Bhutto Assassination “scramble”…
The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes about the networks scrambling to get people in to Pakistan to cover the Bhutto assassination…
The significant time lag between her death and the arrival of Western correspondents forced the networks to hustle and improvise. NBC, MSNBC and Fox News Channel relied on phone reports from freelance journalists in Pakistan.
These freelancers, commonly called stringers, are local journalists who live in far-flung cities and are kept on retainer by news organizations.
CNN was the only network based in the United States that had a full-time producer at the site of Ms. Bhutto’s rally on Thursday. The producer, Mohsin Naqvi, spoke with the opposition leader hours before the attack and provided reports on CNN by phone throughout the day. CNN sent its anchor, Anderson Cooper, to Pakistan so he could do his nightly show from there on Friday.
I thought FNC had someone else covering the region, but they’ve sent Jennifer Griffin back there. She’s doing a great job, as expected, but I thought they assigned her to the White House or some other Washington venue.
Comment by Missy — December 31, 2007 @ 10:57 am
Yeah Fox had its producer filing reports from the moment the story broke. There were probably also interviews with freelancers as well, but the way the story is written is highly misleading.
Comment by johnny dollar — December 31, 2007 @ 11:58 am
I think FNC has Jennifer Griffin (usually at Pentagon), Greg Palkot, and Steve Harrigan over there.
Comment by jmkaib — December 31, 2007 @ 1:46 pm