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By: fuzzymemories

Description: This clip made possible by the donations from our generous group of "Fuzzketeers" during the Spring 2012 Tape Transfer Fundraiser.

Here's Part 1 of coverage of the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy as it was breaking, from Metromedia Television News, originating out of KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles (a future sister station to WFLD Channel 32) and aired on sister stations WNEW (now WNYW) Channel 5 in New York City and WTTG Channel 5 in Washington, DC. This 32-minute report was submitted by Metromedia in black-and-white 16mm kinescope film form for consideration for an award for "Reporting of an On-the-Spot News Story" as given by the Radio-Television News Directors Association. The anchor on this part (which originally aired in color, but is presented here in glorious black-and-white) is Jack Cole. Includes:

SMPTE Universal Film Leader countdown

Jack opening the report with news of RFK's condition, which at the start of this part is extremely critical. A clip of Kennedy's press secretary, Frank Mankiewicz, giving details of his condition at a 2:10pm PT (4:10pm CT) news conference is shown, in which Mankiewicz explains that Kennedy's vital signs "remain good" and is able to breathe on his own, but his breathing "remains assisted by a resuscitator." Jack then mentions that Kennedy's condition had been upgraded at that point from very critical which had been his status at the point of a post-operative press conference held by Mankiewicz at 7:30am PT (9:30am CT), a clip of which is also shown (during this clip, Mankiewicz mentioned the members of the team that operated on Bobby: Dr. Maxwell Andler, Dr. Nat Downs Reid and Dr. Henry Cuneo).

Jack then goes into details on the shooting, with a still photo of a wounded RFK on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, followed by photos of his assassin (or as Jack called him, "would-be assassin") – identified 10 hours after the incident as Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a 24-year-old Jordanian immigrant from Pasadena – via mug shots, fingerprint documents, and pictures of him being subdued at the hotel. Jack goes on to the backstory about the events leading up to the shooting, with the vote count of the California primary going slowly until Bobby was named the winner around midnight and then gave his acceptance speech.

This aired on local Los Angeles TV (and also on the aforementioned Metromedia stations in New York and Washington) on Wednesday, June 5th 1968.