Nichols: Geraldo On The Scene

By Brian 

FNC beat CNN on the Nichols capture, thanks to Geraldo Rivera. He rushed to the area at “very high speed” and was on the scene before most of the feds. Around 11:20am, Geraldo reported via phone from the scene of the hostage situation. “One of the officers whispered in my ear, they think they have Brian Nichols in this apartment complex here,” he said. Rivera had been with Nichols’ attorney this morning.

FNC was first to break the news that Nichols had been caught. Paige Hopkins struggled to interrupt Geraldo to break the news at 11:29am: “ATF tells Fox Nichols is in custody.”

CNN carefully stepped around the story. At 11:31am, CNN’s Betty Nguyen reported: “CNN has confirmed that the hostage situation that you’re seeing live pictures of right now is over. The hostage situation is over…and someone is in custody. We do not know who that individual is…” Then, at 11:33am, Nguyen followed up: “CNN has a single source that is telling us this morning right now that Brian Nichols, the suspect in the courthouse shootings, is in custody.” CNN did beat FNC to chopper pictures of the scene…

> One e-mailer complained about CNN’s Saturday morning coverage: “The anchors are too emotional and are ‘acting.'”

> CNN plastered Nichols’ photograph on the lower left corner of the screen.

> FNC scooped CNN on the news of the customs agent shot and killed in Atlanta.

Advertisement
Advertisement