In Praise Of Greta Van Susteren And Larry King, Live Saturday Night

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by Steve Krakauer | 4:08 pm, December 27th, 2009

» 9 comments

A lot is made here and elsewhere about the changing cable news business, which seems to show viewers want opinion more and more.

Which made it refreshing to see Greta Van Susteren and Larry King on Fox News and CNN Saturday night, anchoring live special coverage of the attempted terror attack.

The presence of Van Susteren and King at 9pmET last night further highlighted what was happening on the third main cable news network, MSNBC – which was showing a Lock Up marathon during prime time. As Rachel Sklar noted on Christmas night, it was more (or less) of the same for the NBCU cable outlet. “Yeah, it’s Christmas,” wrotes Sklar Wednesday. “THAT’S THE POINT. If you’re going to call yourself a news network, then cover the news.”

But it wasn’t just that CNN and Fox News made the choice to go live to cover the developing story, which still was seeing new details emerge days after the incident. It was the decision to put two prime time anchors, two of the mainstays at their networks, in the spotlight. Van Susteren’s 10pmET On The Record is enjoying another year of tremendous ratings, and with two opinion hosts acting as lead-in, she remains the hard news aspect of FNC’s prime time. King, of course, has been leading Larry King Live at 9pmET on CNN and continues to be a place for newsmakers to tell their story.

Both were excellent last night in prime time (Van Susteren anchored for two hours), as were the other reporters and analysts who contributed to the broadcasts. It shows just how important CNN and Fox News considered the story.

MSNBC’s decision to stick with their regular programming has played out so many times before it should no longer be considered surprising. They’re live in the mornings on weekends, and show a few minutes of news cut-ins throughout the day and into the evening, but for the most part, MSNBC is the place for prison docs on Saturday and Sunday. It was only made more glaring last night, when two big stars came in from their post-Christmas weekend to cover a story that matters.

Below are clips from Van Susteren and King last night:

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CNN, fnc, fox news, Greta Van Susteren, larry king

TfT

It will be interesting to see if CNN can regain some of their viewers after being live both Christmas night and last night. Unfortunately, the network has lost a lot of ground, as Steve has reported here on numerous occasions, and continues to come in behind MSNBC in the big cable news ratings game. Understanding that this is a big story, it is good to see the nets bring out good news anchors to discuss. MSNBC completely missed the boat on this one.
personwhomakescomments

It’s not always about ratings, TinafromTampa……CNN will continue to cover the news, as it warrants, despite what the ratings are. They have demonstrated that time and time again, with extended coverage on holidays (with the Korean Missle Crisis, Tsunami, Mumbai Terror Attacks and so forth). I know you and your Fox pals like to foam at the mouth when Fox gets their high ratings – it’s unfortunate your life revolves around the Nielsen ratings and not anything else.
JunkJunk

personwhomakescomments-

Truer words have never been spoken here…
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chuck-Steele/1147844375 Chuck Steele

Personwhomakessnidecomments, I have a difficult time seeing where TfT posted anything that anybody should find offensive. As a FNC fan, I and most I know wish no ill towards CNN. Most of us click back and forth between FOX and CNN when something important breaks.
As for JunkJunk, I belive in affirmative action and wish JJ well.
(If MSNBC were to close up and go bankrupt tomorrow, I just could not care less when it comes to the on air talent(?) and management. My heart would ache for the support staff that are there just to feed their families.)
TfT

person: CNN will continue to do what it always does, stay low in the ratings. They may get a bump up for covering this story…but now that the media has gone into complete Obama protective mode, the people will just tune them out. The spin on Obama’s lack of a public statement on this situation is absurd. And CNN is running with the storyline. For all the good “news” coverage of the actual event will be wiped out with their hideous spin.

And really person, you should stop projecting. You may have changed your posting name here NSA, but your words give you away.

Happy New Year.
m

I’ll answer this article’s question with a question: Don’t you know why MSNBC’s slogan is “The Place for Politics” and not “The Place for News”? They have no obligation to cover or act like a regular news organization, as in my impression they advertise themselves more as a political commentary television station rather than a purely traditional form of news channel.
Fidoohki

M says,

So Keith Olbermann is lying when he says They are the number one true news station?
Ben Linus

I kept turning it to MSNBC, just waiting for them to bring the news, but after a few tries, I realized it was pointless. They done this so many times, it’s just sad.
What ticks me off, though, is when I think about how they did something similar when that plane and helicopter collided over the Hudson River, and I kept checking to see if they were covering it, but they weren’t.
I stopped checking at one point, so if they did later, I don’t know. But then, on Monday, MSNBC (NBC) had the exclusive footage of the collision as it happened. They just fell ass backwards into a scoop.
I couldn’t freakin’ believe it. The whole situation kind of reminded me of that slow turtle that Bugs Bunny would race. Bugs would work his ass off to beat that turtle, but the turtle still won.
ImNotBlue

m says:
December 28, 2009 at 10:19 am

How does the “place for politics” reconcile having all those crime “documentaries?”