Where Does NBC Go Post-Conventions?

Carolyn Menyes
c.menyes@gmail.com
@athousandmph

So, the media storm that was the Republican and Democratic National Conventions has finished. Phew! We made it, and so did Brian Williams and his NBC Nightly News crew.

But, I had to ask myself... where do we go from here? As I admitted last entry, I only began religiously following Brian Williams for this course, which has been entirely during the conventions. So, I wasn't sure what a typical evening's worth of political coverage would look like. I was determined to find out.

And that was easy... all I had to do was watch Sunday's (Sept. 9) edition of NBC Nightly News. The political coverage led the broadcast, as I am sure it will continue to do throughout the election season. It's simply the most important thing that's happening in the country right now.

However, the coverage only lasted about five minutes. The rest of the show was dedicated to human interest stories, weather and health news. Typical fare, really.

Luckily, the election coverage was comprehensive and contained about an equal mix between the "horse race" and policy/the issues. The most interesting part of this package was the way the Nightly News mixed these two, almost seamlessly.

The issue Sunday focused on was health care, wherein sound bites from an Obama speech and clips from Mitt Romney's interview on "Meet The Press" were shown back to back to display their policy differences.

In the middle of the story on health care, NBC's Obama correspondent also mentioned Gallup polls, which now show President Obama leading Governor Romney. She just stated the facts of the poll and didn't try to analyze what it might mean, other than the post-convention bump Obama is likely experiencing.

The package then finished up with some more lighthearted political stories, including the slight controversy of this Obama moment:

NBC Nightly News offered some insight on this now infamous photo. The pizza shop owner is a Republican, who voted for President Obama in 2008 and intends on doing the same this year. He is capable of benching 350 pounds and, apparently, the leader of the free world.

But don't worry, the Secret Service said people touch the president all the time. No need to be alarmed. Thanks for that, NBC!