Reporting the Return of the Crew of the Maersk Alabama

By Chris Ariens 

The crew of the Maersk Alabama returned to Andrews AFB around 1amET this morning. The Alabama’s Capt. Richard Phillips was unable to meet his crew before they left Kenya because of another pirate attack on a U.S. ship, so he remains aboard the USS Bainbridge.

The 1amET arrival was perfect timing for west coast stations’ late newscasts, but what about the national cable news channels?

How did they report it?

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• Fox News broke in to the re-air of On The Record around 1:03an for a 13-minute live report including correspondent Brian Wilson on the tarmac interviewing some of the crew members and their families.

• Beginning at 1amET, CNN/U.S. simulcast CNN International with live pictures of the crew as they got off the plane including a phone report from a CNN producer at Andrews. There was also a phone report from a CNN correspondent in Mombasa.

• MSNBC had a live picture from Andrews AFB for a live news update at 12:38amET but did not produce a report when the crew disembarked.

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