There’s so much to cover from the weekend media coverage of the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump. In this edition, I get the thoughts of longtime media journalist Brian Stelter.

But let’s start today’s newsletter with the powerful photograph above. It’s a startling image, one that surely will live on for years to come, and one that disturbingly helps capture one of the darkest days in our nation’s history.

Few, if any, journalists’ names have appeared in this newsletter as often as Evan Vucci. He is the Associated Press photographer based in Washington, D.C., who has been photographing Trump for years. Whenever a photo of Trump has appeared in this newsletter, it was more than likely taken by Vucci.

But on Saturday, while covering Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, Vucci took perhaps his most famous Trump photo of all, and maybe the most famous photo he will ever take. It was a photo of Trump, surrounded by Secret Service agents, with his fist in the air and blood streaking down his cheek. Behind them, an American flag set against a stunning blue sky. It was taken moments after Trump was struck in the ear by a would-be assassin’s bullet.

In a video late Saturday night, Vucci described what happened.

Vucci was right in front of the stage of what he figured would be a normal Trump rally, like the hundreds of others that Vucci has covered.

“Over my left shoulder, I heard several pops, and I knew it was gunfire,” Vucci said.

Vucci explained that he looked at the stage and saw Secret Service rushing toward Trump.

“From that moment, I ran to the stage and started photographing the agents on top of him,” Vucci said. “And then off to my right, I saw the Secret Service counter assault team arrive. And then I ran to the other side of the stage.”

Mind you, as this was going on, Vucci was just feet away from Trump and was doing his job while having no idea if the threat had been diffused. In fact, journalists throughout the rally rushed to do their jobs without knowing if the danger still existed.

Vucci said as Trump was walking down the ramp, the former president began fist-pumping to the crowd. Vucci then followed Trump with his camera until Trump was escorted into his car. Along the way, he captured his now-famous photo.

“I’m not sure how long it was from beginning to end,” Vucci said, “But in my mind, it all happened really fast.”

And Vucci performed his job at a spectacular level.

“At the moment I heard the shots being fired,” Vucci explained, “I knew that this was a moment in American history that had to be documented. It’s our job as journalists to do this work.”

The video includes several of the photos Vucci took during this chaotic and dangerous time.

Vucci told The Daily Beast’s Corbin Bolies, “Being a photographer, you have to, have to be there. I can’t write about it later. I can’t go back in time and get a redo. So you have to do your job.”

Vucci said he never thought about the danger of the moment. He was too caught up in his job.

He told Boiles, “What’s going to happen next? What do I need to do? Where do I need to be? What is the light? What is the composition? So those are the things that start to go through your head. It’s very much in the mindset where you’re just now doing your job.”

Bolies wrote, “Vucci’s photos took the nation by storm, documenting a bloodied former president a week before he was set to secure the Republican nomination. His photos, along with those of peers such as New York Times veteran photographer Doug Mills and Getty Images’ Anna Moneymaker, lit up all forms of news broadcasts and social media, a dark convergence of the virality of the digital age with the grim occasion of an assassination attempt on a U.S. leader.”

Another name that should be acknowledged is AP photographer Gene J. Puskar, who also took several startling photos of a bloodied Trump and shifted his focus for this image:

Police snipers return fire after shots were fired while Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on Saturday. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Vucci has been at the AP since 2003, and was part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of the protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Vucci, 47, also took several noted photos of the time when an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at then-President George W. Bush.

More about the photo

The photo of a defiant Trump pumping his fist in the air with blood running down his face has already taken on a political tone. The Atlantic’s Tyler Austin Harper wrote, “However you feel about the man at its center, it is undeniably one of the great compositions in U.S. photographic history.”

He added, “The image of Trump, bloody with a raised fist, is destined to adorn T-shirts, magazine covers, full-page spreads in history books, campaign ads. I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that the photo is nearly perfect, one captured under extreme duress and that distills the essence of a man in all his contradictions. Many commentators have already surmised that this image alone will cost our current president his reelection bid.”

Philip Kennicott, the senior art and architecture critic for The Washington Post, wrote, “It is a photograph that could change America forever.”

Kennicott added, “Vucci’s photo will create a reality more real than reality, transforming the chaos and messiness of a few moments of peril onstage in Pennsylvania into a surpassing icon of Trump’s courage, resolve and heroism. Densely packed with markers of nationalism and authority — the flag, the blood, the urgent faces of federal agents in dark suits — it will encourage some of the darkest forces in American civic life. People who preach violence, who revel in its political potential, can now say that one of their own is a victim, and he was. From that, more cycles of violence are almost inevitable.”

What does Vucci think about his photo possibly impacting the election?

Vucci told Bolies, “I shoot politics for a living, man. Every single photo I take people are going to argue about. I spend my life around a very highly polarized part of our society, so no matter what I do, people are gonna hate it. People are gonna love it. Listen, as long as everyone hates me equally, I’m doing the job.”

Vucci is just thankful he can look back at his work Saturday knowing that he did his job. He said, “I’m glad I didn’t let anyone down. I got a standard to hold. I got into journalism to, you know — the idea is to inform the American public, and I hope that they can look at the photos and they can see what I saw that day.”

Another amazing photo

Another incredible photo Saturday night was taken by The New York Times’ Doug Mills. (Click here to see it.) The photo appears to show a bullet whizzing past Trump’s head.

But was it? The New York Times’ John Ismay asked Michael Harrigan, a retired FBI special agent who spent more than two decades in the bureau. Harrigan said, “It absolutely could be showing the displacement of air due to a projectile. The angle seems a bit low to have passed through his ear, but not impossible if the gunman fired multiple rounds.”

According to Ismay, Mills was using a camera that shoots 30 frames per second with a shutter speed of 1/8,000th of a second, described as “extremely fast by industry standards.”

Harrigan calculated the type of gun that could have been used, and the camera with all its tools, and said, “Most cameras used to capture images of bullets in flight are using extremely high speed specialty cameras not normally utilized for regular photography, so catching a bullet on a side trajectory as seen in that photo would be a one in a million shot and nearly impossible to catch even if one knew the bullet was coming.”

So?

Harrigan said, “Given the circumstances, if that’s not showing the bullet’s path through the air, I don’t know what else it would be.”

Saturday night’s coverage

The scene following Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Network and cable news scrambled into action Saturday evening to cover the news. There was some extra attention being paid to the Trump rally, in part because there was a possibility that Trump would name his running mate. And there were plenty of top reporters on the scene in preparation for the Republican National Convention, which starts today in Milwaukee.

What happened was, obviously, not expected. Yet the news networks were fully prepared.

All the networks cut into regularly scheduled programming almost immediately after the shots were fired, around 6:20 p.m. Eastern time.

To their credit, the main networks — ABC, CBS and NBC — as well as cable news networks CNN, Fox News and MSNBC were responsible in their coverage, using careful language about what actually happened, but also describing the gravity of the situation.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer called it a “really, really scary moment in American history.”

Then came several questions: How was Trump? Was anyone else killed or injured? Who did this? Why did they do it? The networks then spent the next several hours on the story, slowly getting the various details to these questions, but not getting all the answers — which is fine.

But when so much remains unknown, networks rely on the same formula: Show the video over and over and over again while interviewing witnesses at the rally and trying to report new information. When so little information is known, analysts and commentators have to be careful in their analysis and commentary.

The Associated Press’ David Bauder wrote, “News and broadcast networks began lengthy coverage within moments — as soon as it was apparent that something terrible had happened. What unfolded was a textbook example of the ultimate test for journalists as a big story unfolds: trying to get reliable information as quickly as possible while taking care not to speculate, be overheated or pass on unfounded rumors.”

Overall, the coverage was responsible. It’s better to have repetitive coverage with little new information than rush into irresponsible rumors for the sake of trying to move the story forward.

Take just this one part. While it seems likely that Trump was the target Saturday night, we don’t know why he was a target. Was it political? Maybe, maybe not.

Remember that President Ronald Reagan was once an assassination target. However, the shooter, John Hinckley Jr., wasn’t politically motivated. He did it because of an obsession with a movie actress.

At first, we weren’t even sure the “loud popping noises” heard Saturday night at the Trump rally were from a gun, which is why reporters were at first hesitant to say they were gunshots.

Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin wrote, “Imagine the following scenario. Pops ring out at the rally. Trump clutches his ear and falls to the ground, before standing up surrounded by Secret Service agents. The media rushes out the breaking news: Trump Shot By Would-Be Assassin. Then, say that turned out not to be true; the pops were fireworks, the gash on Trump’s ear caused by shards of a shattered teleprompter.”

McLaughlin continued, “The exact same critics attacking the press now would be screaming — or tweeting — that the media tried to fuel hysteria and incite another Jan. 6 by riling up the MAGA crowd with false reports their hero went down. A media that exercises restraint is a good media. It often fails to live up to that standard, but the argument that it should be more reckless in its coverage, not less, is one that will lead to worse, not better reporting.”

Thoughts from Stelter

As I alluded to at the start of the newsletter, I reached out to veteran media reporter Brian Stelter, formerly of CNN and The New York Times, to get his thoughts on the weekend’s coverage of the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Here’s what Stelter wrote to me via email:

• “This was best-case coverage of a worst-case scenario. The nation’s top networks and publications provided wall-to-wall coverage for hours on end with virtually no errors or controversies.”
• “I’m not counting the foolish social media noise over the initial headlines about ‘loud noises’ because those headlines were accurate, restrained and quickly revised. At a moment of fear and uncertainty for the country, the news coverage was steady and sober, exactly as it should be.”
• Stelter mentioned that the anchors who were on air when the shots rang out, such as CNN’s Jessica Dean and Fox’s Shannon Bream, were “calm and careful.”
• “The live video told the story — thanks to the pool of videographers who kept the camera fixated on Trump the entire time.”
• “All five major networks (CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News) had reporters at the rally, and those reporters did some of the best work of their careers, describing the shooting aftermath and interviewing eyewitnesses. This episode underscored why it is so valuable to have reporters present at Trump rallies.”

Wolf Blitzer took over for Dean after 20 minutes or so, and Stelter gave his thoughts on his former CNN colleague, saying, “Over the years I have always marveled at Wolf Blitzer’s ability to get into the anchor chair within minutes. On Saturday he did it again. Seeing Wolf on air at an unusual time or day (like a Saturday evening) immediately signals that something serious is happening and that viewers are in steady hands.”

Stelter added, “Weekend newsroom crews deserve a big shoutout. Weekends can be a lonely, underappreciated, overstretched shift. The weekend crews at the networks all rose to the occasion. I was quite impressed by the rolling special reports on NBC, ABC and CBS.”

Sunday coverage

The main networks scrapped their regularly scheduled programming Sunday morning to cover Saturday’s news.

“CBS News Sunday Morning,” which mostly focuses on features, abandoned its planned show. While it was supposed to preview the RNC, it also had scheduled features on actor Ralph Macchio, the artist Banksy and elephants. Instead, John Dickerson anchored 90 minutes of news coverage.

Over on NBC, Savannah Guthrie and Willie Geist anchored a special edition of the “Today” show. And ABC had a special weekend edition of “Good Morning America” with usual weekday hosts Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan.

All the networks had special coverage of President Joe Biden’s Sunday night remarks from the Oval Office.

Media under attack

As Trump was being rushed off the stage, and it started to feel as if this was an attempt to assassinate the former president, you could see video of rallygoers turning their attention to the media pen in anger. Some could be seen using obscene gestures and clearly shouting expletives at the press.

Axios’ Sophia Cai was in the media section and reported that not long after the initial disturbance, many in the crowd yelled things such as, “Fake news! This is your fault! You’re next! Your time is coming.”

Cai then wrote that a few tried to break into the media area but were stopped by security.

Cai was standing next to her friend and former Axios colleague Alayna Treene, who is now with CNN. Treene had security with her.

Treene told CNN, “A lot of the rally attendees were very angry with the press. When I was still on stage, people were screaming at us, saying, ‘This is your fault.’ I think that they were really seeking an outlet for their anger, and at a Trump rally, Donald Trump often talks about ‘fake news.’ A lot of people yell at us all the time. That’s why we normally bring security. So it was a heightened version of that.”

First-hand accounts

Here are a couple of first-hand accounts from reporters who were covering Saturday night’s rally.

As I wrote, CNN reporter Alayna Treene was there on Saturday. She spoke with CNN’s Zachary Wolf for “What CNN’s reporter saw on the ground when Trump was attacked.”

Treene said, “I was talking with my producer earlier today. Sometimes you go to these rallies, you go to so many, it’s the same thing. You’re just waiting to hear what Donald Trump has to say. But never in a million years would we have expected an assassination attempt like that. It’s just something that I don’t think would ever cross our minds, because you always feel so protected with the amount of law enforcement and Secret Service on the ground. Everyone I spoke with who was there, including the people on the bleachers behind them, they had no idea.”

And from NBC News: “NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns describes chaotic and dangerous scene at Saturday’s Trump rally.”

Burns wrote, “But there are things that have stuck with me: the sound of children screaming, a witness who was standing near the man who was killed cogently walking our viewers through every excruciating moment, a mother who told me that her adult son grabbed her hand for the first time since he was a young child. These are memories that will be seared into people’s minds.”

She added, “As reporters, we’re accustomed to covering the aftermath of a shooting, but in this case we were having a shared experience with our sources. Whether you’re a reporter or a rallygoer, you’re just trying to make sense of what happened. For reporters, we also want to help others better understand. As challenging as it was, this is why we do what we do. I feel grateful for everyone who was willing to share their stories.”

PolitiFact coverage

Here are some important stories from Poynter’s PolitiFact as they fact-checked these stories:

• Samantha Putterman with “Claims that the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was staged are baseless.”
• Maria Ramirez Uribe with “‘Mark Violets’ of antifa didn’t shoot Donald Trump. Social media users wrongly blamed a blogger.”
• Loreben Tuquero with “Donald Trump shooting suspect was not identified as 32-year-old California resident ‘Hank Pecker.’”
• Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu with “No, this photo is not of Trump rally shooting suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks.”

Notable news, stories and links regarding Saturday’s apparent assassination attempt …

• The New York Times editorial board with “The Attack on Donald Trump Is Antithetical to America.” The board, as it should have, acknowledged we still don’t know the shooter’s motivation and whether or not it had anything to do with politics. However, it did smartly write, “It is now incumbent on political leaders of both parties, and on Americans individually and collectively, to resist a slide into further violence and the type of extremist language that fuels it. Saturday’s attack should not be taken as a provocation or a justification.”
• In its editorial — “Trump shooting a shocking and perilous moment for America” — the Los Angeles Times editorial board wrote, “We still don’t know the motive of the shooter, identified as a 20-year-old man armed with an AR-15, the weapon of choice for mass shooters. The FBI says the shooter had bomb devices in his car. But what we do know is that, whether this was a politically motivated shooting or not, it was undoubtedly an act that has shaken America. Yes, this country is deeply divided over our shared future. But political violence is anathema to a democracy, where governance is decided at the ballot box.”
• New Yorker editor David Remnick with a thoughtful, yet unsettling column: “A Nation Inflamed.”
• Deadline’s Ted Johnson with “Fox News’ Shannon Bream Talks About Anchoring In Frantic Live Moments Of Trump Rally Shooting: “My First Thought Was, ‘Just Try To Stay Calm.’”
• If you pay attention to what he says and does, this should come as no surprise at all, but X owner Elon Musk tweeted Saturday night, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”
• Speaking of which, The Washington Post’s Elizabeth Dwoskin and Faiz Siddiqui with “Musk, other pro-Trump billionaires have helped shape shooting narrative.”
• While assassination attempts of presidents and presidential candidates are not new in this country, this is the first one of the social media era. And, it went as you would expect: awful, with wild conspiracy theories, threats, and calls for violence. In his column — “Trump rally shooting breeds social media lies and sick conspiracies. What’s wrong with us?” — USA Today’s Rex Huppke wrote, “Sick, twisted imaginings and attempts at humor – worthless chatter that once had no way to enter the mainstream – were blasted out to a country where, quite literally, everybody has to have a damn opinion in order to grasp at some form of social status. What is wrong with us? How have we let the drip of conspiracy theories and lies that are part of any society become a firehose?”
• Kelly O’Donnell, the NBC News senior White House correspondent and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, tweeted Sunday, “WHCA is proud of our members, visual journalists who stood up after gunfire, moved toward chaos and documented this assassination attempt for the moment and for the historical record.” And then she tagged the AP’s Evan Vucci, The New York Times’ Doug Mills, Getty Images’ Anna Moneymaker and The Washington Post’s Jabin Botsford.
• The Wall Street Journal’s C. Ryan Barber, James Fanelli and Jan Wolfe with “Trump Rally Shooting Is the Secret Service’s Nightmare.”

More resources for journalists

• Manage big responsibilities without direct reports? Try Lead With Influence.
• Immigration Matters: a tip sheet with resources and story ideas.
• Beat Academy offers eight trainings for one low price.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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