Connecticut School Shooting

[Jess 1115]

There are some breaking news stories that are so astounding and incomprehensible that you'll remember where you were when it broke.

 

If you haven't heard, there was an absolute massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. We've had shootings before, but this is on a level that exceeds almost all of them - 28 people are dead, including 20 children. (And according to NBC just now, most of them were in KINDERGARTEN.) The shooter is dead, and as I'm typing this it looks like that the shooter's mother was a teacher at this school. She is amongst the dead, and many of the victims are apparently her students. And it looks like the mayhem might not have been contained to the school.

 

This situation is incredibly fluid, even five hours after the fact - something is breaking every few moments it seems.

 

I can't recall the last story - at least anything since 9/11 - that's shaken me and, obviously, a lot of people this badly. I have never - NEVER - seen a President, or any world leader, as ashen-faced and emotional as President Obama was just now. That's an image that's going to stick with me and a lot of other people, I think.

 

Noting the coverage seems meaningless at this point, but I'll do this anyway.

 

ABC, CBS, and NBC have been wall to wall since at least 1/1:30. Fox has been doing break-ins for news conferences.

 

EDIT: NBC broke away, at least for us, at 4pm. WCAU is now in their local 4pm news. While I think very highly of WCAU's news coverage - and they've been very good - this is one of those stories where I don't think "the local angle" is relevant, at least right now.

 

All of the Connecticut stations have been in live coverage all day. As the shooting is close to the NYC metro, and the shooter has ties to that area, the New York stations have been in live, local coverage. All of those stations are on TVNewsStreams.net if you want to watch. CBS has been particularly exemplary, at least on the network and WCBS-TV and WCBS Newsradio.

 

For now, let's devote our thoughts and prayers to the victims, their parents, and their families.

[WXmanTim 88]

EDIT: NBC broke away, at least for us, at 4pm. WCAU is now in their local 4pm news. While I think very highly of WCAU's news coverage - and they've been very good - this is one of those stories where I don't think "the local angle" is relevant, at least right now.

 

Ahh...I just flipped on KPRC and they are airing MSNBC. I wondered what had happened to NBC's coverage.

[AaronQ 282]

For those who want to watch local coverage of the shooting: WFSB, WTIC, WVIT, WTNH

[Jterry 43]

FYI - NBC did indeed conclude coverage at 4 PM EST, though came back shortly after 4:30 and continued through the last press conference. They along with CBS and ABC ended coverage after that concluded...around 5:15 PM EST. All three are planning one hour evening newscasts tonight and one hour primetime specials with Scott Pelley, Brian Williams and Diane Sawyer anchoring from the school.

 

CBS was the first I saw that went continuous at about 12:40 EST, with ABC and NBC starting shortly after 1. Ironically enough here in Memphis network coverage was interrupted periodically throughout with news of a police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty.

 

As you said though, seems ridiculous to talk about stuff like that given the nature of today's events. Just horrifying. Thoughts and prayers to those affected.

[Weeters 1916]

I'm not sure if FOX Television had a network feed available at 1PM EST, but WITI was definitely trying their hardest to treat this like any other breaking news story ever, right up to and including this paraphrased bit.

 

"It looks like at this point there have been 27 casualties... Let's take a look at weather now! It's looking great blahblahblahb"

 

They seemed to spend as little amount of time as they could on it. It was embarrassing that they were running they're stupid repeats of morning news segments inter-spliced with "updates" on the situation. Is it really that hard to change the OverDrive rundown?

[PelicanGuy 117]

I can recall WDSU showing "Maury" until NBC News started their network coverage.

 

WWL had CBS News' coverage from the beginning, but did their normal noon show at 12:30 because of breaking news at federal court in New Orleans. They then showed CBS' coverage until it ended.

 

WGNO showed ABC News coverage until it went off the air.

 

Hearing those kids give those accounts of what happened will stick with me for a very long time.

[WXmanTim 88]

Here in Houston, of course, most went with the networks. Fox 26 simply took WNYW's continuous coverage (through Fox 5 news at 5) off the fox in-house feed. What you saw in New York is what we saw in Houston. Any of the other O&Os do this?

[Jterry 43]

Here in Houston, of course, most went with the networks. Fox 26 simply took WNYW's continuous coverage (through Fox 5 news at 5) off the fox in-house feed. What you saw in New York is what we saw in Houston. Any of the other O&Os do this?

WHBQ only had network interrupts for the initial press conference (during the 12 PM CST hour) and Obama's statement. Otherwise they stayed with local programming throughout, which was occasionally coverage of the local breaking news mentioned above.

[MorningNews 1456]

Such a heartbreaking story. I received breaking news updates on my phone at around 8:30 CT. I was watching Good Morning America though it had not been updated because it was the last half hour of the program. I left my house to run to some stores for a while. When I left home all I had heard was that 2 people including the gunman has been killed. My friend called me around 12 noon and asked me if I "had heard about the killing of 27 kids at a school today in Connecticut?" I immediately told her that she was wrong it had only been two people. I checked the news on my phone and was immediately stunned and speechless. This is such a sad moment for our country. My heart is so heavy for everyone involved.

[Jase 1054]

Here in Houston, of course, most went with the networks. Fox 26 simply took WNYW's continuous coverage (through Fox 5 news at 5) off the fox in-house feed. What you saw in New York is what we saw in Houston. Any of the other O&Os do this?

WFLD went with FNC's coverage/analysis, but a majority of their coverage was anchored by Kori Chambers and Dane Placko. WGN's coverage was lead by their Midday/Noon anchors with both channels offering extended coverage throughout the afternoon. WBBM, WMAQ, WLS went with network feed only breaking in for local coverage/analysis during their normal scheduled newscasts.

[Jess 1115]

WTXF only took the network cutins - which meant that throughout the afternoon, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Alex, and the nine billion other court shows ruled their airwaves. The other three big network stations took the network feeds.

 

CBS had two brief cutins during the 12pm half-hour. KYW took both of them inside their Talk Philly newscast/infotainment show, so we went from hard news coverage to fluff interview to weather to cooking segment then back to network. Yeah, it was awkward, but this was before the scope of the tragedy was made known. WCAU did their 4pm news and while they had nice studio interviews, they also decided not to overwhelm the newscast with the incident - so they covered some other stories and even did some humorous weather banter. I understand the approach, but today really wasn't the day to try and do that.

 

I didn't see KYW coverage after that, but I DVRed WPVI from 5-7, because I wanted to see how Action News covered it. Plus, chief meteorologist Cecily Tynan's hometown is Newtown, CT. I'm glad I did.

 

Of all the stations, I don't think there was another who covered it with the grace and sensitivity that channel 6 did. They did a very solid 5pm hour followed by an extraordinary 6pm newscast with Jim Gardner demonstrating why he's the best local news anchor in America. Not only did he anchor with his peerless delivery and writing, but by sheer coincidence, Gardner had interviewed President Obama yesterday, and gun control questions were included - that portion of the interview was then shown.

 

Didn't see KYW or WTXF, though I'll see how much of their coverage was excerpted online.

[Big Country News 435]

FOX News Channel will have coverage from 5am EST - 11pm EST. The 'Cost of Freedom' will be preempted and FNC will be simulcasted on FOX Business Network.

[24994J 5585]

I'm not usually emotional during these events, so I don't remember the last time I cried like this.

 

In regards to coverage...for the second time in a month, WLS' Ron Magers has put on one of the most memorable newscast moments I've ever seen. For some reason, someone at ABC7 rushed weather and sports, ending the segments by 5:25. After a tech glitch with the commercials, they were back a minute later. With nothing else to cover, Ron spearheaded 3 solid minutes of banter, talking about the weather again and touching on some other sports news. It was lighthearted, pointless, and irrelevant compared to the day's news, but it was the perfect capping-off of the last 6.5 hours. Like in breaking news, Ron proved his worth as the best ad-libber in business PERIOD. Once they reached the end, he apologized to the viewers for the timing issue, and they segued perfectly into 'World News'. On such a sad day, it's hard to explain how well this mistake played out.

 

Under better circumstances, Ron Magers, Jim Gardner and Bill Ritter need to have an anchor-off.

[IceManNYR 240]

WCBS aired the CBS News Special report on sister station WLNY.

WNBC aired the NBC News Special report on their 4.2 digital sub channel.

WABC did not air the ABC News Special report on their 7.2 digital sub channel.

WWOR aired a simulcast of sister station WNYW (FOX) any FOX News Special Reports were not broadcast.