CNN hired Michelle Kosinski – primarily seen on NBC’s Today – as their new White House correspondent, alongside Jim Acosta. “Kosinski’s vast experience covering both domestic and international affairs will be particularly valuable as she covers the administration,” said their press release.
But Kosinski’s beat was usually light and airy like a morning show demands. Working out of London recently, she was on beats like the "Royal Baby Watch."
One of our earliest viral blogs at NewsBusters came when Mark Finkelstein made light of how Kosinski tried to illustrate flooding in New Jersey by paddling a canoe in the street:
There was one small problem. Just as the segment came on the air, two men waded in front of Kosinski . . . and the water barely covered their shoe tops! That's right, Kosinski's canoe was in no more than four to six inches of water!
An embarrassed Kosinski claimed the water was deeper down the street but that her producers didn't want to let her go there for fear she'd drift away. But Katie and Matt, perhaps peeved by her attempted scene-stealing, couldn't resist ribbing her.
Matt: "Are these holy men, perhaps walking on top of the water?"
"Gee, is your oar hitting ground, Michelle?" inquired Katie, as she and Matt dissolved into laughter.
Moral of the story: people in canoes in a few inches of water shouldn't throw video-stunt stones.
