Oops

[mreye]

CBS Cuts Off Bush Address

2003-12-15 05:26:47 ET

 

Football Interrupts Rather's Coverage. Dan Rather experienced another bizarre moment Sunday as CBS technicians momentarily interrupted CBS's live coverage of a speech by President Bush to show an empty football stadium.

The disruption occurred while Bush was congratulating the Iraqi people on the capture of their former dictator Saddam Hussein. He was interrupted by a live shot of the St. Louis Rams football field, which ran for six seconds. The game had yet to start, and the stadium was only partially filled. Background noise could be heard, and through it all, the bottom of the screen said: "CBS News Special Report: Saddam Hussein Captured."

 

When it became clear after six seconds that something was wrong, the feed went back to Rather. Before he spoke, two women (presumably producers) could be heard in a stage-whispered conversation. Only one voice was discernible but the message was clear to both Rather and his viewers: "We lost it!"

 

A flustered anchor apologized, "Unfortunately, we have lost the audio and video from--"

 

But Rather's attempt to cover was interrupted as someone brought back the White House feed.

 

"--congratulate," said Bush.

 

But Rather had to finish his sentence: "--from the White House. We pick it up now."

 

At the end of the presidential address, the anchor was embarrassed: "We do apologize for the technical difficulty, uh, that we had."

 

He ended the coverage, as he was forced to make room for football:

 

"This has been CBS News continuing live coverage of the capture of Saddam Hussein. Dan Rather in New York. Right now we're turning things over to our friends at CBS Sports for NFL Today. But we'll be back with updates throughout the afternoon."

 

What made the whole television event even more peculiar was that the CBS feed switched to the St. Louis Rams, an NFC team. The Rams were scheduled to play the Seattle Seahawks, another NFC opponent. But CBS Sports is not allowed to carry games featuring two NFC opponents, only AFC. The game was set for the Fox network. What CBS was doing showing a Fox game is not exactly clear.

 

But one thing is certain: This wasn't the first time Rather has been embarrassed by CBS Sports. Much earlier in his career on September 11, 1987--yes, September 11--CBS decided to preempt Rather's news coverage in favor of another sporting event, a U.S. Open match between Steffi Graff and Lori McNeil. The decision so irked Rather that he walked off the set and refused to come back on the air. The CBS screen went black for six minutes as producers frantically searched for the anchor, who finally made his way back to the chair.

 

This snafu was the product of the hectic circumstances produced by the capture of Hussein said a source close to Rather.

 

"During that time of day, many of the various feed lines that come into the Broadcast Center in New York are controlled by CBS Sports," the source said. "But yesterday was no normal day at CBS -- or at any TV network or news channel. We were all shocked when we saw the football stadium instead of Bush. [...] Dan was just as confused as the rest of us."