As Sandy Tears up the Atlantic, Cable Nets Cover Tsunami Warning in the Pacific

By Chris Ariens 

Beginning at 1:30amET this morning and continuing through the overnight hours, the cable news networks covered an earthquake off Western Canada which triggerd a Tsunami warning for Hawaii.

Fox News broke in with the news at 1:30am, then returned to coverage at 6am. CNN/U.S. began a simulcast of CNN International at 1:39am, and continued for much of the night. MSNBC began coverage around 3:30am and continued, on an off until 7am, including phoners from vacationing NBC News producer Olivia Santini.

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The first wave of the tsunami hit around 4:30amET, (10:30pm Hawaii time), measuring 5 feet in Maui — smaller than expected. The threat was then reduced to an advisory. And by the time the network newscasts went on the air this morning, the attention had turned back to Hurricane Sandy is it continues its march up the East Coast.

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