Of the four major U.S. cable news channels, two — CNN and HLN — covered the chaos live outside a Los Angeles County Courthouse this afternoon where troubled star Lindsay Lohan appeared on charges of felony grand-theft.
While HLN carried two minutes of live coverage, CNN spent five minutes of the 4pmET hour using multiple cameras — their own and those of CNN affiliates — trained on the black SUV as it pulled up to the courthouse, as Lohan emerged, as she walked into the courthouse, and capturing the crush of as many as 100 photographers as they tried to snap a photo of the alleged swindler through the mirrored glass facade of the Airport Courthouse, a few blocks from LAX.
Entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter described the scene to anchor Brooke Baldwin: “We have photographers falling all over themselves right behind me. This is really typical, what you can expect when it comes to Lindsay Lohan. The madness. Someone just fell.”
CNN used chopper shots provided by Tribune-owned KTLA which was the only LA station to also carry live coverage of the chaos during their 1pmET newscast.