It is times like this, I wish we had professionals reporting on tv news....

[hlthe2b]

Heavens, listening to that woman on MSNBC try to adlib and coordinate coverage for such a serious event has the feel of the high school cheerleader trying to explain earthquake science.

When told that the Tsunami was expected in Hawaii at 3 AM local time, she sputters and hems/haws trying to convert that to East Coast time, first saying it was a three hour time difference, making it 6 AM ET. When she came back later after someone had corrected her and told her it was a five hour difference, she then adamently states the Tsunami would then be expected in Hawaii at midnight their time, 5 AM ET. When told, that no, the expected time remained 3 AM Hawaii time, she simply could not translate. Totally thrown for a loop.

And then her translations of the magnitude differences--even when the seismic experts have patiently explained it several times in very simple language. This is painful. I tuned to Al Jazeera English briefly and God, what a difference, Articulate and intelligent professionals--much like BBC counterparts.

I surely hope they will pull in someone more competent soon. CNN might be better, but I have no cable. Damn... Give us an intelligent, if unattractive, reporter/newsreader and send the "pretty airheads" over to Fox.

[Hannah Bell]

1. it used to be that when you had someone reporting on such things they had either

1) studied it or 2) had significant previous experience in the area.

i swear, 99% of the media are now incurious hacks, women with boob jobs or propagandists.

[Lorien]

12. I just watched some coverage from MSNBC. The anchor woman was talking to

a geologist about the tsunami and he kept telling her "my expertise is in earthquakes, not tsunamis". So she said "well, we're seeing a really big wave on our cameras here. it looks like a force coming toward land. Is that wave going to do a lot more damage do you think? Can you see this really big wave?"

"No, I can't see it."

"Well, you should turn on MSNBC cause it's a big wave and it's headed toward land. Are there going to be bigger waves, or is this about what we'll be seeing for a while now."

"Like I said, my expertise is not tsunamis, it's earthquakes..."

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Then I click on Al Jazeera. Very succinct facts with references. I felt like I was watching the evening news around 1976.

http://www.youtube.com/aljazeeraenglish?feature=ticker

[Hannah Bell]

15. his expertise is in earthquakes & he can't say *anything* about tsunamis?

"really big wave"?

jesus, even *i* could do better than that.

shameful.

[FrenchieCat]

2. I watched and was horrified with that reporting as well.

Unfortunately, since it ain't news about Charlie Sheen,
it's easier to separate the light weights from the featherweights,
which as far as I'm concerned is all that is on cable....apart from
Rachel, of course. :(

[madamesilverspurs]

13. Aw, gee, cut MSNBC some slack.

After all, they're busy prepping three days of prison crap. Every other news organization will be covering the ongoing crises of Charlie Sheen and Lindsey Lohan.

Thank GAWD for the internetz!

-

[tinrobot]

18. It's the middle of the night, she was probably the only one there.

They seem to have switched to a slightly smarter anchor now...

[a la izquierda]

3. I was going to suggest CNN...

which seems to have the Australia or New Zealand feed on.

[JCMach1]

4. Al Jazeera, CNNi, are doing a great job...

BBC not so much yet... Al Jazeera was on top of this from the very beginning.

[hlthe2b]

5. Yup... streaming Al Jazeera English now....

What a tremendous difference.

[ej510]

6. We have professionals. We have professional actors and actresses.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. We are getting better coverage here

on the DU.

[Dulcinea]

8. That costs money.

The parent companies don't want to spend any real money on news coverage. The stockholders expect a return on their investment, so that budget is slashed.

[Lorien]

11. Nah, it takes just as much money to write a script about Charlie Sheen

as it does to write about real news. It's all about ratings, distraction, corporate propaganda and pandering to the lowest common denominator here.

[Lorien]

9. Al Jazeera is doing a good job. Two videos here:

http://www.youtube.com/aljazeeraenglish?feature=ticker

[hlthe2b]

10. yes, they are... I look forward to them coming to cable in the US....

and destroying the so-called "competition."

[Sherman A1]

14. That would indeed be nice

I believe I will need to contact my cable operator and request this.

[Alamuti Lotus]

16. yes, as usual lately AJE is really embarassing the main US networks..

at least the online feed has been a pretty stable connection for the event so far.

[jannyk]

17. BBCWorld TV is exceptional. No Commercials and Live Coverage. nt

[old mark]

19. K&R- CNN is actually worse...they are in it for glamor now, and

they have very few actual reporters there, or even real news readers, only a lot of breathless, thin people with great hair.
BBC is really good if you can get it -I have not been able to get AJ.

mark

[Scuba]

20. They're trained to spread propaganda. Science? Work of the devil.