TVNewser spoke with two TV news correspondents late Thursday after a day of confusion and more chaos in Egypt. CBS News correspondent Terry McCarthy called in from Tahrir Square where anti-Mubarak protesters who’ve been gathering for more than two weeks thought this was their day. “It was really extraordinary,” McCarthy told us over the noise of the raucous crowds in the square.
McCarthy told us of the “party atmosphere” when protesters learned Hosni Mubarak would be stepping down. Then the crowd “was silent for his speech.” Laughter broke out after the Egyptian President told the people he understood their demands. Toward the end of the speech — when people started to “chant the Egyptian word for leave” — the “mood changed and people started to get angry.” The CBS correspondent said at that point the “women and children left” and it was “clear that anger was building up.”
Fox Business Network correspondent Ashley Webster told us a similar story via email: “I was in the square as the protesters listened to Mubarak’s speech. The reaction was first one of shock and then anger.” FBN aired its first special live edition of “Follow the Money: Revolution in Egypt” Thursday night with host Eric Bolling. The special focused on the financial impacts of the crisis, with a special concentration on oil.