MSM Massive Fail, Ctd

A reader writes:

I believe you're a bit too bold in your claim of "Massive MSM Fail." You only criticize cable news yet the headline of your post implies a failure of the whole of the mainstream media, which I don't believe is the case. The New York Times featured the story prominently on its home page all day with robust blogging from The Lede. The Washington Post and LA Times both featured the stories prominently on their home pages as well at least for at least part of the day. We need to extricate cable news from the rest of the MSM and understand cable as a beast unto itself.

Your criticism of cable news is justified, however. Their response surprises me, quite frankly. You would think this would be the perfect story for cable to cover: tons of quite captivating footage, constant new developments (wave that breaking news banner proudly), and enough uncertainty to allow for hours of speculation, err, I mean analysis. It's exactly the kind of story CNN is built to cover and can cover quite well if it wants.

Another writes:

You have to wonder with the MSM: what exactly are they doing with all of their famed resources?

Where is all of their amazing technology, their reporters and analysts, their infrastructure? Isn't the point that they alone can cover the truly important stories because of the reach these resources uniquely give them? What a fricken waste! How can they be beat so badly by a bunch of (amateur) bloggers? Where is John King and his famous wall now - and who cares?

One could understand this sort of information and reporting lag happening way back in the 1960s, but not in this day and age. But then, resources isn't really the problem with their coverage is it? Their massive fail is really about their narcissism, provincialism, and arrogance. They are like astronomers who have the world's greatest telescope... pointed in the wrong direction or turned backwards. They're so clueless they don't even know what they should be looking for!  I find the whole thing incredibly depressing.

Another:

I saw that CNN had some coverage Sunday night (around 10:00 EST) with Drew Griffin anchoring, including an Iranian expert and showing a lot of the footage, so they weren't totally out to lunch. They spent a fair amount of time going over the day's events.

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