Coverage Of Cory Lidle Tragedy Gets Wall-To-Wall Treatment

News Outlets Go Wall-To-Wall With Cory Lidle’s Death

The story of a plane crashing into an apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan yesterday “took a fresh turn around 4:30pm when news outlets began to report” that the plane was owned by Yankees P Cory Lidle, according to Paul Gough of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. That angle “renewed the story in time for the 5 p.m. newscasts, when it was confirmed that Lidle had been killed, along with another person” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 10/12). ESPN broke away from “Jim Rome is Burning” at about 4:45pm to report the news. ESPN switched back to conclude “Rome,” but moved “Around the Horn” and “PTI” to ESPN2 in order to continue reporting on Lidle. ESPN’s report continued throughout the 6:00pm “SportsCenter.” Jeremy Schaap was in N.Y. covering the story, while MLB analysts Steve Phillips, Peter Gammons and John Kruk reported along with Brian Kenny from a studio in Bristol (THE DAILY).

N.Y. MEDIA: On Long Island, Neil Best writes WFAN-AM’s “Mike & the Mad Dog” and the YES Network “did a good job switching into news mode” after the story broke. Cardinals-Mets NLCS Game One scheduled for last night was postponed because of rain, and “Mike & the Mad Dog” co-host Mike Francesa said, “I don’t care if it was sunshine. We weren’t going back (to talking about) the game at that point” (NEWSDAY, 10/12). Lidle called into “Mike & the Mad Dog” on Monday, saying that he “was just trying to ‘enjoy my day’ in New York when he heard he was getting trashed” on the show, which was criticizing comments he made after the Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs. Co-host Chris Russo responded, “No Yankee fan should enjoy the day in New York. If I’m a Yankee I’m in hiding.” Russo also participated in a controversial interview this summer with Yankees GM Brian Cashman, where he called Cashman a “liar” over comments made regarding Lidle’s inclusion in the Bobby Abreu trade. Russo yesterday said, “Do I wish right this second I had a better relationship with Cory Lidle? Yeah, I absolutely do. ... I’ve been ripping him for five or six months. Does that make me a bad guy? I’ll let others evaluate that” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/12).

MEDIA MONITOR: CNN’s “Larry King Live” last night devoted wall-to-wall coverage to Lidle’s death. Guests included Lidle’s twin brother Kevin, Yankees pitching coach Ron Guidry, Phillies broadcasters Scott Graham and Scott Franzke, the N.Y. Daily News’ Bill Madden, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Todd Zolecki and the N.Y. Times’ Tyler Kepner. Former NTSB Chair Jim Burnett was also interviewed. The story was the lead item on last night’s evening news shows and today’s morning shows on ABC, NBC and CBS. ABC’s “GMA” and NBC’s “Today” had anchors Chris Cuomo and Matt Lauer, respectively, at the scene of the accident (THE DAILY).