Americans woke up on New Year’s Day to the horrific news of a terror attack in New Orleans, Louisiana. A vehicle intentionally drove down Bourbon Street during the early morning hours of Jan. 1, plowing into the crowd and killing 15 people.
Authorities have since classified the attack as an act of terrorism and named Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, as the suspect. President Joe Biden said the Islamic State group inspired the early morning attack.
Upon recognizing the severity of the situation, the cable news networks quickly pivoted from holiday programming to breaking news mode. Meanwhile, broadcast outlets produced special reports that interrupted their weekday morning news shows. (All times ET.)
Fox News was the first network to break the news at 6:19 a.m. on Wednesday during Fox & Friends, followed by CNN at 6:28 a.m., NewsNation at 6:29 a.m., and MSNBC at 7:15 a.m. The cable outlets provided continuous coverage of the tragedy in the ensuing hours and in primetime.
On the broadcast side, NBC News’ Hallie Jackson anchored a special report on the attack that began at 7:11 a.m. Lester Holt anchored Nightly News from Los Angeles, while Tom Llamas, Jesse Kirsch, and George Solis reported on the ground from New Orleans.
CBS News aired its first special report at 7:41 a.m. on Jan. 1. The network’s New Orleans-based national reporter, Kati Weis, was in the French Quarter when the tragedy occurred and shared her account on that evening’s CBS Evening News, anchored by Major Garrett. On Thursday morning, CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil anchored from New Orleans joined by CBS Saturday Morning co-host and former First Lady of New Orleans Michelle Miller.
.@cbsnews’ @KatiWeis was on an evening out in New Orleans’ French Quarter when the deadly vehicle ramming attack began. She ducked into a building, but as New Year’s revelers were let out by police, she recalls seeing “bodies strewn across Bourbon Street.” pic.twitter.com/tcwaXyxAel
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 2, 2025
Good Morning America weekend edition co-anchor Whit Johnson was on the ground for ABC News, which aired its first special report at 7:30 a.m.
Below are the times when news outlets broke the news coming out of New Orleans. (In alphabetical order.)
ABC News — 7:30 a.m.
CBS News — 7:41 a.m.