Bob Parker: 'President Reagan Shot Assassination Attempt'

Source:Bob Parker- CNN anchors Daniel Shorr and Bernard Shaw.

"Network coverage of President Ronald Reagan being shot March 30, 1981. Part 3 of 11." 

From Bob Parker 

"On March 30, 1981, United States president Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotomanic obsession.

Reagan was seriously wounded by a .22 Long Rifle bullet that ricocheted off the side of the presidential limousine and hit him in the left underarm, breaking a rib, puncturing a lung, and causing serious internal bleeding. He was close to death upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital but was stabilized in the emergency room, then underwent emergency exploratory surgery.[5] He recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11. No formal invocation of sections #3 or #4 of the Constitution's 25th amendment (concerning the vice president assuming the president's powers and duties) took place, though Secretary of State Alexander Haig stated that he was "in control here" at the White House until Vice President George H. W. Bush returned to Washington from Fort Worth, Texas.

White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and DC police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady had brain damage and was permanently disabled. His death in 2014 was considered a homicide because it was ultimately caused by his injury.[2][6]

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate the president. He remained confined to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a DC psychiatric facility. In January 2015, federal prosecutors announced that they would not charge Hinckley with Brady's death, despite the medical examiner's classification of his death as a homicide.[7] Hinckley was released from institutional psychiatric care on September 10, 2016." 

From Wikipedia

A very scary time for the country, someone coming close to assassinating the President of the United States. I don't think this is a great time for network news in America, because at first you have them saying that President Reagan wasn't shot at all and not hurt. And it took them a few hours to figure out that he was shot, but not badly hurt and that his life wasn't in jeopardy. And then you get to his surgery, where we finally find out that he was actually close to death in the operating room. This might not be the network news divisions complete fault. They may have gotten some bad information from The White House that was in chaos. But this is not a story where anyone looks good reporting on it.