CNN Was In Contact with New Hampshire Hostage-Taker
Network Contacted Police, Didn't Reveal Information to Viewers
By Jehn Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/30/2007 7:15:00 PM
CNN said it was in contact throughout the day with a man who took hostages at the Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) campaign headquarters in Rochester, N.H.
The network said that after consulting with its own security personnel, it chose not to reveal that information to viewers (it contacted police), concerned about doing anything that could hamper the hostage negotiations, which resulted in all of the hostages being released and the suspect being apprehended without injury.
CNN added that a campaign staffer contacted its Washington bureau, and suspected hostage-taker Leeland Eisenberg also got on the phone and talked with several staffers.
"We're just trying to do the right thing in a situation like this," CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said.
