The Columbine tragedy - “Shots fired at Columbine High School” – (April 20, 1999)

We Interrupt This Broadcast

It was the darkest nightmare of every parent come to life - and it happened in the land of “It can’t happen here.” The setting was Littleton, Colorado, a comfortably middle-class suburb of Denver, a place where people come to raise a family, and where the arch over a hallway at local Columbine High School is inscribed with the motto: “The finest kids in America pass through these halls.” But on April 20, 1997 - the halls of Columbine suddenly became the scene of a murderous reign of terror. Coverage of the shootings was intensified by the ubiquity of 24-hour cable news, and its constant need to come up with fresh information - often incorrect. The media quickly realized they simply had no protocols for a mass casualty incident of such dimensions.

Broadcast audio courtesy of KOA Radio, Denver, CO, ABC News Video Source, CBS News

Contributors:

• David Bernknopf, Former VP CNN, A founding employee of CNN
• Jayson Luber, Former KOA Radio and KUSA TV Traffic reporter
• Kathy Walker, News Director, KOA Radio, Denver
• Marcy McGinnis, Former Senior Vice President News Coverage, CBS News
• Jerry Bell, KOA NEWS Radio Managing Editor

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