A bitter presidential campaign took a turn for the violent Saturday afternoon when former President Donald Trump was rushed off a stage after a shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump's ear and face appeared bloody when the Secret Service led him offstage. It was a surreal moment, to say the least. While broadcast and cable networks don't generally cover Trump rallies anymore, there were enough journalists in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the rally was held, to paint a compelling and dramatic picture of the incident.
"Just chaotic, intense moments that played out here," Rachel Scott of ABC News said, speaking even as authorities escorted her out of the outdoor venue, "and just the sense of panic that we heard, screams from people that were hearing these popping sounds and then ultimately got down for cover."
What was perhaps even more impressive was what journalists didn't do — they didn't jump to conclusions, whether about exactly what happened, about Trump's condition or about motives. Being first is important in breaking news, but not as important as being right, and most networks hewed to that Saturday.
What news reporters got right
"Let's remember, it’s important at these moments, these crossroads in American history, especially those that involve violence, to not make guesses about what happened," Bob Costa said on CBS News.
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That doesn't mean reporters were sitting around waiting for information. Or shy about describing the incident as a security nightmare.
"This was a catastrophic security failure in the eyes of many of my sources already," Costa said. Other reporters echoed that sentiment. How could this happen?
We have become used to instant opinions and analysis; coverage of true breaking news of this nature is, thankfully, rare. In this case, nobody really knew anything for quite a while. Details trickled in throughout the afternoon. A Trump spokesman said the former president was "fine and being checked out at a local medical facility." The shooter was reported to be dead, as was a bystander — possibly a second bystander, as well. President Joe Biden made an on-camera statement, saying, "There's no place in America for this kind of violence. It's sick."
'We all need to take a deep breath'
Social media lit up with theories, some crackpot, some not. You expect that. But the networks, for the most part, stuck to facts. Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz, a former Republican member of Congress, went about as far as anyone, at least early on, in trying to assign political motive in his defense of Trump.
"They tried to incarcerate him, they’ve now had an assassination attempt on the president," Chaffetz said. "The temperature in this country, we all need to take a deep breath. But at the same time, you know what this country we have got to make sure that we can have free fair elections. ..."
Whether by coincidence or wise decision-making, the network drowned him out with a replay of the incident. Good.
Media contextualized the rally shooting with historic examples, but anchors used restraint
Eventually we'll learn the motive, and there will be plenty of time to talk about that. In the moment, facts are what matter, and they're often slow to come by.
We haven't seen something like this in a long time.
"It has echoes of what happened to President Reagan when he was shot by John Hinckley at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.," Costa said on CBS News, "the ducking into the limousine, the rushing to the hospital."
There are more outlets and more competition for viewers than when that happened in 1981. That made the restraint all the more admirable.
Calls to 'calm things down' ahead of Republican National Convention
Now the attention turns to the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday, July 15, in Milwaukee. On Saturday, at least, attention turned to what security will be like there.
Pierre Thomas of ABC News said that the Secret Service and those in law enforcement were actively preparing for something like this to happen, given the temperature of the political rhetoric in the country.
"This has not been something in theory that they've been worried about," Thomas said. "This has been an actual concern. And now that this has happened, law enforcement — which was already on a hair trigger — will now be at a threat level we haven’t seen in quite some time."
Max Boot, appearing on MSNBC, called for political restraint.
"It’s a reminder for all of us that we need to dial it back," he said. "We need to calm things down. We need to resort to our normal democratic process."
Whether even something like this can put that into motion remains to be seen.
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