Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts had a lot of company on “This Week” this Sunday morning. That was my first clue that something big was imminent. At the top of the program, ABC correspondents appeared in a classic “whip-around” format, in which reporters at live locations toss coverage from one to another. I lost count of the journalists. It is an extensive, expensive format to that sends a message to viewers: stick with us. We are all over this story.
Only a modest surprise then, when just before noon, the news breaks on every network. America is making a major military move. My move: I hole up in our bedroom-along with three TV sets. Armed with remotes, pen and notebook-I log the coverage. (Twenty years as a TV news director preps one well for this journalistic juggling act.)
11:55 a.m.: (All times Central.) In the anchor chairs: ABC-Peter Jennings, NBC-Tom Brokaw, CBS-Dan Rather, CNN-Aaron Brown, MSNBC-Lester Holt and Brian Williams, Fox-Tony Snow and Britt Hume.
The networks had 26 days to prepare. It shows. Uplinks. Videophones. Experts on set. Maps that animate, maps to be drawn on, pointed to, stood before. Graphics of military assets: pictures and words to illustrate the capabilities of planes, missiles and ships.
Graphics: in a world where news organizations compete for the best “branding” of a story; today they tie. On CNN, NBC, MSNBC and Fox, the story bears the same big title graphic: “America Strikes Back.” On Univision, it is “Contraataca”-counterattack. On Telemundo “Una Nacion Responde”-a nation responds. ABC opts to keep its coverage uncluttered by a title.
CNBC is carrying NBC’s coverage. MSNBC is producing its own coverage, integrating the NBC stable of correspondents into its own.
On any network, we see video of the night sky in Afghanistan, but it is not like the Gulf War-no dramatic tracers of scud missiles arcing overhead. Just darkness and some light.
Noon: The President speaks on all networks: “We are supported by the collective will of the world.”
12:10 p.m.: NBC reports that the US Air Force is flying protective cover over major sporting events today. NBC has handed carriage of the NASCAR UAW-GM Quality 500 race to TNT, so it can stay with the news. What about football? Would CBS and Fox drop their games today to stay with the story?
12:12 p.m.: NBC reports it is too early for an “BDAs”-Bomb Damage Assessments. ABC shares a tutorial on the Taliban. The local Fox affiliate is back at the Minnesota-New Orleans game.
12:15 p.m.: My local CBS affiliate is covering the Raven/Titans game. I wonder about Dan Rather, the man who protested CBS staying with a US Open tennis match that ran over into news time. He boycotted the anchor chair, leaving a 6-minute black hole on CBS’s air. A chilling piece of trivia: it happened September 11, 1987. What is he doing or saying today?
Fox has a cable news channel to carry the story while its local affiliate airs football. CBS has no such option. Rather is lost from my TV for the afternoon. On Fox, David Shuster reports Pentagon sources telling him there will be “no half measures today…we’re going downtown on the very first day.” Talk of cruise missiles to take out air defenses in Afghanistan and the use of B-52s and B-1s.
12:21 p.m.: On MSNBC, Lester Holt points out that the bright spot seen in the darkness of that muddy satellite video from Afghanistan is-the moon. Sounds trivial, but it was a useful clarification.
12:24 p.m.: CNN reports the launch of US and British cruise missiles from at least two US ships. Says reporters are on board the ships-part of military pool coverage, but the launch information had been embargoed when it first happened, in the interest of security. Miles O’Brien tells us he’s put a weather map into service to help direct our attention to the important locations in this story. We “fly over” to Kandahar, the spiritual capital and Kabul, the actual capital of Afghanistan. Clear, understandable geography lessons are important in this story.
12:29 p.m.: NBC reports it has done a quick survey of airports in the US. No change in operations since the action was announced. NBC talks about the Air Force cover at football games and the NASCAR race, and reminds race fans that the race can be seen on TNT.
The Fox News Channel has begun inserting commercials into its coverage. One of the spots: the “I love New York Theater” spot, filled with Broadway stars, encouraging tourists to come to the Big Apple and catch a play. I see no other network taking commercial breaks at this time.
12:30 p.m.: ABC reporter John Miller talks about domestic security in the US, something called Omega-plus status. Says Omega used to be the highest level of security alertness. Says certain Washington buildings may be locked down, but bridges and other infrastructure will not be closed to public access.
Fox News Channel returns from the commercial break with video of fighter jets taking off. The anchor says it is file footage, but there is no super. Viewers not listening closely might think they are watching pictures of today’s events, as the video rolls for some time. There should have been a super “File Footage” to keep it clear.
12:37 p.m.: On ABC, more geography lessons. Peter Jennings tells viewers that the suffix “stan” means land. Cites an AP bulletin quoting a Taliban diplomat in Karachi, Pakistan “We area ready for Jihad.” Jennings reminds it is around 11 at night in Afghanistan. Reports that the bombing is expected to last for several hours. On NBC, the first responses from the Taliban-claiming the bombs have had no impact. MSNBC reports Tomahawks, B-1, B-2 and B-52s are involved. Says some have come from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean and that this is just “the opening gambit.”
ABC now has live video from Kabul. It is the signal from Al-Jazeera, the 24-hour satellite news channel based in Qatar. We hear a translated report.
Note: Al-Jazeera means “The Peninsula” in Arabic. It operates on a 30 million-dollar annual subsidy from Qatar’s emir Sheikh Hamad bin Kahlifa al-Thani, plus revenue from advertising and subscriptions. It describes itself as editorially independent, in the BBC model. On October 4, the Committee to Protect Journalists protested what it called US efforts to influence Al-Jazeera’s coverage. Here’s a piece from Inside.com addressing network use of Al-Jazeera. Here’s a Boston Globe piece on the subject.
From the translation, we hear confirmation that a military command center has been hit. That the Taliban describes the US action as a “terrorist attack on Kabul.”
MSNBC picks up the Al-Jazeera transmission.
12:50 p.m.: British Prime Minister Tony Blair appears on all networks-except CBS and Fox, where football continues. He acknowledges that forces from the United Kingdom are engaged together with the US: “No country lightly commits forces to military action and the inevitable risks involved. We made clear following the attacks upon the U.S. on September 11 that we would take action once it was clear who was responsible. There is no doubt in my mind, nor in the mind of anyone who has been through all the available evidence, including intelligence material, that these attacks were carried out by the al Qaeda network headed by Osama bin Laden”
1 p.m.: CNN has now slapped a “Breaking News” banner over its coverage. (What has it been before this?) In one box, there is a murky shot of a night sky, indistinguishable from other night sky video. But this one has the words “CNN exclusive” on it. Viewers are told it is nightscope video looking south toward Kabul. Oh.
CNBC has returned to a regularly scheduled program, no doubt a relief to all viewers who hate being denied an informercial for an exercise machine.
CNN is now running Al-Jazeera video. Aaron Brown says “We have an exclusive relationship with them.” I wonder what that means, since Al-Jazeera is everywhere, it seems.
NBC reports a small earthquake in Los Angeles that happened shortly after the attack on Afghanistan, which must have worried the locals there…but that the FBI reports no unusual activity today.
1:10 p.m.: CNN reports a second wave of bombing has begun, and it is heavier than the first. Says the State Department has issued a world wide travel alert for US citizens, urging caution.
1:15 p.m.: CNN and ABC are carrying video of from Al-Jazeera, a spokesman for al Qaeda is on camera. This is interesting video. It is shot in daylight, outdoors. We learn it is not live…it was pre-taped and sent to Al-Jazeera to be used in the event of a US attack. ABC’s expert, Barnett Rubin of NYU comments: “Osama bin Laden wanted a quick and indiscriminate attack. The US was wiser.” He suggests the tape was made “some time ago.”
Another man appears on the tape. ABC stills the video…asking…is it bin Laden? It appears to be him. The tape runs on CNN…and then other networks as well. It is bin Laden speaking. “Today, God has cursed the United States with its own deeds, for God has destroyed some of its greatest buildings, and the United States was filled with terror from its West to its East and from its North to its South. So we thank God. And what the United States is tasting today is what we have been tasting for tens of years.”
On CNN, Aaron Brown says the tape was shot some time today. I wonder if the “exclusive” CNN/Al-Jazeera relationship he referred to earlier is the basis for that information, or if it is just speculation.
On NBC, Tom Brokaw observes of bin Laden’s tape: “He has made the best case against himself.”
1:34 p.m.: CNN’s Jamie McIntyre says there will be another five hours of attacks. He reports there’s least one food drop to refugees from a C-17. And, about the bombing: “I think we are beyond the second wave.” I note that CNN appears to have earlier word than other nets on the status of the bombing.
1:35 p.m.: The Fox News Channel, which likes to layer lots of text over its coverage, needs a human spell-checker to fix its boo-boo. In big text, it is reporting: “Bush: We will never waiver.” Oops.
1:41 .p.m.: On CNN, Christiane Amanpour confirms that Pakistani air space was used in the attacks.
1:45 .p.m: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld holds a briefing. All networks carry it. Except CBS and Fox, staying with football. He stands for questions. The reporters appear to choose their words carefully, balancing between the public’s right to know and the military’s need for security while the mission is in progress. There is no sense of tension as they probe for information and Rumsfeld responds cautiously. “It is not yet over,” he says.
2:15 p.m.: CNN reports that members of Congress were alerted to the pending mission last night.
2:29 p.m.: NBC reporter Ann Thompson is live in Times Square. She reports “It is an amazingly normal Sunday afternoon” in New York City. I get the sense the coverage is winding down for the day, becoming less intense.
2:40 p.m.: ABC reports Vice-President Dick Cheney has been taken from the White House to an undisclosed location, per security protocol, and that the President did not watch the bin Laden tape when it aired.
2:44 p.m.: CNN reports-via on-screen supers- that the Emmy awards have been canceled. Free-lance reporter Kamal Hyder, from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan, reports explosions at oil depot near the Herat airport.
2:45 p.m.: New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani holds a news conference. It is carried for a while on CNN and MSNBC.
2:49 p.m.: ABC reports the Emmys are canceled.
2:52 p.m.: On CNN, White House correspondent John King talks about the normalcy in D.C. “When I was rushing in here this afternoon, there was a street hockey game going on.”
3 p.m.: NBC has a live report from Ground Zero in New York, where work continued. First time I’ve seen pictures from the scene today.
CNN reports “the Taliban might be losing its grip” on Afghanistan.
CNN Headline news is now running commercials. We go from war to Walgreens.
On ABC, Jerry Hauer, former Director of New York City Emergency Management is talking about domestic security with Peter Jennings. The feeling that coverage is winding down grows.
3:15 p.m.: I note that CNN Headline News has returned to its usual format, the boxes in boxes and text above text for the multi-taskering viewers. It feels feature-y, not hard newsy.
3:16 p.m.: Fox Cable News now has Shepard Smith and Rita Cosby anchoring. They throw to a break, reminding us “Team Fox coverage continues.” Team Fox? In the first position of the break, a promo-if you can call it that-for Bill O’Reilly. Highly stylized, brash, the camera cuts tight to O’Reilly, who snarls “America must win the war against these terrorists.”-a little promo, a little editorial, a lotta flag waving attitude blended into one spot on the “We report, you decide” network.
A commercial follows. Did you know that Gerber company, famous for feeding generations of American infants is now in the insurance business? So, in the midst of war talk, there’s the icon of innocence-the Gerber Baby. We see the timeless sketch of the round-cheeked cherub as we hear about “The Gerber Life Grow-Up Plan.” What an interesting sponsor for “America Strikes Back.”
3:25 p.m. As Judy Woodruff takes the desk at CNN, and the coverage continues its evolution from action to analysis, I go to my office to file this report. A much more peaceful place. Only one TV.
