New York Plane Crash Coverage: MSNBC Wins Out Of the Gate, CNN Catches Up

My job now keeps me out of the hands-on day to day news coverage... but when a major event like the New York US Air Flight 1549 plane crash happened, I can't help but stop and watch. MSNBC was the clear winner out of the gate. Peter Alexander was anchoring at the time. The network cut to what I think was WNBC LIVE video. Alexander did an outstanding job on the coverage. He was calm, focused and determined. Of course in any breaking coverage of this type, you have a few mispeaks. But, I'll give Alexander credit. He was FAR better than Rick Sanchez CNN and Shep Smith on FOX. FOX was left to adlib without video. Once they got a shot up, Smith called out the shot for being on the wrong side of the Hudson. Meanwhile... over on CNN, they were still in some generic package... and not doing breaking news at all. CNN was well off the mark to start this coverage. I flipped back to Alexander's coverage. He continued strong anchoring and incorporated Lester Holt for added support.

As coverage continued though, CNN gained speed. It appears from my channel flipping that CNN scored the first phone interview with a survivor of the crash. The other networks were still in "official" land. So... CNN does get some credit. They know how to regain their footing. It's what 3 decades of practice gives them.

One final note about Alexander. I am turned off by anchors who "appear" to love themselves... You know the type. They know they're hot... and they're proud of showing it off on TV. They may be the nicest person off-air... but on TV they appear cocky. Well... yes, Alecxander is hot -- and hopefully husband materially. When I saw Alexander fill in about a year and half ago on NBC's 'Today' as news reader, I thought it was horrible. I blogged about how bad the show was. Well.... I'll admit (as I have with Jenna Wolfe) when things change. The Alexander who read the news on 'Today' in 2007 was no where to be found today. He was solid.. and steady in this coverage. Congrats to him, MSNBC... and later CNN.

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