Nothing Is “Happening Right Now”

Mervin Block offers an “Autopsy of an Anderson Cooper Script:”

“When a newscaster says an event is ‘happening right now,’ what does that mean? You guessed it: it depends on the meaning of happening and now,” he writes. Block examines the Nov. 16 edition of 360, featuring Cooper quotes like this one:

“At this hour, the Pentagon is denying accusations that US troops deliberately burned Iraqi civilians with a weapon called white phosphorus.”

Block responds: “At this hour? Twenty-nine hours earlier, at 5 p.m., Tuesday, AFP (Agence France-Presse) reported the charge and the Pentagon’s denial. Also, at 7:05 p.m., Tuesday, the AP moved a story with the denial. And at 4 p.m., Wednesday, CNN broadcast the story, along with the denial.”