Even though I despise everything about HLN, I don’t really see a problem with this. The show is called “Showbiz Tonight”. They’re covering news about showbiz. Seems pretty straight forward to me.
HLN pre-empting this show makes no sense, since HLN isn’t providing comprehensive Japan coverage to begin with.

If HLN were to drop its regular programming and cover Japan (or LIbya, or whatever), the headline would be absurd. As it is, it’s the “controversy” that’s absurd.

The problem is that everyone from politicians to news execs to even comedians (Gilbert Gottfried learned this the hard way) need to understand the national atmosphere when a country like Japan could be on the verge of something as significant as a nuclear meltdown. Its a cop out to say “well it’s an entertainment show.” its still a network that presumes to be at least something of a news network. The question is whether any “news network” ought to have a big red banner blaring “big news breaking” about Justin Beiber or Courtney Cox’s social lives when the real big news breaking is that thousands could die or become gravely ill. Believe me, I am (probably unlike many others who read this site) an HLN fan and I proudly cover tabloid stories all the time but there is a time and a place for “big news breaking” and while I appreciate that unfortunately the phrase has become somewhat meaningless and even hyperbole, in this case its just wrong.

Great points. It’s also worth pointing out (as you insinuated in your last sentence, Mr. Abrams) that all cable news channels are to blame for taking the teeth out of a Breaking News banner by having it up constantly, despite the lede having broken hours beforehand. I think that results in situations like this one. Thanks for calling them out, Mediaite.

I am aware that if I tune into a show called Showbiz Tonight that I am going to be getting stories on Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber or Charlie Sheen. I think the best way for HLN to handle the situation would be to pre-empt Showbiz tonight and replace it with regular news until the situation in Japan has calmed down.

Dan Abrams said:
The problem is that everyone from politicians to news execs to even comedians (Gilbert Gottfried learned this the hard way) need to understand the national atmosphere when a country like Japan could be on the verge of something as significant as a nuclear meltdown. Its a cop out to say “well it’s an entertainment show.” its still a network that presumes to be at least something of a news network. The question is whether any “news network” ought to have a big red banner blaring “big news breaking” about Justin Beiber or Courtney Cox’s social lives when the real big news breaking is that thousands could die or become gravely ill. Believe me, I am (probably unlike many others who read this site) an HLN fan and I proudly cover tabloid stories all the time but there is a time and a place for “big news breaking” and while I appreciate that unfortunately the phrase has become somewhat meaningless and even hyperbole, in this case its just wrong.

Who is this Dan Abrams guy?

HLN could pass as msnbc’s twin. Neither covers real news.

Sure, having a big red Bieber breaking news banner is inartful, but what could HLN do? Replace the whole show with what? What’s the difference between big Bieber news at 11pm and Nancy Grace’s “bombshells” at 8pm? The whole channel is designed as a tabloid shoutfest and a break up in that kind of routine would be comparable to TMZ giving up celeb coverage and sending its ’30 mile zone’ team to Japan to secretly tape radioactive particles in the vicinity of a broken power plant. And what would TMZ and all of us get with that? TMZ would lose its audience and you and I would find another source for celeb news.

I completely understand what Mr. Abrams is pointing out here, but HLN has traded its former “newsiness” for pure celeb/crime tabloidism a long time ago, so I can’t see it returning to the “good old” Headline News days, not even for one hour, let alone a few days or more.

Again, removing the Bieber braking news stuff? Sure! But what change would that get us if Nancy Grace, Jane Velez and Joy Behar are still shouting the rest of the evening about all those crimes, court cases and (again) celebrities?

CNN is the king of Breaking News and not in a good way, their idea of Breaking News is repeating the same facts over and over with nothing new. under a banner that says BREAKING NEWS. Something can happen at 1:00 PM and its still Breaking News at 11:00 PM with no new info. As for HLN it is a hodge podge of everything the regular networks have to offer – news, entertainment and talk. Sometimes it does get frustrating to see people talking about Justin Bieber when there is a crisis going on, but most people have a few other channels to choose from if they want news and information. And sometimes we need to get away from a crisis for even a few minutes with superficial nonsense knowing that if something major does happen we will get an update. I don’t watch HLN much, only when I’m channel surfing.

HLN is annoying and it is frustrating to see people say that HLN is for people that want faced paced news. I guess that’s why there’s Nancy Grace, Issues, and Joy Behar. They’re journalists, right? Wrong.

HLN is not a news network. People need to stop defending something just because they watch it. Accept it’s just a soft news network, and it’s kind of nice to watch HLN in the morning than watch CNN do it’s fast paced news or Morning Joe have a boring discussion or Fox & Friends bash Obama. It’s kind of nice.

But HLN is not a real news network.

@news rat: They could simulcast with CNN or even CNNi if they really wanted. Same parent company.

ice queen said:
CNN is the king of Breaking News and not in a good way, their idea of Breaking News is repeating the same facts over and over with nothing new. under a banner that says BREAKING NEWS. Something can happen at 1:00 PM and its still Breaking News at 11:00 PM with no new info.

Exactly.