Reverberations are still being felt after Ohio Sheriff’s deputies arrested NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert during a press conference after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. 700 WLW host Bill Cunningham wonders if the arrest kept reporters in the area.
During a discussion on his radio show with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, Cunningham pondered if the incident — which was captured by the network’s cameras — was cause for other networks like CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC to remain in the Ohio village as the story was beginning to run its course.
“Evan Lambert was the reporter that was hogtied, he was chicken-winged by the Ohio Sheriff’s deputies,” Cunningham said. “Early on, Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) said it was a bad look. Do you think if Evan Lambert’s situation had not transpired that the media would have even spent the time it spent on East Palestine? Wasn’t Evan Lambert a part of that? That the media would want to cover it itself after that occurred?”
Cuomo said the media is “as self-possessed as any other industry”, so Lambert’s arrest certainly continued the coverage in the train derailment. He added the media is a “pack animal” and when one network sees a story it can cover, others will follow suit, as evidenced in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial.
Cunningham was vocally outspoken over Lambert’s February arrest, saying that if the encounter hadn’t been recorded, it was likely Lambert would have spent several days in jail awaiting a trial.
“What happens in small-town Ohio, small counties is significantly different than what happens in Chicago, Philadelphia, (or) New York City,” Cunningham said at the time. “Because these prosecutors and these sheriffs run the place, and what they say goes. If NewsNation wasn’t on this thing, Evan would still be locked up and I don’t easily say the charges are going to be dismissed.”
