At the top of the 2:00pmET hour, fire crews and demolition teams prepared to set fire to an explosives-packed house in Escondido, a suburb of San Diego, Calif. that authorities say was turned into a bomb-making factory. This was a “breaking news that wasn’t” story, in that everyone knew about the fire for several weeks beforehand. They even went so far as to create a local pool for the event.
At 1:54pmET, Fox News aired pictures from KTTV (FOX News O&O), KSWB (Fox News affiliate), KGTV (ABC affiliate), and FOX News Channel ground shots. FNC reporter Anita Vogel was covering the story in the field. MSNBC began coverage at 1:59pmET with NBC’s Kristen Welker on location with video from KNSD (NBC O&O).
CNN also began coverage at 1:59pmET with a producer on site phoning in. The shot CNN took was a local pool situation set up by the San Diego affiliates. It was set up by local authorities in order to position one camera close to the home which all media outlets could access. HLN was on air with live pictures at 2:08pmET.