by President Barack Obama interrupted prime-time television broadcasting on Sunday night to announce to the citizens of the United States as well as the rest of the world, that the man responsible for numerous terrorist attacks, including the felling of New York’s World Trade Center, Osama bin Laden, is dead.
Announcement During Celebrity Apprentice
In the past there have been complaints that President Obama has often interrupted regularly scheduled broadcasts to make speeches, some of a more or less urgent nature. But Sunday night’s announcement telling the world of Osama bin Laden’s demise was a welcome interruption from any TV show on the air at the time for just about everybody, except for maybe Donald Trump.Some eyebrows were raised however, wondering if it was just a coincidence or carefully planned, that NBC had to cut into its broadcast of The Celebrity Apprentice, the famed reality TV show hosted by Donald Trump, who just happens to also be running for president in the upcoming election. Since Osama was actually killed in a shoot-out about one week ago, the timing of the announcement could have been done in a less disruptive way.
Major Coverage for Major Announcement
All the major news outlets covered the President’s announcement, including ABC, NBC and CBS, all of which cut away from their programs to bring the great news to the American people as soon as possible. After the announcement NBC on the east coast broadcast from the local news station, while on the west coast the national news broadcast of the announcement only slightly delayed Celebrity Apprentice on NBC. After Obama’s announcement concluded, NBC and CBS choose to go back to the reality shows, but ABC continued with their news coverage.“Tonight I can report to the American people and the world, the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children,” Obama said. “Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts … The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaeda. His death does not mark the end of our effort…”The President also said that Bin Laden was killed by a small team of specially trained US military personnel in a compound in Pakistan after a firefight. The US also has taken possession of Bin Laden’s remains.
