CNN evacuated in New York: How we covered the news

CNN anchors Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto we're covering the suspicious packages sent to the Clintons and the Obamas when the fire alarm sounded inside their New York City studio.

Posted 4:54 p.m. Oct 24, 2018 — Updated 4:54 p.m. Oct 24, 2018

Brian Stelter

, CNN Business

(CNN) — CNN anchors Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto we're covering the suspicious packages sent to the Clintons and the Obamas when the fire alarm sounded inside their New York City studio.

There was another package -- and it was inside the building where they were broadcasting.

Over the loudspeaker, CNN staffers were told to evacuate the building. Right over Harlow's shoulder, viewers could see staffers grabbing their coats and walking out to the lobby.

"There's a fire alarm here," Harlow said.

"We'll be right back," Sciutto said, tossing to a commercial break.

The suspicious device was delivered to the mailroom of CNN's parent company, WarnerMedia, around 9:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, according to a WarnerMedia executive who requested anonymity.

It "appeared to be a pipe bomb," the executive said.

The fire alarm was audible on TV at 10:09 a.m.

The entire WarnerMedia operation in New York was evacuated, from CNN's offices and studios on the lower floors to the corporate suites upstairs.

The network had to scramble to keep its 10 a.m. newscast on the air. After the commercial break, correspondent Rene Marsh picked up anchoring from Washington. She immediately explained the situation to viewers. Later in the hour, she handed it off to Wolf Blitzer. Harlow and Sciutto continued to report from a nearby street corner.

On social media, viewers praised Harlow and Sciutto for keeping the program going, initially with cell phones and a single camera. It was a surreal scene -- having to report on the evacuation of the newsroom in real time.

The 10 a.m. newscast is usually produced from a control room at CNN Center in Atlanta, so the coverage was seamless on television.

Dozens of CNN staffers turned hotel lobbies and restaurants into temporary workspaces. Email chains, conference calls and Slack channels were used to organize coverage.

One of CNN's rivals, CBS News, reached out to offer assistance. CBS is located a few blocks away from CNN on the west side of Manhattan.

CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker thanked CBS News and news division president David Rhodes "for graciously offering their assistance while we deal with this."

"Really nice to see from our fellow journalists," Zucker wrote in an internal memo.

At CNN's headquarters in Atlanta, where parts of the CNN Center complex are open to the public, "we are putting up magnetometers at the entrances to the building," Zucker told staffers. "We remain vigilant regarding security concerns across all of our global locations."

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