Trump Attack Sends TV News Anchors Scrambling to Cover RNC, Preparing for ‘Animosity Toward the Press’.
Scott MacFarlane, the CBS News correspondent, wasn’t quite sure what was going on Saturday night. He was covering former President Donald Trump’s rally in western Pennsylvania when he heard noises that reminded him of firecrackers. They were gunshots.
Suddenly, MacFarlane realized he was in potential danger — and a nearby rival was trying to keep him safe.
“Rachel Scott pulled me down,” says MacFarlane, referring to the ABC News veteran. She “grabbed me by the arm, told me to get beneath the bleachers.” On Sunday morning, MacFarlane tells Variety, “I gave her a big hug.”
As TV news outlets try to pivot from one of the rarest of events — an assassination attempt on a former U.S. president — to coverage of the Republican National Convention, such goodwill may be in short supply. MacFarlane, who has remained in Pennsylvania to cover some of the investigation into what has been described as an assassination attempt on Trump by a 20-year-old man, has been surprised by some of the invective that has been hurled his way.
“I can tell you I’ve noticed more people yelling at me over the past 24 hours,” MacFarlane says. “The language is fierce, more corrosive.” He’s heard people telling him that “I hope you die,” that “this is your fault.”
