NBC News foreign correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin and his crew witnessed the Israeli airstrike that killed four children at a Gaza port earlier today. But hours later, it was chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel who reported the story for “Nightly News.”
“Today, sadly our cameras were there when disaster struck,” Brian Williams said at the beginning of tonight’s broadcast. Those cameras came from Mohyeldin’s crew, who witnessed the attack, and called in to the west coast edition of “Today” this morning to report on the “chaotic scene” produced by the airstrike. But it was Engel, reporting from Tel Aviv, who Williams went to for the report. Engel tossed to a package on the airstrike that included footage shot by Mohyeldin’s crew and an interview Ayman did with a wounded boy in the hospital. Almost two hours after “Nightly News,” MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” went to Mohyeldin on the story in a pre-recorded interview. Tomorrow, a five-hour cease-fire goes into effect at 10am local time to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
We’re hearing the decision to have Engel report the story for “Nightly” instead of Mohyeldin angered some NBC News staffers. NBC News declined to comment to TVNewser on its editorial decision.
Watch the report (first in the full broadcast), after the jump.