Sky News is claiming to have been the first UK broadcaster to break
the news of American air attacks on Baghdad last night, which heralded the
start of the second Gulf war - beating ITV by a wafer-thin 30 seconds.
The cable and satellite channel carried a news flash at 2.32am
reporting that air raid sirens were being sounded in the Iraqi capital,
according to a Sky News spokeswoman.
She claimed Sky News beat ITV News Channel - which was simulcast on
ITV1 throughout the night - to get the first report of the Baghdad attacks
by 30 seconds, and also scooped the BBC by 10 minutes.
But an ITN spokeswoman countered Sky's claim, saying ITV News Channel
reported the breaking news of the start of the war "alongside" Sky News,
just after 2.30am.
"Neil Connery, one of our reporters in Baghdad, was on the phone to
London studio presenter Helen McCarthy when the attacks started. He heard
explosions in the background from cruise missile attacks," she said.
Sky News had correspondent David Chater on the phone live from Baghdad
at 2.34am, with live in-vision reports following later.
In the US, NBC claimed to be the first broadcaster with news of the
attacks.
The network's veteran news anchor, Tom Brokaw, broke into scheduled
prime time programming on NBC at 9.32pm on the east coast of America
(2.32am GMT), with reports of the first explosions.
News channel CNN, the only US broadcaster that still has reporters in
Baghdad, carried a first report at 9.36pm (2.36am GMT), with arch-rival
Fox News following three minutes later.
Shortly afterwards CNN's Nic Robertson reported live from Baghdad that
anti-aircraft fire could be seen in the sky above the city, though he said
he had not heard any explosions.
The American networks also carried President George Bush's four-minute
speech to the nation declaring the country was at war, which began at
10.15pm, eastern standard time.
As it became clear that the first air raids were not a full-scale
attack, CBS, ABC and Fox stations on the west coast of America - three
hours behind the eastern seaboard - went back to regular scheduled
programming for the start of prime time at 8pm.
But NBC's war coverage, anchored by Brokaw, continued until just before
1am eastern standard time.
On the first day of the war, China allowed what appeared to be balanced
reporting by its state controlled media.
In a rare move, state television broadcast live, with simultaneous
translation, the address by U.S. President George W. Bush on the start of
the war.
Other official news outlets ran the text of Bush's brief speech on
their Web sites in both Chinese and English.
State television also carried a later live broadcast from Baghdad by
Saddam, also with simultaneous translation.
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