Verdict in Scooter Libby Trial…
I was watching MSNBC when Chris Jansing interrupted a Ron Allen remote to break news that a verdict had been reached in the Scooter Libby trial. I jumped over to FNC and they were in the middle of a remote segment on this special US military video from Iraq that the network has been exclusively showing all day. After the segment ended, E.D. Hill noted the Libby trial news. CNN was in a commercial break during all of this. When it came out of the break Heidi Collins led with the story. So according to my reckoning, it was MSNBC first, FNC about a minute later, and CNN seconds after that.
UPDATE: MSNBC also ended up being first with the verdicts. MSNBC had Kelly O’Donnell stationed live outside the courthouse and had the verdicts relayed to her via an earpiece from a producer in the courtroom. CNN was next to have the verdicts. FNC was third.
UPDATE 2: MSNBC interrupted coverage briefly so that Jansing could anchor an NBC News special on the verdicts which lasted only a minute or two. Then Jansing returned to the story with Dan Abrams discussing the split verdict (4 out of 5 charges guilty). FNC had Catherine Herridge inside the courthouse and Jim Angle outside covering the story.
UPDATE 3: TVNewser notes that CourtTV beat MSNBC with the announcement that a verdict had been reached…
UPDATE 4: Break in times…
Jury reaches a verdict:
MSNBC–11:33
FNC — 11:34:30
CNN — 11:34:50
Verdict announcements:
MSNBC- 12:05:08
CNN- 12:05:38
FNC- 12:05:58
Decision in 2 min…..1min……59sec……58 sec……57……56sec….Fox News Alert….54sec……53 sec……E.D. Hill states…..52 sec…..1sec…..Guilty on all 5.
Comment by Roger — March 6, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
Not surprising that MSNBC would get it first. With David Schuster sentenced to cover this case for the past month, I think they have done the best job covering this.
Comment by Randy — March 6, 2007 @ 1:12 pm
Unbelievable. Sandy Berger stole and destroyed classified documents from the national archives and is not convicted of anything or punished in any meaningful way. Scooter Libby doesn’t remember exactly what he said to whom and is convicted!! Armitage was the leaker, this is insane.
Comment by Kate — March 6, 2007 @ 1:38 pm
Now Chris Matthews can buy a round for everyone! He’s waited breathlessly for this verdict. Do you think he’ll be able to communicate his joy? God, some people really need to get off the stage!
Comment by John — March 6, 2007 @ 1:51 pm
Big deal! Who cares which cable channel broke the news first? Nobody had collapsed and nobody was dying from lack of oxygen to the brain, where time indeed is quite vital. This is about as pusillanimous as it can get. Time to get real, Spud!
Comment by RGL — March 6, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
No doubt Chris Mathews will have some of that nasty froth coming out of his mouth when he gets excited.
BTW, MSNBC was the only one of the three not to cover the Presidents speech this morning. Why wasn’t this posted, SPUD?
Comment by ChrisM — March 6, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
who cares who broke this story first, who cares about Walter Reed, who cares about deaths in in Iraq. Not Fox for sure; all they care about is Hilarys southern drawl and how mean the press is to Ann Coulter and not Maher.
Comment by alice cervantes — March 6, 2007 @ 2:35 pm
BTW, MSNBC was the only one of the three not to cover the Presidents speech this morning. Why wasn’t this posted, SPUD?
I can only post about events that are relayed to me or that I myself witness. If I don’t know about it, I can’t write about it.
Comment by Spud — March 6, 2007 @ 2:44 pm
Spud — Now I understand why every 3rd or 4th post is about Olbermann, I thought he just was of great interest to you. It must be that his people send you more information than anyone else. That truely ties in with Abrams bragging about how Olbermann is so popular on YOUTUBE. They make it happen and most likely blog along with us to keep the story going.
Comment by Aunt Mary — March 6, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
Wrong Alice: Fox cares deeply about majijuana given to small children, dismembered wives, and other really important things like that. Why in the world would they care about such tripe as injured veterans being given substandard care, Iraq, or media manipulation from the White House?
Comment by Mike — March 6, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
I am astonished that a jury could think that a neocon could lie.
Anyway don’t feel too sad. Bush will pardon Libby upon exiting office as a thank you for libbys’ efforts in building the case for war, and more importantly for keeping quiet about it.
Comment by elmonica — March 6, 2007 @ 3:16 pm
Aunt Mary and her conspiracy theories… Adjust your tin foil hat there Mary. You’re receiving some bad information. Or you could just the channel from the Propaganda Network to MSNBC or CNN.
Oh what a joyous day! Libby has been convicted! Next up: Cheney & Rove.
Comment by Shaun — March 6, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
Spud — Now I understand why every 3rd or 4th post is about Olbermann, I thought he just was of great interest to you. It must be that his people send you more information than anyone else.
LOL…the biggest source of info on Olbermann that I post comes from news write ups which I find on my own. The second biggest source of Olbermann info comes from Olbermann haters. I rarely get anything from “his people”.
I hardly post everything there is on Olbermann, just like I hardly post everything there is on O’Reilly. It has to be relevent information and not just ideological attacks or personal innuendo or rumor mongering.
Comment by Spud — March 6, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
Fox mentioned the Walter Reed mismanagement 93 times, which seems significant, but because MSNBC and FNC mentioned it three times as often, you people deem that they “don’t care”.
At least Terance provided me with data. The rest of you (alice, Mike, elmonica) should go seek out statistics before accusing Fox of ignoring any of these stories. Before stating that Fox “doesn’t care”, go get the frequency of how much they reported on those stories, vs. how much coverage was done by MSNBC and CNN. Again, at least Terance provided data instead of just throwing out false accusations.
Comment by Missy — March 6, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Unless I am missing something this thread was about the Scooter Libby Verdict.
As for Fox News coverage, I have heard from multiple sources that Hannity and Colmes haven’t discussed the Walter Reed story once in the past week, not even for the mere sake of blaming it on the liberals.
Comment by elmonica — March 6, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
They are not false accusations; they put out the least information they can on stories that are not favorable to the administration. There was no way they could avoid the verdict even if they wanted to! Lets see if Cavuto says Stock market up due to guilty verdict. I couldnt help myself. We dont need data all you have to have is half a brain.
Comment by alice cervantes — March 6, 2007 @ 4:23 pm
……………………Travesty……………………..
Comment by mike — March 6, 2007 @ 5:35 pm
my comment is that they have been talking this week on FNC about Walter Reed and no Anna Niocle on any channel! Can’t say about last week, but is cyclical. Scotter Libby talk will now inundate all news channels till more gets a head with ad nauseum. Why Cable tv was not meant to watch 24/7.
Comment by brettfan — March 6, 2007 @ 7:12 pm
correction: meant to say one will get a headache from all the repetitive talk on Libby cuase they will have nothing new after a point and be repeating the talking points. Why tv is not meant to watch 24/7 because it is very repetitive.
Comment by brettfan — March 6, 2007 @ 7:14 pm
LOL, Alice. A colleague and I had a bet regarding Cavuto’s show today. I said that Cavuto would lead off with the Libby verdict story despite its being basically a non-business story while a colleague said no, that he’d have to lead off with the main reason the market was up so much, the lower yen and the carry trade (also, Paulson’s remarks on mortgage defaults helped).
I won that bet when Cavuto chose to cover the Libby verdict as the opening story saying the market was up “in spite” of the Libby verdict. LOL! Needless to say, my colleague, a financial market guru, was taken aback that Libby was Cavuto’s lead story and now he owes me a steak dinner.
Cavuto is nothing if not predictable. I’ll be thanking him and his overriding need to cover the political over the business as I enjoy my meal tomorrow.
Comment by STP — March 6, 2007 @ 7:50 pm
brettfan: I hate to correct you by a criticism of Fox but last night, IMO surprisingly, Greta spent more than half her show on Anna Nicole Smith.
Comment by Ira — March 6, 2007 @ 9:10 pm
Shaun — Thanks for the hat suggestion however, 65% of my viewing comes from MSNBC. I have watched Chris Matthews since the O.J. days and enjoy his Sunday show “The Chris Matthews Show”. I loved watching Countdown for years but when Olbermann lost it last summer and became a “LEFT WING NUT CASE” I changed to O’Reilly. I know you will say O’Reilly is the same in the other direction but, O’Reilly has guests that will give it right back to him. I do not like extreme on left or right, if the other opinion is not also given, it is bad for our country. Anyway, I have thought for sometime that Olbermann gets more posts on ICN than any other talking head — just felt like Spud cleared that up for me when he said he posts what is relayed to him or he has witnessed. I think Olbermann’s team is manipulating the press and it is working for them. One would think with all the free press that he gets that he would be the most watched show on TV. I meant no disrespect for Spud, I think he does a good job wording his posts in a good left/right balance. That is why I read this blog, people strongly state their opinion but “FEW” are “CONSTANTLY” extreme. I get both sides and occasionally it changes my view on a subject.
Comment by Aunt Mary — March 6, 2007 @ 9:56 pm
STP - Cavuto leading with the Libby verdict is not a symptom of “his overriding need to cover the political over the business.” Cavuto has explained in countless interviews that “Your World” is just that - his world - the news from a business perspective. It’s not a business show; it’s the news as Cavuto sees it.
Comment by erljr — March 7, 2007 @ 12:53 am
Somebody should tell fox pr that Your World isn’t a business show considering that they call it the #1 business show on cable.
Comment by Steve — March 7, 2007 @ 3:11 am
Cavuto made a conscientious decision to put Libby first over the discussing the up market. This is hardly the first time Cavuto has chosen to go political instead of business on his show thus my “overriding need” comment. As Steve so aptly pointed out, Cavuto’s show IS considered the #1 business show on cable. The big business news yesterday was the large market gain and the reasons for that and its affects should have been covered first.
But, unfortunately, for someone interested in actual business news, that wasn’t the lead segment. For a guy who is supposed to be business perspective oriented, even Cavuto couldn’t put a business spin on the Libby verdict in his opening segment. Cavuto put politics first yesterday and that was a mistake in my opinion.
If Cavuto wants to have a show that covers “His World”, then, as you said, it’s not a business show. On that we can agree. In reality it’s just another political/cultural analysis show with just enough straight-up business segments tossed in to enable it to be categorized as a “business” show.
Comment by STP — March 7, 2007 @ 11:23 am
I agree with most of what you said STP. And, yes, it is promoted as the #1 business show on cable. But consider this: in the week before the big drop in the market, his show was bumped twice for Fox News Live & Anna Nicole. I don’t think that was all his decision. And on the days he wasn’t bumped, he did do lots of Anna Nicole.
Secondly, consider this: today, while the Jessica Lunsford verdict was being read, everything else was bumped on CNN, FNC, and MSNBC. But CNBC went on with the Money Honey show, and no Jessica.
If FBC (or FBN) were going today, I think they would have kept their regular programming going. When it does happen, we will find out what Cavuto’s world really looks like.
Comment by erljr — March 7, 2007 @ 8:24 pm