1981 was a terrible year in regards to assassination attempts(and in the case of Anwar Sadat assassination). How did the major US television networks cover the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in May of 1981 which was the 2nd of 3 attempts against against a head of state that year.
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Pope John Paul II Assassination Coverage
- Thread starter paulsonj72
- Start date
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfN8UT8zOhk 8 minutes from CBS uploaded by WJKW-TV8, Cleveland
1981 was a terrible year in regards to assassination attempts(and in the case of Anwar Sadat assassination). How did the major US television networks cover the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in May of 1981 which was the 2nd of 3 attempts against against a head of state that year.
Along with the pope, President Ronald Reagan and Egypt President Anwar Sadat were also shot in 1981. Only Sadat died.
Along with the pope, President Ronald Reagan and Egypt President Anwar Sadat were also shot in 1981. Only Sadat died.
John Lennon's murder in December 1980 was a dubious appetizer for all these. Reagan, the pope, and Sadat were all shot within a year after Lennon's murder.
ixnay
The networks couldn't get straight exactly where the Pope had been struck, with seven different locations on his body being mentioned. In addition, they weren't sure how many times he'd been hit (three times).
CBS was the first network to break in at 11:35 a.m. ET, with the other two networks on within a couple of minutes. They had no film of the shooting until 1:00 after it arrived via satellite. ABC was the first to show it, with the other two following about 30 minutes later. There were some oddities: there was a faraway clip of when he was shot that was then followed by the Popemobile rushing away, with the middle part cut out.
Dan Rather was in Los Angeles for the CBS affiliate convention and went to the local bureau to anchor coverage after Bob Schieffer had started things off. A typically odd Rather moment: he asked viewers for a moment of silence.
Frank Reynolds was headed to Columbia Univ. to go to his son's graduation and instead went to ABC to handle things--not having a meltdown like he did during the Reagan chaos. Before he got there, Barry Serafin was handling things. While CBS got the news out first, ABC's Bill Blakemore was the first news correspondent to offer a report from the scene.
John Chancellor handled things on NBC, being the first of the three anchors to actually make it on the air. However, he did make a blunder about an hour into coverage, saying that the Pope's condition "wasn't serious."
CBS was the first network to break in at 11:35 a.m. ET, with the other two networks on within a couple of minutes. They had no film of the shooting until 1:00 after it arrived via satellite. ABC was the first to show it, with the other two following about 30 minutes later. There were some oddities: there was a faraway clip of when he was shot that was then followed by the Popemobile rushing away, with the middle part cut out.
Dan Rather was in Los Angeles for the CBS affiliate convention and went to the local bureau to anchor coverage after Bob Schieffer had started things off. A typically odd Rather moment: he asked viewers for a moment of silence.
Frank Reynolds was headed to Columbia Univ. to go to his son's graduation and instead went to ABC to handle things--not having a meltdown like he did during the Reagan chaos. Before he got there, Barry Serafin was handling things. While CBS got the news out first, ABC's Bill Blakemore was the first news correspondent to offer a report from the scene.
John Chancellor handled things on NBC, being the first of the three anchors to actually make it on the air. However, he did make a blunder about an hour into coverage, saying that the Pope's condition "wasn't serious."
I thought Tom Brokaw handled coverage for NBC rather than John Chancellor, but wasn't Tom on "Today" at that time?
Yes, Bryant Gumbel took over 'The 'Today Show' in the fall of '81.
I think Chancellor and Roger Mudd were co-anchoring NBC News at this point.
I think Chancellor and Roger Mudd were co-anchoring NBC News at this point.
Yes, Bryant Gumbel took over 'The 'Today Show' in the fall of '81.
I think Chancellor and Roger Mudd were co-anchoring NBC News at this point.
He actually took over the Today Show on January 4, 1982 after which he had one more assignment for NBC Sports as he closed out the Networks 1981 NFL coverage with the AFC Championship Game from Cincinnati(AKA the Freezer Bowl) on the following Sunday January 10.
From what I read, Reuven Frank didn't want Bryant Gumbel doing Today, at first, because Bryant wasn't a news guy. So he brought in Chris Wallace to do the news segments as well as be the Washington anchor. Wallace did all the Washington based interviews, while either Bryant or Jane did the New York interviews. It didn't work, so John Palmer was brought in to read the news from New York. Reuven Frank then took a pretty big risk by making Gumbel the principal anchor of Today, and after a year or two it worked. Of course he could have went a different way and made Pauley the principal anchor instead.
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If Brokaw did accept the ABC offer from Roone Arledge, it does open a can of worms though. Chris Wallace would have been a good choice to host Nightly News, so would have been Jane Pauley. Garrick Utley is another one that comes to mind too.
Yes, Bryant Gumbel took over 'The 'Today Show' in the fall of '81.
I think Chancellor and Roger Mudd were co-anchoring NBC News at this point.
There was a period of time when Bryant Gumbel was doing both 'NFL 81' and 'The 'Today Show' at the same time- in January of 82. He flew from Miami to Cincinnati for the AFC playoffs, then flew to New York to join Jane Pauley on 'Today' on the Monday.
The networks couldn't get straight exactly where the Pope had been struck, with seven different locations on his body being mentioned. In addition, they weren't sure how many times he'd been hit (three times).
CBS was the first network to break in at 11:35 a.m. ET, with the other two networks on within a couple of minutes. They had no film of the shooting until 1:00 after it arrived via satellite. ABC was the first to show it, with the other two following about 30 minutes later. There were some oddities: there was a faraway clip of when he was shot that was then followed by the Popemobile rushing away, with the middle part cut out.
Dan Rather was in Los Angeles for the CBS affiliate convention and went to the local bureau to anchor coverage after Bob Schieffer had started things off. A typically odd Rather moment: he asked viewers for a moment of silence.
Frank Reynolds was headed to Columbia Univ. to go to his son's graduation and instead went to ABC to handle things--not having a meltdown like he did during the Reagan chaos. Before he got there, Barry Serafin was handling things. While CBS got the news out first, ABC's Bill Blakemore was the first news correspondent to offer a report from the scene.
John Chancellor handled things on NBC, being the first of the three anchors to actually make it on the air. However, he did make a blunder about an hour into coverage, saying that the Pope's condition "wasn't serious."
NBC preempted Wheel of Fortune before CBS broke in. I wonder if viewers were shocked to see John Chancellor break into Wheel with the news. So this youtube video would confirm that John Chancellor was the first to break in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3-bg2FTLoA
Which may have actually been an improvement on the coverage of Reagan's shooting. Of course, we all remember the networks incorrectly reporting James Brady as dead. It's much less better remembered, that in the initial reports that day, the shots had missed Reagan.The networks couldn't get straight exactly where the Pope had been struck, with seven different locations on his body being mentioned. In addition, they weren't sure how many times he'd been hit (three times).
John Chancellor handled things on NBC, being the first of the three anchors to actually make it on the air. However, he did make a blunder about an hour into coverage, saying that the Pope's condition "wasn't serious."
Might make a correction, the Wheel ep comes from KNBC, so maybe Wheel wasn't interrupted out east.
BD, you're timeline is right that Bob Schieffer broke into The Price is Right with a bulletin at 11:35, i wonder if that was fed to viewers out west getting sitcom reruns.
BD, you're timeline is right that Bob Schieffer broke into The Price is Right with a bulletin at 11:35, i wonder if that was fed to viewers out west getting sitcom reruns.
Yes, Bryant Gumbel took over 'The 'Today Show' in the fall of '81.
I think Chancellor and Roger Mudd were co-anchoring NBC News at this point.
Was James Brown on NBC as well or just FOX?
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