The George Mitchell report led all three nightly newscasts on Thursday night, and all three newscasts had interviews with the former Senator.
In an example of the magnitude of the story, all three nightly newscasts had in-depth coverage of the issue; the entire first segment of the CBS Evening News was devoted to steroids.
On the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, substitute anchor Russ Mitchell led with the statement: “Say it ain’t so.” Reporter Armen Ketayian had a roughly three minute report on the Mitchell Report, which included a sit down interview with George Mitchell. Afterwards, Russ Mitchell had a brief discussion with Keteyian and Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim.
That discussion was then followed by a report on steroid use among teenagers by John Blackstone. After that report, CBS had a brief story on the record contract Alex Rodriguez signed with the New York Yankees. The story featured snippets of an interview between Katie Couric and Rodriguez that was done for 60 Minutes. Rodriguez on the Mitchell report: “If anything comes of this, it will be extremely disappointing, and it will be a black eye on the game of baseball.”
The NBC Nightly News also had comprehensive coverage of the story. Reporter Mike Taibbi had a sit down interview with George Mitchell, and his report featured a video sound byte of Roger Clemens’ lawyer Rusty Hardin vehemently denying the allegations against the star Yankees pitcher.
Following Taibbi’s report, host Brian Williams had an interview with former SportsCenter anchor and current MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann. Following that discussion, Williams then reported on the record deal Alex Rodriguez signed with the Yankees.
World News with Charles Gibson featured a report by John Berman, who made clear that “some of the names [in the Mitchell report] are breathtaking.” Following Berman’s piece, host Charlie Gibson had a split-screen interview with George Mitchell, in which he asked the former Senator about the effect baseball’s widespread steroid use has had on American youth.
