Nellis airmen and a KVBC-TV, Channel 3 cameraman were eyewitnesses in New Orleans to Geraldo Rivera's version of a "rescue." Photojournalist Ken Johnson, head of KVBC's special projects unit, was riding with Nellis' "Jolly Green Giants" squadron on Sept. 5 when they landed in a parking lot outside the Holy Angels Resident Hall for Retired Nuns.
As Nellis pararescue personnel loaded the patients, Johnson noticed Rivera, Fox News network's controversial reporter, following the last evacuee to the helicopter. "He looked over at his cameraman and he decided to participate in the last 15 or so feet," Johnson said. When Rivera reached the wheelchair, "He didn't move anybody out of the way, but he tapped a (Nellis airman) like he was saying, `I got this side.'
"It just looked like a gratuitous shot making him look like he was helping somebody," Johnson said. After assisting the woman into the helicopter, Rivera jumped out, stopped, turned around, climbed back in and repeatedly asked the woman her name over the roar of the chopper.
Upon exiting the helicopter, Rivera "grabbed the microphone and started talking on camera and gave our Nellis guys his version of a military salute," Johnson said. Rivera is threatening to sue the New York Times over the newspaper's account of another Rivera "rescue" inside that same home for retired nuns. The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley reported that Rivera "nudged" an Air Force rescue worker out of the way so a Fox camera would show him helping an older woman.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-21-Wed-2005/news/27242426.html