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Not surprisingly, the earthquake and subsequent tsunami was the big story on all of the broadcast and cable morning shows this morning.

On the cable networks, CNN and Fox News dedicated their morning shows almost entirely to the quake (Related: CNN had correspondent Kyung Lah reporting live from Tokyo), while MSNBC's "Morning Joe" took a slightly different angle:

"Morning Joe" covered the quake in news updates and in graphics in the lower-third, but still dedicated a good chunk of its program to political coverage, including interviews with David Axelrod and Pat Buchanan, as well as a roundtable on the political showdown in Wisconsin.

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TV news and social media snapped to attention early this morning (U.S. time) as news came of a 8.9 earthquake that hit off the coast of northern Japan and the tsunami that caused massive devastation and rolled across the Pacific.

An ongoing question, though, in what is sure to be a big story, is how well U.S. networks can cover the events, as many of them have gutted overseas bureaus, including those in Asia. And one puzzling exception to the dedicated coverage this morning was MSNBC, which stuck largely to politics while Hawaii and the Pacific coast waited out a tsunami warning.

While most networks were showing video of wreckage in Japan and monitoring tsunami maps of the Pacific, MSNBC's Morning Joe spent a good chunk of its time on American politics: roundtables on the Wisconsin labor showdown, an interview with the state's governor, a chat with Pat Buchanan about the political effect of rising oil prices. To be fair, the network did carry earthquake news in its lower third and broke in for news updates; but it also kept up a bizarre, Casual-Friday tone, with Joe Scarborough bantering about the iPad 2 and the Vermont screensaver on his Blackberry.

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Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
To be fair, the US media is generally most interested in the US.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
The MSM will NEVER treat its audience like adults...too many of them AREN'T (if you take that to mean "intelligent adults")...and they've always, always reached for the "lowest common denominator". Why do you think we get so much coverage of Sheen and the other "celebrities" (I use the word advisedly) and their antics? It's what the public wants... Unfortunately, there is a portion of us out here who'd like real, adult news...and we ain't gonna get it.

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Originally posted by dreamtrove:

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Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
To be fair, the US media is generally most interested in the US.

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To be fair our news is run by Australians, but this is highly atypical.


counter arguments people that they later covered the story don't Hold because they clearly when it was breaking news got it on the wire like everyone else, but unlike everyone else, bumped it in favor of the typical garbage

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