The minutes, hours, and days after President John F. Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963, provided no ready answers about what was going on, what would happen next, or what any of it meant. For millions of Americans transfixed by the incomparable breaking news, television—for the first time—emerged as a way to keep informed. But the journalists who brought the story to the television airwaves could only rely on their skill, their experience, and their stamina to make sense of what was, a...

For four reporters (Huffaker, Mercer, Phenix, and Wise) at CBS affiliate KRLD-TV in Dallas on November 22, 1963, there was not a dress rehearsal for what they had to do in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. They provided the first continuous feed of an unfolding tragedy to millions of people around the world. From the initial shots to the shocking shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, the CBS reporters were responsible for keeping the news live and infor...