Hah! I KNEW it!
2004-11-13, 9:56 a.m.

CBS News Fires Producer Over Arafat Special Report
By Steve Gorman, Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 13) - CBS News has fired the producer responsible for interrupting the last five minutes of a hit crime drama with a special report on the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, a network source said on Friday.

Word of the dismissal came a day after CBS apologized to viewers for breaking into "CSI: NY," one of its top-rated shows, on Wednesday night.

"An overly aggressive CBS News producer jumped the gun with a report that should have been offered to local stations for their late news. We sincerely regret the error," the network said in a statement on Thursday.

The network, owned by Viacom Inc., declined comment on a report of the dismissal posted on the Web site of trade publication Broadcasting & Cable.

But a network source told Reuters that CBS fired the producer who decided to break into "CSI" with a report from "Up to the Minute" anchor Melissa McDermott.

According to the source, the producer failed to follow standard procedures that require a senior CBS News executive to be consulted before interrupting regular programming.

The fact Arafat already had been reported near death for several days also figured in the network's decision.

The source said the producer disregarded explicit, advance instructions that breaking news of Arafat's death -- if it occurred during prime time -- was to be reported with a news "crawl" at the bottom of the screen.

"Arafat had been literally on his deathbed for a week. Everyone knew he was going to die. It was just a matter of when," the source said.

Neither of CBS' two biggest rivals -- NBC or ABC -- interrupted regular programming to report Arafat's death.

NBC said it ran a crawl for affiliates in the Western states and Rockies, while leaving the story for local news in eastern and central time zones. ABC said it ran a crawl on the West Coast.

Me again. See? I said it all yesterday. I have a much cooler head today, though, and think maybe firing was a bit harsh. But Wednesday night and Thursday I most definitely would have agreed with it. On the other, this producer is making a heck of a lot more money than I am, and I knew better, so maybe he (I'm definitely guessing it's a he) did deserve to be fired for being a bonehead. Sheesh, FIVE minutes. Five. Ok, I'm done. :D

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