Al-Zarqawi Killed: The Importance Of Staffing The Overnight Desk

After reading TVNewser today, an overnight ABCer was left wondering: What took the other networks so long to report the Al-Zarqawi news this morning?

“It could just be the cutbacks to overnight staffing at the other networks,” he muses. “ABC on the overnight is buzzing with activity for 1.5 hours of live news coverage with World News Now and the more formal half hour World News This Morning. The staff really is proud because it just shows that we weren’t just sitting at computers, sleeping — we were hard at work doing our jobs. I have worked during the day at ABC, but the overnight staff takes great pride in the work that they do. It usualy goes un-noticed, but today, a lot of people showed that the Overnight at ABC News is not the minor league.“

NBC was able to utilize MSNBC for a special report. CBS has ‘Up To The Minute’ overnight, but they were the last broadcast net with the story…