Boston Stations Live Overnight as Police Search For Marathon Blast Suspect

By Merrill Knox 

It was a night of fast-moving developments in Boston, where stations were live overnight with coverage of the manhunt for the second suspect in the marathon bombings.

Some notes from the coverage: WCVB‘s special report, anchored by Heather Unruh and Ed Harding, was simulcast on CNN before Jake Tapper took over the network’s coverage around 1:30amET. WFXT‘s coverage, anchored by Mark Ockerbloom had several reporters spread throughout the city, including Mike Beaudet and Erica Richie. And WBZ got the first interview with the uncle of the suspects, who told the CBS O&O that they “do not deserve to live on this earth.” Watch it here.

Poynter’s Al Tompkins says the overnight coverage is an important reminder of “valuable it is to have experienced journalists on the air who know the city like the backs of their hands”:

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I watched a WBZ anchor David Wade, for example, describe street-by-street where police were heading. Say what you want about TV anchors, but here is a guy with years on the street as a reporter and a Massachusetts native.

Boston media are like that. Days like this remind us of why we need journalists who have lived in the market they work in for a long time and who know how to report a story that doesn’t rest.

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