TV & VIDEO - May 4, 1988

NBC News on Tuesday was defending its controversial decision to break into regularly scheduled entertainment programming on Monday with a special bulletin shortly after 10 a.m. (PDT) that a 2,000-man Israeli force was moving into southern Lebanon. Neither CBS News nor ABC News said the story of the Israeli incursion warranted a rare bulletin. NBC News vice president Tim Russert argued that the bulletin--which he said was the only one aired Monday by NBC-TV until the “NBC Nightly News”--was justified. “The simple fact is, it was the largest Israeli incursion into Lebanon in two years,” he said, saying that the other two network’s “were caught flat-footed” on the story. Both of the other networks claimed to have the story, but both said they made “editorial decisions” not to report it until their evening newscasts.