Rita: Golf on NBC, Hurricane on ABC

I thought NBC offered the best morning show coverage of Katrina, but ABC definitely takes the award for Rita. Weekend Today was originally pre-empted for NBC Sports golf, but the network got the 8 a.m. hour back for hurricane coverage. Weekend Today continued from 9 to 10am on MSNBC.

But Good Morning America, with its six hours of coverage, dominated the broadcast networks. “The Today Show looks like it got caught with its pants down,” an e-mailer says. “Even CBS’s coverage has been better this morning. ABC News is blowing both of them away this morning.”

Of course, it’s easy to understand NBC’s decision. They can’t just ignore their contractual agreements to air golf; and besides, MSNBC is NBC News on cable, so why broadcast continuous coverage on the network?

> Diane Sawyer and Bill Weir anchored GMA today. Charlie Gibson and Ron Claiborne were on the scene…