Baltimore TV station returns to air after man crashes truck into lobby
By Brian Stelter, CNN
The biggest story in Baltimore Tuesday happened inside the headquarters of the city's ABC-affiliated station, WMAR, but for more than five hours, the station's reporters couldn't get on the air to cover it.
The station was evacuated around 11:45 a.m. after an unidentified man smashed a truck through the lobby and screamed that he was God. Police began an hours-long search of the building to find him. He was apprehended shortly after 4:30 p.m.
All the while, WMAR journalists could relay information only via Twitter and the station's website. By mid-afternoon, a makeshift newsroom had been set up about a mile north of the station - but the reporters still had no way to broadcast.
WMAR, known as Channel 2 locally, was broadcasting regularly scheduled, taped shows at the time of the intrusion. It continued to run on a television version of auto-pilot all afternoon ("The People's Court," "General Hospital," etc.) while two of its rivals, WJZ andWBAL, covered the breaking news story nonstop.
About "Reliable Sources"
Now more than ever, the press is a part of every story it covers. And CNN's "Reliable Sources" is one of television's only regular programs to examine how journalists do their jobs and how the media affect the stories they cover.
Subscribe on iTunes | Instagram
Tune in every Sunday at 11am Eastern time!
About the host
Brian Stelter is the host of "Reliable Sources" and the senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide. Before he joined CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter for The New York Times. He is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Top of the Morning."
Here's his biography. You can read his stories on this blog and at CNNMoney.com/Media/.
@cnnreliable on Twitter
soundoff (No Responses)