "near-biblical proportions." "I've never seen anything like this," he said. "It does indeed resemble the aftermath of a nuclear or hydrogen weapons attack."

Peter Jennings was stuck in NYC due to "doctor's orders." It was "because of an upper respiratory infection, the network said," according to the AP.

> "ABC's Diane Sawyer walked a beach in Thailand on 'Good Morning America' Monday," the the wire adds.

> Update: 10:10pm: Some TVSpyers weren't happy with her segments: "There were as many shots of her as there were survivors or victims. Stroking an elephant and playing with her sunglasses like she was at a circus, not the scene of 150,000 deaths. Holding up a child like she was some American Mother Theresa..."

> ABC produced a prime-time special on the tsunamis last week: It was Wednesday's highest-rated show.

On CNN Sunday afternoon, Mike Chinoy described his personal experiences covering the disaster from Indonesia:

"On the most elementary level, it's just hard to do the story. The conditions are very tough. When we arrived a few days ago, we flew up here, we got off the plane, we had no place to stay, we had no transport. This town, Banda Aceh, is completely devastated. The first thing we did is we talked somebody into driving us around, and within a few minutes, we found a mass grave, where there were a thousand bloated bodies being shoveled into a pit... Eventually, we found accommodation. We were sleeping on the floor in a, kind of, an old, unused hall, but one night this week, we had three big aftershocks, we all had to run outside, and so I'm now sleeping outside in a sleeping bag. We're using a generator to power our equipment. And literally everywhere you go there are decomposing bodies in the streets and rubble and devastation on the scale I've never seen."

"It's harder than anything I've ever dealt with in my career," he added. "And my producer and my cameraman, who have been with me for years and years, all over the third world, all over Asia, feel the same way." (Hat tip: CNN Blog)

"Covering the war in Iraq cost American TV news organizations millions of dollars in 2004," TV Week reports in a very interesting story. ABC News prez David Westin estimates that the cost of security is "approaching 50 percent" of the network's total costs in Iraq. Quoting CBS News senior VP Marcy McGinnis: "The security line in the budget is probably our highest line, followed by T&L [travel and living expenses], because the problem with a place like Baghdad is that psychologically, physically, you can't stay there for any great length of time. People need to get rotated out." More...

"Speculation about 'Crossfire' co-host Tucker Carlson's new career move may end sometime this week with an announcement by either MSNBC or his current employer, CNN," the LA Times says in Monday editions. "MSNBC spokesmen confirmed reports that the network was courting the talk show host to fill its 9 p.m. slot," the paper says, as TVNewser first reported two weeks ago. But CNN may offer him a program...

CBS News prez Andrew Heyward and D.C. bureau chief Janet Leissner "recently met with White House communications director Dan Bartlett, in part to repair chilly relations with the Bush administration," Broadcasting & Cable reports. Their source says that Heyward was "working overtime to convince Bartlett that neither CBS News nor Rather had a vendetta against the White House." More...

TVNewser asked several media observers to share their predictions for 2005. A sampling:

Claire Atkinson, media reporter, Advertising Age:

"The launch of Fox News' business channel will have significant ramifications for the industry in 2005. Business news is covered very little by CNN, CNBC or Fox later in the evening. At CNN, we'll have to wait and see what Jonathan Klein has in store for the schedule. Left as it is, I think there's a good chance the channel will give more ground to FNC. They would do well to borrow from CNN International's playbook providing more food for thought. The public does not need more entertainment news. Elsewhere, I think we'll see digital tier news services emerge as more prominent players. Overall though, cable news outlets will have a tougher year in 05, where ad revenue comparisons are concerned given the huge election bump in 04."

Bob Kohn, author, "Journalistic Fraud:"

"Ratings of the cable news networks will continue to rise at the expense of the three major network news programs. The import of this trend is this: analysis provided by cable news (and the other alternative media, such as talk radio and Internet blogging) will continue to thwart attempts by the network news organizations to use its false veneer of objectivity to influence public opinion. In other words, Dan Rather is just the beginning. Agenda-driven journalism will no longer be possible as cable news provides 24-hour access to news analysis fueled by the bloggers. This increasing competition in the marketplace of ideas bodes well for journalism, as network news will be forced to become more objective and the public will have more access to analysis to help them determine the truth. Oh, and News Corp. will acquire ABC News from Disney and Roger Ailes will replace Peter Jennings with Shep Smith." (Bob's blog)

Harry Jaffe, columnist, Washingtonian:

"In the battle for cable news viewers: Fox News, emboldened by conservative victories at the polls, will use its "capital" to become more shrill in its reporting of events from a conservative point of view; meanwhile, CNN will keep trying to hold viewers with straight reporting, but its fate will rely more and more on its dominance in covering international news."

Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president and CEO, Media Access Project:

"The national TV news audience share will continue its slow, decades long erosion. However, those who have been predicting the rapid demise of network news will be proven wrong yet again. Lacking meaningful competition from cable originated programming, local TV news will continue to be profitable, powerful and ever more banal."

Dana Stevens, "Surfergirl," Slate:

"The trend toward "personality journalism" will continue to grow, until it begins to overlap with the equally annoying concept of "service journalism" -- I'm thinking of features like Bill O'Reilly's talking points memo, which virtually coach the viewer in how to memorize a set of his or her own sound bites. Onscreen graphics with bulleted lists will be everywhere, vying for space with the ubiquitous crawl. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the cable news shows try to incorporate more political bloggers as commentators, only to have the move backfire on them as they realize that pajama-clad cleverness doesn't necessarily translate into on-air poise."

Matt Sheffield, founder, RatherBiased.com:

"CBS replaces Dan Rather with someone in-house who is replaced within 6 months by an outsider. Fox launches a business channel which does well at first but still struggles to get traction, and coverage from cable operators. Someone from FNC defects to MSNBC. Peter Jennings surpasses Brian Williams in ratings race. MSNBC launches a late-night news/chat show that is specifically the anti-shoutfest. Wishful thinking prediction: CNBC commissions new episodes of Dilbert. Blogs as a media form will be surpassed by several sites blending blogs' immediacy with the reporting work of traditional journalism."

Frank Barnako, Internet Daily columnist, CBS Marketwatch.com:

"2005 will be the beginning of Video on demand. No! Not THAT VOD, where you need a cable box and a TV set and a comfy chair. All you'll need is a VideoPod. Some smart hacker is going to torture Apple's IPod into it. Engadget's Phillip Torrone has taken the first step, including pictures with Podcasts. It can't be much of a stretch to go to video -- limiting factor is probably the chip in the IPod -- but Moore's Law will take care of that, right?...Bet on Fox to do it first for TV." (More on his blog)

Robert Greenwald, director, "Outfoxed:"

"In 2005 I see Rupert Murdoch coming to his senses and cancelling Fox News because of its constant distortions and out of concern for the fate of his children -- Oh wait, that was just a dream....I see explosion of bloggers and many other exciting democratic steps that will made the media far more grassroots, and far less top-down...and everyone reads Dan Gillmor's "We The Media" and operates accordingly."