CBS News fires hasty producer

CBS News has fired a producer who jumped the gun Wednesday night, taking the network to a special report announcing that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had died.

In East and Central time zones, the report cut off the ending of murder drama “CSI: NY,” leading to complaints from viewers and a CBS apology.

Although networks normally fight to be first with news, Arafat’s death had been widely expected and CBS’ plan, which the producer didn’t follow, had been to offer the report to local stations for their newscasts.

The name of the producer was not released. A CBS News spokeswoman said the network wouldn’t comment on personnel issues.