The cable news networks juggled a lot of breaking news yesterday, shifting away from Libya when the Virginia earthquake struck shortly before 2 p.m. Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith attempted to put it all in perspective on “Studio B,” kicking off the 3 p.m. broadcast by saying, “The east coast appears to be, for reasons unknown, in a bit of a freakout mode. That is a mistake.” Smith went on to say that the live pictures of evacuations in New York and DC — which were all over the cable networks, including FNC, for most of the afternoon — were “ratcheting up a sense of panic that is completely unnecessary and absolutely counterproductive.” Watch:
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