Manhattan Terror Attack

Now being investigated as a terrorist attack rather than incident

CBS and NBC have interrupted normal schedules for special reports. ABC still on local programming.

WNBC have just posted out on Twitter that it's now being investigated as a terror attack also.

A handy distraction for the President.

Just a pointer for UK viewers - because of the time difference being out-of-sync this week, the BBC News Channel is carrying World News America at 9.30pm all week which may be of particular interest tonight.

Obviously Manhattan is overflowing with news media, but Katty Kay mentioned earlier that the location of this incident is very close to the BBC's New York studio.

NBC have Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, who lives in the neighbourhood, on the scene.

As much as Fox News is despised for the right reasons normally, they've wheeled out Shep in place of The Five who is exactly who they need to anchor this type of story.

They excel better at breaking news than the usual Conservative talk.

So presumably they'll leave the studio and go and stand out in the middle of the road then.

Actually just on that note, here's an interesting - albeit slightly slanted - article by CNN's Brian Stelter about Fox's coverage of the Mueller indictments yesterday, highlighting the point you make - the clear editorial differences between Fox's daytime coverage and their evening stuff.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/30/media/fox-news-paul-manafort/index.html

Not strictly TV but the difference in press conferences and who does them In the UK attacks this year casualty figures have been announced by police press conferences without politicians in attendance but in the US politicians attend conferences with the police and announce key details. And conferences happen indoors in the USA while in the UK many briefings happen outdoors even at night.

I was curious to why HLN's S.E. Cupp Unfiltered isn't covering the terrorist attack. Spoke to a friend of mine from Canada who watches the show who claims her show is pre-recorded earlier in the day, but not early enough to react.

The reason being the Mayor is there in major incidents like this, is he is in charge ultimately of all the services that operate within the city. And typically has the power to hire and fire the Chief of Police and Chief the Fire Service. So ultimately the Mayor is the main person in charge and is not strictly a "politician" or ceremonial figure head. So unlike the UK were the Police are "independent" of city government, in the US they are typically city employees. The Governor is there because he or she is again ultimately in charge of the State and is head of coordinating all State Agencies. It guess its more immediate than someone reading a prepared statement and then turning to walk away into a building the next day following an incident.

And the reason they appear on site is because dissemination of information is viewed as important to keeping the public calm and keep the public informed of what is happening. This is fairly typical even before the days of social media. And since all the media is at the scene it just makes sense usually to do it on-site or nearby the scene. Most medium to large Fire and Police departments in the US have a PIO. A Public Information Officer that will attend most significant incidents and provide statements to the press about the situation of the incident right on the scene anytime of day.



http://www.gettysburgfd.com/uploads/2/5/0/0/25008334/rm-pio-harrisonjoneseveningsun-500pxmd_orig.jpg

Exclusive from the NBC Affiliate's investigative team.
WNBC 4 New York is reporting that a note was found in the truck claiming allegiance to ISIS.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/What-We-Know-About-Suspect-Battery-Park-City-Tribeca-Terror-454320243.html

Shep is also the "breaking news editor" as in the designated anchor for breaking news for the Fox O&Os and the News Channel