Centanni and Wiig Freed!
5:55 am ET - I happened to be up having not gone to bed yet (it’s only 3am PST out here) and switched on FNC to see Shepard Smith on the air with the news that Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig have been freed.
Smith said “The best news I may ever have reported has come this morning as Steve and Olaf have been freed!” Smith inteviewed FNC’s John Moody by phone. Apparently Centanni and Wiig did another video tape before they were freed and that tape has not aired yet. CNN had CNNI covering the story. MSNBC was doing Headliners and Legends when I checked.
UPDATE: MSNBC did an update at the 6:30 break.
6:13 AM - Centanni is on via phone with Smith.
Centanni: Well, I’m uh..I am emotional because I am so happy to be out. There were times when I thought that…you know..I’m dead..and uh…and now I’m not. And so…thank God. Um, well…I’m okay. Thank you for…again…all your help. And I’m going to be fine. So, I’m just very happy.
Smith: And you’ll be back on the air soon I know.
Centanni: I hope so. I really hope so.
Smith: Much love, Steve Centanni. Please pass the same to Olaf Wiig.
Centanni: I will. Take care…
6:36 AM - Roger Ailes is being interviewed by Kiran Chetry and Kelley Wright of the Fox and Friends crew.
Ailes: Well this is tremendous relief obviously. I stayed all night last night because we had heard some positive sign when we were trying to do our best to move forward. But thank God they’re out and we…you know…uh…the Palestinians, the Israelis, the American State Department - everybody was working on this and uh…we were staying under the radar and we knew these two guys would handle this the best they could and apparently that is exactly what happened and they did have a gun to their head and they had a very tough situation.
We’re thrilled to have them home and our team - John Moody called me at three this morning and we heard that they might be out so we’re just very thankful and we’ll talk to them when they get back.
6:47 AM - Last update before I hit the sack for a few hours: Reuters has the story and notes the 2nd tape which had been released and is obviously B.S…
Militants in the Gaza Strip released two kidnapped journalists from the American Fox News Channel on Sunday after the men appeared on a videotape saying they had converted to Islam, Fox said.
Fox said correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, were in a hotel in the Palestinian coastal strip.
They hugged colleagues inside the hotel lobby before running up the stairs to a higher floor, Fox News footage showed.
“Our heroes are home,” Fox anchorman Shepard Smith said in a live broadcast from New York.
The two reporters were seized on August 14 by a previously unknown group called the Holy Jihad Brigades.
In a videotape released earlier, Centanni and Wiig were shown separately sitting cross-legged, reading statements announcing that they had converted to Islam. At times in the video they were wearing long Muslim robes.
FNC showed video of the new tape around 3:40 AM EST (I just returned from a west coast vacation and was still awake to see it) but no sound, though Amy Kellogg and first Uma Pemmaraju and then Shep Smith talked about what was said on it.
Then at 5:30 AM Shep came on with this wonderful news!
Comment by OverHere — August 27, 2006 @ 6:19 am
FREEEEEEEED!!!!. I just woke up, tuned to FNF and I see this great news. Teared up again when I saw Steve hug a guy with his emotions showing. Phewwwwwwwwww.
Comment by Lurker — August 27, 2006 @ 7:09 am
So pleased to see that both were freed without being harmed. To be captured like that must have been one of the most harrowing incidents in the life of a journalist. If, indeed, that second tape was authentic, we should all know that was forced, and just reinforces to us what tactics these terrorists are up to.
To Steve and Olaf, welcome back, and we feel just as happy as your loved ones.
Comment by RGL — August 27, 2006 @ 7:30 am
They just showed the photo op with Hamas. We all need to keep in mind that this entire thing could have been staged for this very moment. In our joy we don’t need to get duped.
Comment by bg — August 27, 2006 @ 7:39 am
Just to clarify, Hamas could have orchestrated the kidnapping so they could get credit for their release; improving their political position internationally.
Comment by bg — August 27, 2006 @ 7:45 am
Who cares, all that matters is that they are safe and free and on their way back home.
Comment by OverHere — August 27, 2006 @ 10:28 am
I am so happy to wake up to such Great news for once! I want to throw a party to celebrate! Cheers everyone!
Comment by Noelle — August 27, 2006 @ 10:45 am
Fox, obviously, was very much on top of this story, and they brought in Shep to cover the release of these two men. That was a great idea, since Shep seems to know Centanni well and brought up many aspects of his character and experience when describing his dedication to reporting and to people.
CNN-International was also on top of this story, and covered it non-stop for quite a while. They even had Shep’s voice and picture on their screen at times as they borrowed (and credited) Shep’s conversation with Centanni.
Not to be outdone, MSNBC “stepped up to the plate”, too! While Fox and CNN-I were all over the kidnapping of these stories, MSNBC was showing one of their famous documentaries, and then switched over to the all-important biography of Elizabeth Taylor. No, I am not kidding!
Comment by Missy — August 27, 2006 @ 10:50 am
I couldn’t believe it when I heard Shep on at 4 am (Uma had covered the release of the new video at first but she had laryngitis). I saw some of CNNI’s coverage too, which I agree was very good, while on MSNBC, yeah, what Missy said…
Comment by OverHere — August 27, 2006 @ 11:09 am
I just watched the Shep tape. Even when Shep was doing his 15 or more hour shifts on the Israel/Lebanon border, I never saw Joe-Scarborough-type bags under his eyes. He was tired, but never so happy to be woken in the middle of the night.
Comment by erljr — August 27, 2006 @ 4:21 pm
When I turned the TV on this morning and heard Shepard’s voice, I thought, “Oh no, something bad must have happened somewhere in the world.” After grabbing my glasses and reading the screen text, I felt such happiness! This is a great ending, one I feared wouldn’t happen!
I did the channel flipping thing, too. Disappointing, but hardly important in the whole scheme of things: they are free! It’s hard not to think of other people kidnapped over the years, the fact that they never had their freedom restored. It makes the Centanni/Wiig case all the more heartwarming.
Comment by Caroline — August 27, 2006 @ 11:09 pm
I had dozed off after seeing Shep do the updates about the new videotape and when I heard the new Alert at 5:30 I was so afraid it was going to be bad news. What a relief to hear the best news possible! I think I cried for a whole hour.
Comment by OverHere — August 27, 2006 @ 11:40 pm