Hours after the Confederate flag was removed from the grounds of the South Carolina state house Friday morning, MSNBC interrupted its regular 2 p.m. ET hour programming to bring viewers “breaking news” coverage of the pole that held that flag also being removed. Correspondent Craig Melvin narrated: “We do not know precisely how long the process itself is going to take, nor do we know what’s going to happen to the flag pole itself.”
Melvin continued by speculating on what landscaping choices would be made in absence of the pole: “It’s also not clear at this point...what’s going to happen to this area of the state house as well. Whether they’re going to put something else in its place or whether they are just going to grass it over.”
He summed up his report by noting that unlike the 10 a.m. ET removal of the flag, there would be no “ceremony” to commemorate the pole being taken down, adding: “There are a few dozen folks who’ve gathered to see the flag pole itself taken down...” Along with the dozens more watching it on MSNBC.
Later in the hour, fill-in anchor Frances Rivera declared: “There are breaking developments this hour in South Carolina. Right now you are taking a live look at the state house in Columbia, South Carolina. The pole that carried the Confederate flag is being removed.”
Minutes later, she again hyped: “Continue to follow breaking news out of South Carolina this hour. Here is an image of just moments ago when crews there physically lifting the flag pole.”
