By MERVIN BLOCK
March 2003

What does overnight mean to you?

When a newscaster says a train derailed overnight, do you assume it happened after midnight? Or do you think it might have happened before midnight? Or maybe any time since the previous evening?

But what’s evening? Dictionaries disagree, even as to when evening begins. Generally, and vaguely, evening is described as the last part of the day and the early part of the night. But no dictionary defines overnight as extending all the way back to noon the previous day. And certainly not to the evening before that. So imagine my surprise when I was told that a network broadcaster had extended overnight to an event that took place about 40 hours earlier.

The event was the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. (If Khalid turns in Osama, is Khalid entitled to the $25 million reward?)

Various accounts of the raid that collared him place the time between 2:30 a.m. and 4 a.m., Saturday, March 1, 2003-- Pakistan Standard Time. That’s 10 hours ahead of our Eastern Standard Time. So apparently the raid occurred—as determined on the U.S. East Coast--between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 28, EST. For people on the West Coast, the raid occurred three hours before then. We all set our clocks and tell the time according to the zone we’re in. And that’s how we should report the time.

At noon, EST, Saturday, March 1, CNN broadcast a story of the arrest made “just a few hours ago.” (People who regard 18 as few are few and far between.) Later, the networks’ evening newscasts played the story big.

And it was still big news the next morning. An NBC anchor, David Bloom, told NBC’s Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, on “Sunday Today,” in present-tense-speak, “Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is arrested. The president gets a phone call yesterday morning from his national security adviser. He says, ‘Fantastic news.’ What does it mean for the White House?”

“Well,” Russert replied, “it’s very significant, as you might expect, David, because there had been criticism that the president was not focusing enough resources and time on the war on terrorism….”

An hour or so later—about 40 hours after the capture (if the accounts are true)--Russert, moderating “Meet the Press,” said:

“But first, overnight, a key Al Qaeda operative and alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, has been arrested….”

Overnight? That’s what the man said. But even Tim, with all his charm, smarts, influence and authority can’t outdo King Canute and make time slow down. Or stop.

An overnight letter is too slow, so here’s my instant insight: Listeners should be able to count on accuracy. Not only in a story’s who, what and where but also in the when. It’s about time.