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Scrapping personal plans to anchor breaking news

I

ixnay

On the Pope JP2 assassination coverage thread, BD Sullivan noted,

Frank Reynolds was headed to Columbia Univ. to go to his son's graduation and instead went to ABC to handle things
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Have there been any other examples of anchors (national and local) scrapping (scrubbing in NASA-ese) plans to, say, attend rite of passage ceremonies (christenings, graduations, weddings, etc.) to anchor breaking news?

ixnay
 
I suspect Pelley didn't "have" to leave to report on Bob Simon's passing. That's not exactly a major story with huge implications. Somebody else could have broken the story. I think it was more of a respect thing - letting the public and Simon's family know that he was moved by the death of a coworker (and possibly a friend), and that he cared.
 
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Not sure what the point of this thread is, but true news professionals will gladly give up their personal time to cover big stories. These are the folks that have moved to the top for this very reason, they are newspeople and this is built in to their news genetic blueprint pure and simple. A good example is 9/11, when the major network news anchors were there within an hour. At that time, Brokaw, Jennings, and Rather were all there, even if not showered or made-up, within an hour. CNN, though was an interesting example however, as they had no major news anchors available in NYC on 9/11, and were forced to go to newcomer Aaron Brown, who wasn't scheduled to go on-air for another month. Fortunately, he handled it brilliantly.
 
One that stands out to me was when John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane crashed. That was over a holiday weekend, and all of the high dollar talent was off. But some of them happened to be vacationing nearby. Brian Williams came in on his holiday to anchor coverage on NBC. As I recall, he wasn't the only one that weekend. Seems to me, he was dressed casually at first. Everyone wanted to get in on that story.
 
TheBigA said:
One that stands out to me was when John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane crashed. That was over a holiday weekend, and all of the high dollar talent was off. But some of them happened to be vacationing nearby. Brian Williams came in on his holiday to anchor coverage on NBC. As I recall, he wasn't the only one that weekend. Seems to me, he was dressed casually at first. Everyone wanted to get in on that story.
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It wasn't a holiday weekend--mid-July. You may be confusing that with Princess Diana, which took place on Labor Day weekend. In that case, CBS had virtually no one at the desk for hours, resulting in a huge amount of criticism.

I do recall that the JFK Jr. story happened on what was the 30th anniversary of Chappaquiddick, with A&E (I think) showing a previously scheduled documentary that Sunday night which showed how Nixon was closely following both the moon landing and Chappaquiddick. The latter story because Ted Kennedy was seen as the Dem frontrunner for 1972 at the time. On multiple occasions, the network had to show some hasty disclaimer that this was produced/scheduled "prior to the events of this weekend."
 
BD Sullivan said:
It wasn't a holiday weekend--mid-July. You may be confusing that with Princess Diana, which took place on Labor Day weekend.
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That's another good example. I may have it confused with another plane crash off the coast of Long Island. There were a couple.

But this happened on a Friday night into Saturday morning. Maybe it wasn't a holiday, but it was a summer weekend. Williams was off, and he came in special for this story.
 
TheBigA said:
That's another good example. I may have it confused with another plane crash off the coast of Long Island. There were a couple.

But this happened on a Friday night into Saturday morning. Maybe it wasn't a holiday, but it was a summer weekend. Williams was off, and he came in special for this story.
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The mid-July 1996 Long Island plane crash was the first big story that was covered by MSNBC, which had just premiered days earlier. JFK, Jr. and his wife were headed to a Kennedy family wedding and made the fateful decision to offer her sister a spot on the plane so that she could spend the weekend on Cape Cod or some vacation area.
 
seatownmedia said:
CNN had no major news anchors available in NYC on 9/11.
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Really? Is that when people began to take CNN less seriously? Is that when Fox became the go-to source for national news, or were they already a hit network and 9/11 just gave them a boost?

I'm not a fan of "cable news", so this is a serious inquiry.
 
Fakeem said:
Really? Is that when people began to take CNN less seriously? Is that when Fox became the go-to source for national news, or were they already a hit network and 9/11 just gave them a boost?
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I would suggest that the majority of the country saw this unfold on The Today Show, which then, as now, has more viewers than any of the cable news channels at that hour.
 
Fakeem said:
Really? Is that when people began to take CNN less seriously? Is that when Fox became the go-to source for national news, or were they already a hit network and 9/11 just gave them a boost?

I'm not a fan of "cable news", so this is a serious inquiry.
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Yes, this is how I understand it. Someone can correct me. CNN was, and still is mainly Atlanta-based, so on any given day it would make sense there was no primary anchor available on 9/11. Once Aaron got rolling, I would guess they continued with him as he was doing a good job.
 
seatownmedia said:
Someone can correct me. CNN was, and still is mainly Atlanta-based, so on any given day it would make sense there was no primary anchor available on 9/11.
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There WAS a primary anchor available. It was Carol Lin. She was actually the first cable news anchor to announce the 9/11 attack. However, she was based in Atlanta.

Since then, Time Warner has built a huge complex near Central Park West, and most of the anchors are now based in NYC. I'm not sure an anchor has to be based in the city where an event happens in order for them to be able to report it.
 
TheBigA said:
There WAS a primary anchor available. It was Carol Lin. She was actually the first cable news anchor to announce the 9/11 attack. However, she was based in Atlanta.

Since then, Time Warner has built a huge complex near Central Park West, and most of the anchors are now based in NYC. I'm not sure an anchor has to be based in the city where an event happens in order for them to be able to report it.
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Going to respectfully disagree here. Especially back in 2001, it was important to have someone on the ground to anchor this coverage to compete with the big 3. As some may recall, Aaron Brown took to the roof of the then CNN NYC HQ, and was on the scene when the 2nd tower collapsed. Sorry, but Carol Lin would not have been the same. However, in most smaller story situations you make a good point, they can be covered remotely. Not 9/11, though.
 
seatownmedia said:
Going to respectfully disagree here. Especially back in 2001, it was important to have someone on the ground to anchor this coverage to compete with the big 3.
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So if a news channel doesn't have their anchor in the middle of a field in Pennsylvania when the 4th plane crashed, they didn't do their job?

The point is that they covered the story, and reported it first, irrespective of where their anchor was. What is more important? Having the story, or placing your anchor in the same city? It sounds like you're more interested in form rather than function. The fact is that where Carol was didn't change her reporting of the story. No one was allowed to get close to ground zero. The only people who could have done a better job unfortunately lost their lives that day.
 
You're entitled to your opinion, but I don't get it.

If, instead, an earthquake in Los Angeles caused two skyscrapers to collapse, would it be impossible for the networks to report the story because they are all based in New York?
 
TheBigA said:
So if a news channel doesn't have their anchor in the middle of a field in Pennsylvania when the 4th plane crashed, they didn't do their job?

The point is that they covered the story, and reported it first, irrespective of where their anchor was. What is more important? Having the story, or placing your anchor in the same city? It sounds like you're more interested in form rather than function. The fact is that where Carol was didn't change her reporting of the story. No one was allowed to get close to ground zero. The only people who could have done a better job unfortunately lost their lives that day.
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I don't deny CNN's Atlanta anchor first announced the story. That isn't the point. CNN needs someone on the ground quickly and Aaron was the best option. I have Aaron Brown on video tape when the 2nd tower collapsed and he had an eyewitness view. His coverage was excellent and from the heart. You can't offer that from a remote location.

The Pennsylvania situation was very different, as it was completely unpredictable. Whereas NYC was obviously under attack and had time to put media forces in place.
 
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PTBoardOp94 said:
You're entitled to your opinion, but I don't get it.

If, instead, an earthquake in Los Angeles caused two skyscrapers to collapse, would it be impossible for the networks to report the story because they are all based in New York?
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Of course it could be reported, first with local LA affiliate coverage, then eventually with network anchor coverage in this case. I am not sure why this is so complicated.
 
seatownmedia said:
The Pennsylvania situation was very different, as it was completely unpredictable. Whereas NYC was obviously under attack and had time to put media forces in place.
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Huh? Are you saying the attack on the WTC was predictable? Maybe you should look at the timeline of that day again.

News happens every day. Anchors aren't where the news happens unless it's a planned event. It takes time to mobilize remote satellite trucks, technical crews, and other stuff. CNN had anchored morning news in Atlanta for 20 years without incident before a plane crashed into the WTC.
 
It's not that I don't understand you, I just don't agree. I find it a major turnoff when one of the anchors glides from New York to one of the flyover states to report on whatever calamity.

In part because I don't usually think a flood in Missouri requires that kind of coverage, but also because most of the anchors in recent years are really bad at reporting (Charles Gibson, Dan Rather, Katie Couric, David Muir, Diane Sawyer, and especially Brian Williams)
 
seatownmedia said:
Not sure what the point of this thread is, but true news professionals will gladly give up their personal time to cover big stories. These are the folks that have moved to the top for this very reason, they are newspeople and this is built in to their news genetic blueprint pure and simple.
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You put the issue in perfect perspective, seatown. Thanks. (I say all that without an iota of sarcasm.)

ixnay
 
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