CNN, MSNBC, and several other media outlets may have just messed up an ongoing FBI investigation when they barged into the apartment of the San Bernardino terrorists on Friday. The shooting is now being investigated as an act of terror, the FBI announced today.
While inside the apartment, which had been used to make and store bombs, reporters began picking up random objects inside the home and showing them to the camera. The whole thing was broadcast live.
During this bizarre and unprecedented show-and-tell, reporters showed an uncensored driver’s license and Social Security card found inside the home, as well as photos of an unidentified woman, who media types are speculating is Tashfeen Malik, the female shooting suspect and wife of Syed Rizwan Farook, another suspect. At one point, an MSNBC anchor urged the cameramen to stop showing photos of children, which is a gross violation of journalistic ethics and basic common sense.
Screenshots from MSNBC. I added the redout pic.twitter.com/Ttu3zJ0Fjj
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) December 4, 2015
are they literally tampering with evidence live on MSNBC?
— Sam Ro (@bySamRo) December 4, 2015
Networks eventually cut away from the live broadcast, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper later avoided specifying whether the FBI gave the reporters permission to enter the home. In the aftermath of the media feeding frenzy, several reporters frantically deleted tweets, including NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Kelly O’Donnell.
.@KellyO it looks like you deleted this tweet. Can you put this back up? pic.twitter.com/vofROgQE9M
— Sam Ro (@bySamRo) December 4, 2015
@georgepearkes Even if the door is wide open. At some point, something just doesn’t feel right.
— Sam Ro (@bySamRo) December 4, 2015
.@KellyO Looks like this one was deleted too. I have the images saved if you need it. pic.twitter.com/irbR88C94c
— Sam Ro (@bySamRo) December 4, 2015
Aside from reporters, random onlookers reportedly went inside the apartment, too, including a woman who just happened to be out walking her dog.
CNN journo on scene says no longer just reporters: “There’s a woman with a dog walking into the house…”
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) December 4, 2015
Initially, the TV news networks said the landlord had given them permission to enter the apartment, where they proceeded to rifle through the belongings of the alleged shooters, but later on the landlord said otherwise. When he was asked why he allowed the reporters inside the apartment, he explained that he didn’t give them permission, rather the media rushed in “like a garage sale.”
Landlord says he didn’t allow media into San Bernardino shooters’ apartment: ‘they rushed’ https://t.co/2CfqNG6voO pic.twitter.com/HlWPUEeJHY
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) December 4, 2015
It is unclear if TV networks paid for access to the apartment, which would raise additional ethical and legal questions.
@EricB_noRakim in this Periscope you can hear a reporter say someone paid $1000 for @InsideEdition to get in https://t.co/MJbXQ8rT1d
— Ryan Kyle Williams (@RyanKyleWill) December 4, 2015
The FBI hasn’t clarified whether they gave the media permission to broadcast from an important scene of an ongoing investigation of what now appears to be a terrorist attack.
FBI Spokesperson Lourdes Arocho: “The search is over at that location. We are going to have a press conference at 11 o’clock.”
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) December 4, 2015
But the real question, is why weren’t there armed police officers securing the apartment of the suspects? The White House has continued to seem completely out of touch with the ongoing and escalating threat of ISIS and terrorism in the United States.
Um, why, exactly? pic.twitter.com/7SeDOhkW2f
— Instapundit.com (@instapundit) December 4, 2015
During a press briefing immediately after the live coverage inside the suspects’ apartment, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Americans should feel confident in the FBI. It’s not clear there is a reason to feel confident in the FBI after they just failed to secure a crime scene in the ongoing investigation of a terrorist attack.
During a press event in California, David Bowdich, the FBI Los Angeles assistant director, announced that Tuesday’s attack is being investigated an act of terrorism. When asked if the individuals were connected to ISIS, he said it didn’t appear they were connected to the terror group. This seems contrary to reports that suspects pledged allegiance to ISIS prior to the shooting.
When asked about the apartment, Bowdich said that the FBI has “no control” over crime scenes after the evidence is collected. Control of the property was returned to the owner after the FBI gathered the evidence Wednesday night and boarded it up.
