Original story posted at 11:11 AM: The second mass shooting in a week is rocking the country, this time at an elementary school in suburban Connecticut. The cable news channel quickly pivoted from politics to the shooting this morning, as word spread.
According to TVEyes, Fox News reported news of the shooting at 10:23, CNN at 10:35 and MSNBC at 10:37. As of 11 AM, all of the networks were citing local “reports” of the shooting. MSNBC eventually handed over its coverage to a local NBC affiliate, which was all over the story.
Shortly after 11 AM, Fox News returned to coverage of Susan Rice’s withdrawal yesterday as a nominee for Secretary of State, while MSNBC and CNN stayed on the school shooting. At 11:15 FNC returned to the shooting, throwing its coverage to a local affiliate in Connecticut.
Update: The broadcast nets have broken in with special reports, as the situation gets more dire. Reports of more than a dozen people, including multiple children, killed.
CBS News says Scott Pelley will anchor the “CBS Evening News” from Connecticut this evening. FNC’s Bill Hemmer will also anchor from CT.
As of 1 PM Fox news has Rick Leventhal in Newtown, CT. CNN has Susan Candiotti in Newtown, and Ashleigh Banfield and Jason Carroll on the story. Fox, CNN and the other networks have correspondents en route.
Update 2: CNN IDed the shooter as Ryan Lanza at 2:15 PM, FNC followed suit at 2:21 and MSNBC at 2:25. Important Update: At 3:30 reports are that Ryan Lanza was not the shooter, but that his brother Adam Lanza was.
Update 3: At 3:15, president Obama gave an emotional statement on the shooting. Every news network picked it up: