Mainstream Media Outlets Swarm San Bernardino Suspects’ Home in Live Broadcast

On Friday, reporters for news outlets including MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News crammed themselves into the home of San Bernardino attackers Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik.

Various footage captured a large crowd of reporters at the apartment of Farook and Malik, zooming in on various personal items throughout the residence.

CNN claimed that they “made a conscious editorial decision not to show close-up footage of any material that could be considered sensitive or identifiable, such as photos or ID cards” in an email to the Washington Post.

MSNBC was criticized for the decision to show photographs and identification cards in their broadcast.

https://twitter.com/DavidBoles/status/672835027961446401/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The network later expressed regret for doing so, saying that “Although MSNBC was not the first crew to enter the home, we did have the first live shots from inside. We regret that we briefly showed images of photographs and identification cards that should not have been aired without review.”

There have been conflicting accounts regarding whether major news outlets were invited by the apartment’s landlord to enter. MSNBC claimed that the network and “other news organizations were invited into the home by the landlord after law enforcement officials had finished examining the site and returned control to the landlord.”

Landlord Doyle Miller said that after the FBI had released the property to him, he chose to allow one media organization to enter the apartment. Doyle did not specify which organization.

Doyle said that other agencies then “stormed in.”