Day 3 of Mumbai Held Hostage, and MSNBC is a no-show

On Thanksgiving Day, the fine TV critic of the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik, and I quarreled politely over whether MSNBC was adequately covering the Mumbai terror situation on Wednesday.

Well, that was before a violent attack turned into a three-day ordeal. Unfortunately, by the time the killing in Mumbai was over, one network had decided to save some money and send everybody home for the Thanksgiving weekend, and I was feeling like an idiot for defending MSNBC. Take a look:

UPDATE: Air America's Lionel saw the same nonsense on Thursday.

Comments

[MontyCello]

So, are you saying you agree with David that the existence of Rachel Maddow on MSNBC is the reason that MSNBC poorly covered the attacks in India? That the tone she uses on her show directly relates to why the brass at the network failed to have the India attacks on over the weekend instead of showing a marathon of Lockdown as they did?

And that both Rachel and Keith failed to cover the attacks at all this past Wednesday night?

Because that's the part of his columns on this subject that gave me the most problems.

[mgrfin]

I think MSNBC, Fox and CNN all did a rotten job reporting on this news breaking event.
There was the time differential; there were no 'official reports' of what was going on, and the networks themselves were not interested.

CNN got its reputation by covering the first Iraqui war, et al, but not this time.

It was an awful event, and what was only worse, was the terribly reporting of it. The networks did not do their job.

[Mary From Colorado]

Most of the news about Mumbai was pure speculation about who and why and I feel MSNBC was right not covering the carnage. Why not report the fact that the incident was going on and then wait untill you get the correct facts about who, what, when and why and then report. I don't need some pundit to speculate for me.

[Barbara]

I'm not sure when you were watching, but Friday night's lineup (Hardball, Countdown, Rachel, etc.) were all frequently interrupted or featured the breaking news during their shows. It was also on for hours at a time over the weekend. I saw many of the usual anchors covering the story from Thursday on. I'm not sure if you believe they should have been showing the same pictures for 24-hours per day, but I thought coverage was more than adequate. To be honest I thought CNN went way overboard all weekend, except of course when the Tribute to Heroes ceremony was aired. This seems a little nit-picky to me!

[I have no record of MSN covering the Mumbai crisis Friday evening.--AB]

[Wayne]

MSNBC: When news breaks out, we're showing a prison documentary...

[Peggy O'Neill]

Yes, but even CNN dropped the ball, by going to some stupid show, during the last day of the last minute, going to some cooked up show about "Heroes," all the while the entire siege was being wrapped up.

[Allison Jakhabi]

I love MSNBC but they wont grow as fast as the other cable networks because they spend too much tome rehashing their million behind bars documentaries. They always do not work on weekends re political news etc, They need better programming to grab people's interest.

[mjbad2]

If it was Mr. Obama they will discuss. even if involves his dog. But killing people by terrorists who cares.

In fact Americans on Huffington post have clearly said that this is their Xmas present and not the jobs will come back to USA.

[Troy]

Thank you MSNBC for not giving us 24/7 in Mumbai. There was enough coverage for my taste. It seems since the war in Iraq was televised, all anyone wants these days is a 'live shot' of someone getting blown up.

[ziadora]

I mostly got my news online at twitter, cnn-ibn, and ndtv. I did glance once or twice at tv, and noticed msnbc was absent.

[John]

As with any reporting, there is constant repetition. So MSNBC decided to not join in with Faux and the others in repeating what someone with the same accent that the guy I spoke with about my GPS says. So what? Our economy is going into the toilet, are they reporting it, or celebrating?

[Stefanie Bass]

I had to watch mostly Fox for THREE DAYS to get any semblance of "news"!! I prefer MSN but they really dropped the ball!!!! i hate their Lockup series!!

[Ron H.]

Whoa, whoa, whoa...this story broke on WEDNESDAY and MSNBC was with it live the whole day, just like the other 24/7 news channels. When it became clear that there was nothing new to report (other than more speculation, shots of the Taj in flames and obvious lack of concrete facts) the network made a wise decision: stop repeating the same footage and talking head conjecture and break until there is a significant change in the story. Sorry, but I turned off CNN when it became clear they had nothing new or significant to report. MSNBC went with the story as long as they should have, took a break when they should have and returned to the story when they should have. That's more responsible than the sensationalism favored by CNN and FoxNews.

[Hey Ron - I made this point on Zurawik's blog, too. But that was on Wednesday.--AB]

[Shaan Kapoor]

John,

There's no need for a racial and ignorant comment like "repeating what someone with the same accent that the guy I spoke with about my GPS says."

Considering the subject we are discussing here, that is very inappropriate. The accent of a person has nothing to do with the story or attacks in Mumbai.

As far as the economy, it has been the main subject of news coverage on ALL news programming, outside of the election. I'm sorry that you don't deem the lives of innocent people being killed in India newsworthy.

[Jane]

I am so glad someone mentioned this! I was outraged at how MSNBC spent from Thanksgiving till Monday morning showing LOCK UP and Lock Up Raw! It was shameful I emailed them and told them many families all over America has some member of their in a jail and to show an exhibition of the madness in our prison systems is heartless to a young boy or girl who may have a parent there for minor violations or a mistake. What kind of viewers to they expect to influence? No sane person would watch that. Are ratings more important or class? MSNBC could have done better than showing this disgusting reality exhibition non-stop 24/7 for 3 days. In protest I will only turn to MSNBC only when Hardball, Countdown and Rachel are on. They won't have my ratings or respect after this display of human gladiator show. Lock up must be removed from our television lineup! Shame on MSNBC!

[Jane]

I am so glad someone mentioned this! I was outraged at how MSNBC spent from Thanksgiving till Monday morning showing LOCK UP and Lock Up Raw! It was shameful I emailed them and told them many families all over America has some member of their in a jail and to show an exhibition of the madness in our prison systems is heartless to a young boy or girl who may have a parent there for minor violations or a mistake. What kind of viewers to they expect to influence? No sane person would watch that. Are ratings more important or class? MSNBC could have done better than showing this disgusting reality exhibition non-stop 24/7 for 3 days. In protest I will only turn to MSNBC only when Hardball, Countdown and Rachel are on. They won't have my ratings or respect after this display of human gladiator show. Lock up must be removed from our television lineup! Shame on MSNBC!

[Valerie]

I, too, am stunned that MSNBC did not cover the terrorist attack. Saving money during an international crisis is journalism at its worst. And, what's with this _Lock-up_ marathon? Now that is a waste of money! Unless MSNBC want to appeal to Gov. Palin's base.

[Kay]

When I heard about the attacks on Mumbai, I went to CNN thinking the ususal written blurb would be there, but to my surprise there was a live stream. But it wasn't just CNN, ABC, CBS and FOX?? Yes I very much noticed MSNBC's absense.

However, once the dust settled, I started questioning why? Why was the coverage so intense vs. the other 4 bombings that have killed hundreds in each in the last 7 months? While I appreciate the international interest, but why was the interest not there earlier?

My opinion is in 2 parts: one cynical and the other practical.

Practical being that this was a terrorist attack that was blatant, very well organized and had a hostage situation occur that is generally not the profile of terrorist attacks in that region.

Cynical side of me said, the attack targeted foreign nationals, thats why it was more important. If that is not the case why not intense coverage of other 4 attacks including one on India's capital that also has an international hand as suspect.

Either way the acts committed were hideous, and MSNBC's lack of coverage did tick me off. I found one article, that's it.

While the speculations were rampant, it IS breaking news!

[davivid]

Really Peggy O'Neill, the CNN show about extraordinary individuals who devote themselves to helping the poor, sick and needy was "stupid"? i mean, it wasn't perfect but it also wasn't Paris Hilton's BFF. I found the Heroes program an inspiring and welcome relief from 24 hour shots of bloody hotel lobbies and the question "Was it Al Qaeda?" repeated over and over.

[Ashley]

I'm not sure why Zurawik has a column; his writing and intellect seem mediocre at best.

Regarding MSNBC, however, I must admit that all the prison programming and other reality TV shows make it difficult for me to take them seriously as a news channel.

I watch The Rachel Maddow Show every day, but if it weren't for her, MSNBC would barely be on my radar.

[Alok Jain]

MSNBC and NBC is a channel about just america only, they are not only racists but also very ill-educated in their regular broadcast. For NBC US and Europe is the "Whole World". I saw surprised to see even coverage on China or may be that was because or olympics only.

[Ricky]

good for MSNBC -- Lockup is the best docu-series on TV! The show is incredible -- in a "macabre kind of way"

[Boss Hogg]

The attack on Mumbai does not fit in to the world view MSNBC is trying propagate. It will take a few days for Keith and Rachel to work Mumbai into their over lying theme of "Bush is bad, Obama is good".

[Howard]

It is unfathomable that an all-news network would not be on live during the Mumbai tragedy. If MSNBC wants to be the choice of the viewer in times of breaking news of large-scale import, then it needs to deliver in those times. If the carnage had taken place on U.S. soil you can bet they would've been on the air for as long as necessary. The decision not to go live is stunning.

[J. David]

MSNBC is going to have a hard time being viewed as a "news" network if they fail to report major breaking news. I am a regular MSNBC viewer and was very disappointed with the lack of Mumbai coverage. CNN got my business.

And I agree, enough with the prison docs!