In Oil Spill Coverage, Reporters See Their Profiles Raised

By Alex Weprin 

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes about television news reporters and contributors getting more airtime due to the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Stelter discusses CNN contributors Amber Lyon and Philippe Cousteau diving under the oil slick, and Jeff Corwin, who recently joined NBC News as its science & wildlife expert.

Then there is ABC News Radio’s Matt Gutman, whose work in the Gulf has not gone unnoticed:

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Matt Gutman, a radio reporter for ABC News, is suddenly a high-profile reporter on television too, having filed nearly two dozen reports for ABC’s flagship “World News” since mid-May, according to The Tyndall Report, which tracks the content of evening newscasts.

“He most definitely does not have a face for radio, as the saying goes,” said Andrew Tyndall, who compiles the report.

And of course there are the efforts by Bloomberg’s Lizzie O’Leary, FNC’s Steve Harrigan and Kris Gutierrez and Kelly Cobiella and Mark Strassmann from CBS News. Strassmann in particular has been present:

Mr. Strassmann, for instance, has filed about 38 reports for the “CBS Evening News” since the spill started, according to The Tyndall Report, almost as many as he filed in the previous 12 months combined.

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