Here's new, scary development in yesterday's attempted terrorist attack on Northwest airlines flight by 23-year-old Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab: he may have had ties to Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. From an AFP report via Playbook: (more...)

As front-page newspaper advertisements have gained popularity among cash-strapped papers, they've brought in a lot of money, but they pose the question of whether light-hearted ads belong next to hard news. Case-in-point: one daily advertised wine and spirits with a rabbit surrounded by balloons the day after the Fort Hood shootings. (more...)

“The day this happened, I was on the phone to Fox News. They didn’t have their people here yet. Our police reporter was on the scene of the shooting. He told us that the shooter had an Arabic-sounding last name. I had that info about an hour before it was picked up by MSNBC, Fox or anybody else and I didn’t use it. I had three different interviews with television news, I didn’t mention it. Why fan the flames? We had one source, and it doesn’t really add to the conversation. When you first come out with something and don’t have all the facts, to just throw it out there, that’s just incendiary, and no one needs that. That’s where we are with the terrorist thing.” (more...)

More confusion has arisen surrounding the events at Fort Hood last Thursday. Today the NYT is running an A-1 story about an eyewitness account that throws into question Sgt. Kimberly Munley's role in taking down shooter Nadil Hasan during last week's deadly rampage: (more...)

It looks like yesterday's Glenn Beck show, during which Beck forcefully labeled Nadil Hasan a "Muslim, extremist, terrorist. End of story" may just have been an early sign of what's to come. This week's Time takes a similar, if not quite as strident tone, managing to slip a question mark in at end of the 'terrorist' label. As everyone in the blogosphere knows too well, shocking headlines and images sell. That said, at this point, all signs do appear to be pointing towards the conclusion that this was some sort of terrorist act. From the cover story: (more...)

video Well, having his appendix removed last week definitely didn't dull Glenn Beck's propensity for incendiary opening segments (though he does look a bit trimmer). Beck was on a tear tonight, about a number of things including who the media chooses to label extremists and who they don't. Namely alleged Ft. Hood shooter Nadil Hasan, whom Beck more or less verbally tried and convicted in the first ten minutes of his show. Apparently Beck has only taken the "speedy" part of the 6th Amendment to heart in this case, due process is perhaps a luxury for others. (more...)

As we noticed last night, much of cable news was curiously occupied with taped programming yesterday evening in the midst of giant weekend news. Both the House passage of a health care bill and a live Fort Hood press conference occurred Saturday night, but CNN and MSNBC were locked in with pre-taped shows and thus missed a few big moments. (more...)

Military blog ROFASIX has published a 1,500-word, first person account of the massacre at Fort Hood, as allegedly delivered by a soldier who not only watched the horrific events unfold, but was shot at. Though the details about the source are scarce, the graphic story speaks for itself as he describes the carnage with an affecting specificity that is truly haunting. (more...)

In the wake of the tragic shootings in Fort Hood, millions of Americans scrambled to follow what was going on -- and encountered misinformation and rumors at every corner, including TV, blogs, and  Twitter. Could Twitter's new list feature give news consumers better information when stories like this break? (more...)

video Yesterday afternoon's tragic shooting at Fort Hood saw the cable news networks cover the story wall-to-wall, and continue coverage into prime time. That's when there began to be some separation. Here are five things we learned last night from cable news coverage of the shooting. (more...)

updated You can expect a lot of the media focus on the Fort Hood shooting rampage to shift to this woman in the next few days. Sgt. Kimberly Munley is the civilian police officer who arrived on the scene yesterday -- she had apparently been outside directing traffic -- and shot alleged shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan four times. Munley, herself was wounded in the exchange, but is reportedly in stable condition. This from the New York Daily News: (more...)

breaking At least seven people have been killed and at least 20 wounded in a mass shooting at a Texas military base by what officials believe was carried out by two gunmen. One gunman is reported to be in custody and a search is on for a second shooter, officials said. The shooting took place at Fort Hood in Texas, the largest U.S. military installation in the world. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC have all gone wall-to-wall in their coverage as this dramatic story unfolds. (more...)