Over the last few days Hurricane Earl has been making its way toward the East Coast of the United States, and many people have been tuned in to the TV news channels to get the latest info.
However, the normal schedule of the cable news channels got in the way of providing the latest coverage last night.
CNN, MSNBC and Fox News were all over Earl during the day, with CNN covering it throughout primetime as well. MSNBC and FNC would occasionally cut into their primetime shows with Earl updates.
Overnight, the three networks went to replays as they normally do.
At least one tipster, who lives in New England, tuned in to CNN to get the latest from Earl a little after 1 AM. What they saw was the screenshot above. Although the on-screen chyron says “Breaking News,” the report was actually from earlier in the evening, so the information was out of date.
Update: While FNC did have some taped programming after midnight, the network went live after 1 AM providing coverage of Earl.
To its credit, Fox News put the time of original airing on-screen, so that viewers would know that what they were watching was not live. CNN did not appear to do so.
What should the takeaway be? If there is a hurricane bearing down on your area, and you want the latest information, watch The Weather Channel.
The cable news channels may only have your back until midnight.
Update 2: It seems that CNN did break into taped coverage with brief live updates. Our mistake. Regardless, the updates were infrequent enough that at least two people watching last night for hurricane coverage failed to notice them.