TV News Vs. Random News, Day 2/3

In Day 1, the RNG achieved a victory over TV news, but not a very satisfying one. What should have been a crushing defeat of the Saturday crew became a fairly even matchup, with the RNG coming up with the strongest story choices of the day by a fair margin, thereby ekeing out the win, but the TV crews avoiding total embarrassment at the bottom end, something the RNG was unable to avoid.

Sunday. TV news puts its best foot forward today, particularly Sunday morning. The most respected names in the industry toil their entire careers for a shot at these timeslots, even moreso than the primetime hours. When one of the coveted Sunday-morning shows needs a new anchor, everybody's ears perk up. Fingers are crossed. Names are considered, dropped, considered again. Even if you've made enough enemies in Washington to choke a horse, even if half the town wouldn't consent to an interview with you if you put a gun to their head, capture a Sunday morning slot and it no longer matters. You have the entire Beltway on call. Your enemies HAVE to appear on your show now.

But can the all-stars of the Beltway defeat the Random News Generator in this, Day 2 of the competition?

TV

NBC-Madison Affiliate: Today Show, covering the effectiveness of charter schools as part of the network's daylong focus on education. Al Roker hosting.
NBC-Milwaukee Affiliate: Meet The Press, panel discussion on education reform. Panel includes Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Randi Weingarten, Robert Bobb. David Gregory hosting.
CBS: Face The Nation. Discussing the Tea Party.
ABC: This Week with Christiane Amanpour. Queen Rania of Jordan interviewed about Israel/Palestine peace talks. (NOTE: I stopped here and let the interview run to completion before moving on.)
CNN: Reliable Sources. Jeff Zucker ousted from NBC; Jon Klein ousted from CNN. Howard Kurtz hosting.
CNN Headline News: A dropoff in prescription drug usage, with seniors turning in unused portions to pharmacies. Natasha Curry reporting.
FOX News: Interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
MSNBC: Obama's upcoming roadtrip to four states- New Mexico, Wisconsin, Iowa and Virginia. Mike Viequera reporting.
CNN International: A look at the fashion industry, specifically how some models are Photoshopped heavily before being depicted in advertisements.
Bloomberg: Bill Clinton interviewed concerning the upcoming election. Bill Hunt reporting.
WIS-E (a state-level public-access channel): 'Difference: Women In Law Enforcement'.
WPT (a PBS affiliate): Covering the Wisconsin governor's race. (This was added via one additional round through the channels, since that was done yesterday and I wish to be consistent.)

Few complaints about that effort. Let's see if the RNG can keep up. It's got 12 spins to work with.

Jordan
New Zealand
Djibouti
DR Congo
Trinidad and Tobago
Ecuador
Azores Islands
Namibia
Guam
Antigua and Barbuda
Uruguay
Fiji

The dreaded Trinidad and Antigua, killers from yesterday, make return appearances, but also some great potential at the top end. But it's all in the stories that get picked.

Jordan: Their economy has grown in the second quarter.
New Zealand: They have decided they will take part in the Commonwealth Games, set for Delhi, India. India has hoped these Games to do for them what the Beijing Olympics did for China. As it turns out, not so much. Everything's breaking, the athlete's village has been described as 'unfit for human habitation', someone shot up a tourist bus recently, and the visiting athletes have been understandably skittish about the prospect of the whole thing. Canada had threatened to stay home entirely.
Djibouti: A status report on the nation's healthcare system, and... let's just say that despite the debate going on in America, be glad you've got this one as opposed to that one.
DR Congo: Two pilots, one from Ukraine and one from DR Congo, were released after a three-week kidnapping by Mai Mai rebel forces. Two other people were also released, apparently "without conditions".
Trinidad and Tobago: David Beckham arrived in the country to campaign for England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
Ecuador: Robert Mugabe has NOT arrived in the country to receive an honorary law degree from a discredited Christian university.
Azores Islands: Hurricane Lisa is weakening 955 miles south of the Azores. Close enough, right?
Namibia: Their soccer federation is threatening to report Zimbabwe's federation to FIFA over Zimbabwe poaching their national-team coach.
Guam: 40,000 welding jobs are on offer to help build a military base. Anyone out there up for it?
Antigua and Barbuda: The country is helping to celebrate World Tourism Day.
Uruguay: Oh, come on. Chess? CHESS? Really? Chess?
Fiji: More Commonwealth Games coverage. Or in Fiji's case, the explanation of lack thereof. Fiji had a military coup in 2006, earning them an expulsion from the Games and are still on the outs.

Not gonna sugarcoat it. TV won this round and not by a small margin. Lots of wasted potential here.

CHESS, for Pete's sake. I'm counting on you to not embarrass me, RNG. Get it together. And stop drawing Antigua and Barbuda.