SALON

Wednesday, Apr 17, 2013 10:31 PM UTC

Aaron Brown on CNN’s bad day: John King will “have the hardest time sleeping tonight”

The former CNN anchor tells Salon about the "tremendous pressure" in the "inherently conservative" net's newsroom

By

Topics: CNN, Boston Explosions, aaron brown, john king,

Aaron Brown on CNN's bad day: John King will John King (Credit: AP/Ross D. Franklin)

After CNN was forced to walk back John King’s reporting that an arrest had been made in connection to the Boston Marathon bombing, Aaron Brown (an anchor at CNN until 2005, including on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001) was sympathetic.

“No one who does this in a breaking news environment has not had this happen. You feel that you’ve let down the organization and the audience. It is a very difficult moment.”

Brown, who is now a professor at Arizona State University, told Salon that his students had asked about the King reporting throughout the day. “I told them it never would have happened this badly on my watch,” he joked, before turning serious. “The role of the anchor is to say: This is true. And these things are very chaotic. [CNN should have indicated] ‘What we can say for sure is that the case moved significantly today.” Brown suggested that King and NBC News’ Pete Williams were using sources from entirely different spheres, with Williams operating with federal sources in Washington, while “my guess is that [King] was getting stuff from local or law enforcement or courthouse people; his sources were state people.”

The former CNN reporter indicated that an issue of reputation and stature helped get King’s reporting on the air. “There is tremendous pressure, even though CNN is inherently conservative in its news judgment,” Brown said. “It was one of the most trusted reporters in the organization and in the news business. Did the executive producer make the call? Absolutely. Was the anchor involved? Probably not.”

“If I’m running a cable news organization,” Brown said, “which I’m surely not and don’t expect to, one of the things I would try to do is be humble in breaking stuff.” He indicated that CNN ought to have run its sources’ claims with a caveat: “Say, ‘This is what we’re getting. If it all bears out, it could be a huge moment.’

“It would be unfair not to recognize that they’re very serious about getting it right,” said Brown. But within CNN, he speculated, there will be attempts by the same reporters who checked their emails on-air today looking for more information to distance themselves from the story. “What direction does shit roll? The direction it rolls now. It’s the reporter’s story and the reporter’s going to be the one who has the  hardest time sleeping tonight.”

Daniel D'Addario is a staff reporter for Salon's entertainment section. Follow him on Twitter @DPD_ More Daniel D'Addario.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 20 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Would we give up burgers to stop climate change? New study suggests if we reduce our intake of animal products by 25%, we can halt climate change
611 points612 points | 249 comments
vote
Facebook has been used to find ex-lovers, childhood BFFs or the one who got away. He used it to find the guy who, without his consent, made him his drug mule.
237 points238 points | 22 comments
vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
138 points139 points | 55 comments
vote
Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” - 29% say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years
46 points47 points | 16 comments
vote
Capitalism, not feminism, killed home cooking–and fixing our broken food system is gonna take a lot more than some privileged women embracing “new domesticity”
32 points33 points | 19 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations