The Pope

Joann wonders via e-mail: “I kept hearing estimates that the Pope’s funeral attracted about 2 Billion people worldwide, and that it garnered the most viewers in all of TV history. If true, then the estimate of only 9 million who watched here in the U.S. is pretty paltry. It sounds like most Americans were pretty interested in watching the events of last week, but didn’t feel like getting up in the middle of the night, or early in the morning, to watch this most historic event. I am actually pretty surprised at that low turnout, as I thought people seemed so obsessed with everything related to the Pope and his death.”

TV Week describes the “exodus” of U.S.-based anchors and correspondents from Rome: “Plans called for ‘NBC Nightly News’ anchor Brian Williams-the only flagship newscast anchor representing the Big 3 broadcast networks-to head home. Same for Charlie Gibson, who had been in Rome all week for both ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘World News Tonight;’ Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith; MSNBC’s ‘Hardball’ host Chris Matthews; and Harry Smith, who had been in Rome all week for ‘The Early Show’ on CBS. ‘Today’s’ Katie Couric was to relieve her co-host Matt Lauer from duty in St. Peter’s Square.” Many of them will be back on April 18…

“It’s too bad the cable TV news coverage of the Pope’s death has desensitized some Americans,” Bill O’Reilly writes in his weekly newspaper column. “The wall-to-wall commentary quickly became tiresome to many, and millions tuned out. That’s a shame, because Pope John Paul’s life is very much worth examining.” More…

For the media, now comes the hard part: Covering the Sacred College of Cardinals. Thomas Reese, worked with CNN during its coverage of John Paul’s funeral, tells Newsday that “the Vatican loves the media when they cover the show.” But: “It doesn’t love the media when they start coming backstage to find out how the next show is being put together.” He says the American cardinals will “go along with the silence agreement,” but the other cardinals “will continue to speak on background to their favorite reporters.”

“The funeral of Pope John Paul II was both a solemn ritual and a news event – and television networks that brought it live into American homes hours before the sun rose struggled to reconcile the two,” the Associated Press says. Here are David Bauder’s comments:

> ABC “was most aggressive in interrupting the Mass to talk about other issues.”

> “Fox News Channel helpfully used graphics to detail the hymns and readings during the Mass.”

> In general, NBC and the cable news nets “showed more restraint and willingness to let the events unfold.”

> “Although NBC’s Brian Williams, who teamed with Couric, only replaced Tom Brokaw in December, the NBC team seemed the most experienced in their roles.”

This paragraph in CNN’s Pope funeral press release is interesting: “With CNN wielding the power to aggregate more than two billion audience impressions around the world on any given day, more people potentially could watch the funeral of Pope John Paul II than any other live planned event CNN has broadcast in its 25-year history.”

“In sheer size, I cannot remember anything like this,” NBC’s Brian Williams says on MSNBC.com. “In emotion, it does remind me of two other events I have covered: The fall of the Berlin Wall and the initial day after when Easterners were first exploring the West and vice versa; and Election Day in South Africa. All of the people share the sense of the weight of the moment. It is reverential, it is respectful, it is peaceful.”

Quoting ‘The Early Show’ co-anchor Harry Smith on the funeral of Pope John Paul II: “I want to be able to stay out of it enough for those Catholics to be able to participate in the Mass.” I hope (and bet) that other anchors will adopt a similar stance, and keep quiet early tomorrow morning…

“It’s one of those moments that as a reporter, I think, we should watch a lot and say a little. Their faces say as much as any words that any of the rest of us can come up with,” Aaron Brown said on CNN Monday. “His CNN colleagues must not have been listening (or maybe didn’t believe him),” Ellen Gray critiques…

“The pope’s passing defines Big Story — a religious icon who left the world a changed place is about to be replaced — but the pace of the story has left 24-hour news channels, which did not exist the last time the Vatican chose a new leader nearly 27 years ago, searching for ways to fill all that airtime,” NYT’s David Carr writes…