CBS News is explaining what happened the other night when video of President Obama’s trip to Baghdad, meant to be shared by U.S networks, went missing – a story first reported here on TVNewser.
From WaPo‘s Howard Kurtz:
The Pentagon has apologized to CBS for the lengthy delay in turning over network footage of President Obama’s visit to Iraq on Tuesday.
AdvertisementTelevision executives waited much of the day for CBS, the pool network, to provide the tape. But the handoff was bungled when soldiers could not find the CBS representative outside Camp Victory.
“The right thing to do would have been to wait at the gate until you showed. That didn’t happen…. Please accept my humble apologies for this unfortunate mishap,” wrote Joseph Edstrom, a spokesman for Gen. Raymond Odierno, to CBS.
CBS spokesman Jeff Ballabon accepted the apology, saying his network “followed the protocol” set by White House and military officials.
But Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said “CBS made this a lot harder than it had to be” by declining an offer for the military to transmit the tape by satellite from Saddam Hussein’s former palace, forcing a hand delivery “that requires a secured military convoy from Camp Victory.