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Inauguration coverage turns tense as TV channels pivot to protests

For about an hour on Friday afternoon, TV networks’ coverage turned from the inauguration of President Donald Trump to clashes between police and protesters in downtown Washington, D.C., just blocks away from the inaugural festivities.

Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins had to abandon his live shot as riot police began charging protesters in downtown Washington in midafternoon.

“We’re media! We’re media!” Jenkins repeated during the encounter, as his camera operator turned the lens toward the pavement.

“We are OK,” Jenkins assured viewers after the ordeal was over and he had crossed the police line. “Part of what that was, which was dramatic, but we just got ourselves caught.”

The tense moment, which was aired on the cable news channel, was part of a largely improvised stretch of coverage for television networks and other news organizations, who rushed to cover the protests that occasionally became violent. MSNBC and NBC had correspondent Jacob Rascon on the scene to capture riot police storming protesters and setting off flash bangs and pepper spray, but a crewmember in charge of the audio was hit with pepper spray, causing problems with the audio feed, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said on the air.

Vehicles being used by the media were affected as well. Former CNN host Larry King said on Twitter that his limo was vandalized.

Inauguration coverage turns tense as TV channels pivot to protests On Media For about an hour on Friday afternoon, TV networks' coverage turned from the inauguration of President Donald Trump to clashes between police and protesters in downtown Washington D.C., just blocks away from the inaugural festivities.

“Protestors in DC smashed the windows of my hired SUV & many other cars. I was working in-studio & am ok, but my driver is a bit rattled,” King tweeted.

A BuzzFeed livestream appeared to show a Fox News truck being vandalized as well.

All the networks were in the process of covering the inaugural festivities when the clashes between police and protesters broke out.

MSNBC and NBC were among the first to switch their coverage, followed by CNN and Fox News. The other networks followed suit. Nearly 100 people were arrested in the ongoing protests.

At one point, around a burning trash can outside of the offices of The Washington Post, reporters seemed to outnumber the protesters.

Jenkins’ ordeal wasn’t the only tense moment between police and journalists during the day. Washington Post reporter Dalton Bennett was pushed to the ground by police earlier Friday, and a photographer for ABC affiliate WJLA was injured during a scuffle between protesters and police Friday morning.

