Anchors Mobilize to Cover Bhutto Assassination

Pakistani Opposition Leader Gunned Down Thursday; Vacationing Anchors Back to Work

By Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/27/2007 4:38:00 PM

The assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto during a rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi Thursday sent shock waves through Pakistan and shook stateside news divisions out of holiday mode.

CNN was the first to report that there had been another attempt on Bhutto’s life at 7:21 a.m. (EST), followed by Fox News Channel a few seconds later (7:24 a.m.), then MSNBC (7:29 a.m.).

After some confusion over the circumstances of the attack and Bhutto’s condition, confirmation of her death on the cable news channels would come at approximately 8:30 a.m.

The broadcast morning shows -- NBC’s Today, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’ Early Show -- also cut into regularly scheduled segments to report that Bhutto had in fact been killed.

Several anchors cut holiday vacations short to return to work. Fox News’ Shepard Smith will anchor Fox Report Thursday (7 p.m.) live from Memphis, Tenn., where he was on vacation, while Greta Van Susteren will anchor On the Record (10 p.m.) from Tampa, Fla., where she was vacationing. Laura Ingram will fill in Thursday night on The O’Reilly Factor (8 p.m.), but Bill O’Reilly will be on the show via phone during the first block. CNN's Anderson Cooper returns to the studio in New York to anchor Anderson Cooper 360 live Thursday (10 p.m.). And MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann will also cut short vacation to anchor a live installment of Countdown (8 p.m.).