Jacko Not Guilty: Cosby’s 1st MSNBC Scoop

MSNBC correspondent Rita Cosby scored a big exclusive tonight: The first interview with a member of the Jackson family. She talked to Tito and Jermaine Jackson on the phone at 8:25pm, during Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It was Rita’s first extended appearance on MSNBC. “Thank you to the world,” Jermaine said.

Cosby reached Jermaine via cell phone shortly after the verdict, but because cell phone reception was bad in Santa Maria, they agreed to get in touch again once he got to Neverland.

Later in the evening, Rita appeared on Scarborough Country to summarize the phoners. (“Welcome to MSNBC,” Joe Scarborough said, “God knows nobody in the Jackson family would ever talk to me!”)

The pair popped up on Larry King Live half an hour later. “Tito and I would love to sit down with you,” Jermaine told King. On FNC, Greta Van Susteren‘s interview with J&T aired at 10pm.

> Update: 12:53am: Olbermann blogs: “By the way, how about that for a first day on a new job? Rita gets Jermaine and Tito Jackson for phone interviews – tomorrow, I told her, we need at least the President.”