As tragic news broke out about a shooting incident during the Kansas City parade, the speed and effectiveness of news coverage became a focal point.
Much attention has been centered on the sports network giant ESPN and how it lagged significantly behind in reporting the incident.
Around 3:07 PM ET, CNN took the initial lead, breaking the news about the disturbing incident at the parade.
The news swiftly followed by other broadcasters such as Newsmax, Fox News, and FS1 within the next 10 minutes.
'First Things First' on Fox Sports 1 was broadcasting live from the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade
Commercials aired for about 10 minutes amid reports of an active shooter before FS1 abruptly cut to a Fox News special report pic.twitter.com/GW85WxyCMe
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2024
However, ESPN maintained an unsettling silence until 3:57 PM. A shocking full 50 minutes behind the first national mention of the incident.
several local stations were already covering the parade live and were quick to switch to breaking news mode.
ABC affiliate KMBC exhibited an exceptional response time, going into crisis-reporting mode around 2:50 PM ET.
Live coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting is leading all three major cable news networks – Fox News, CNN, MSNBC.
FS1 is simulcasting Fox News coverage.
ESPN and NFL Network are yet to acknowledge the shooting.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2024
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2024
ESPN’s response caused many raised eyebrows. The first mention on ESPN’s website came in at 3:40 p.m. ET.
A program called NBA Today continued as if nothing happened, leading to a heavy backlash from viewers.
The first official acknowledgment aired at 3:57 PM ET, almost an hour later than CNN’s coverage. The coverage gap between ESPN and other networks raised some intriguing questions.
Given that ESPN has ABC as its corporate sibling, it was baffling that ESPN lagged behind the other networks in turning to KMBC’s live feed one hour after its initial airing.
By 4:17 p.m. ET, ESPN managed a live stream of the incident by broadcasting KMBC’s footage of the event and later incorporating an interview with ABC News’ reporter, Alex Perez, during SportsCenter coverage.
Marcus Spears, with some very pointed remarks about the shooting during the Kanas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade:
"When I first heard it, you know what I thought, unfortunately, is this is who we are. This is who we are. So, now the ever-revolving cycle is going to start. The… pic.twitter.com/CR5ZnKoDaU
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2024
Adam Schefter weighed in with some strong remarks of his own.
"We are left here now to try to make sense of this particular situation. These images are happening everywhere all the time, every day, every week in this country. It's disgusting. It's sickening. It's enough. How… pic.twitter.com/j0DAD2X7zZ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2024
NFL Network, too, was marked for its absence of coverage, although it did keep audiences updated through tweets from its staff present at the parade.
On ESPN's coverage of the shooting at the Chiefs' parade, here's how Laura Rutledge ended NFL Live with further discussion of this, and how Elle Duncan and Kevin Negandhi started SportsCenter with coverage of the shooting. pic.twitter.com/2Iw64OCI41
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2024
However, ESPN, as the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports”, could potentially benefit from fine-tuning their breaking news protocols.
