Hawaii tsunami threat puts cable news in suspended animation

The monumental earthquake that shook Chile early Saturday morning also set off a most peculiar day for the U.S. cable news networks, which were all suddenly scrambling to get ahead of a tsunami ripping toward Hawaii at jet speed, with scary echoes of the 2004 catastrophe in South Asia.

The hours of waiting were downright eerie because while forecasters can predict where and when a tsunami might hit, its impending fury isn’t visible until the waves actually start to strike. The result was like waiting for the eye of a hurricane to make landfall without seeing any wind or rain first.

Forecasters offered an astoundingly specific prediction that the first wave would hit the big island of Hawaii at 4:05 p.m. ET, giving the cable networks a golden opportunity to use one of those on-screen countdown clocks (perhaps coupled with a bit of that menacingly anticipatory music from Jaws?) Thankfully, no one took the bait, which could be a sign of improved news judgment or merely the result of their graphics departments being unstaffed for the weekend.

The networks had about 12 hours from the time the first tsunami warning was issued for Hawaii until the tsunami reached Hilo Bay. That was not enough time for CNN, the Fox News Channel or MSNBC to move their own news crews into place, forcing them to rely on material from local TV stations in Honolulu.

By coincidence, though, one of CNN’s reporters, Thelma Gutierrez, was vacationing in Hawaii with her family. Yet, as the story was breaking, CNN used her only for some brief phone reports, and, as the zero hour approached, actually punted on its own coverage and begin airing a direct feed of KHON, Honolulu’s Fox network affiliate.

Both the Fox News Channel and MSNBC were using video from the local Hawaii stations, but their own anchors remained on the air, conducting interviews and providing their own information. By contrast, CNN – the only network with one of its own reporters at the scene -- took the lazy approach of rebroadcasting KHON for long stretches of time, breaking in periodically with its own Atlanta-based coverage.

What made CNN’s choice even more bizarre was that with its superior international reach (including a co-branded affiliate in Santiago, CNN Chile), the network could have juggled the tsunami story with coverage of the earthquake’s aftermath in a way none of its competitors could have matched. Instead, as the waves came in, CNN largely outsourced the job of informing its viewers to KHON.

(A side note: Last week, CNN similarly punted to a local affiliate during breaking news coverage of the suicide plane attack on an IRS facility in Austin, Texas. Let’s hope this isn’t a sign that The Most Trusted Name in News is becoming The Most Shameless Name in Simulcasting.)

In the end, the tsunami turned out to be weaker than forecast, causing scant damage. All cable viewers got for their hours of anticipation was a bit of discolored water -- kind of like seeing one of those planes with dodgy landing gear glide to a stop without turning into a fireball, which leaves viewers relieved but feeling they've just wasted a big hunk of time.

Oh, and by the way, Thelma Gutierrez finally popped iup on CNN live from Hawaii, once the news had safetly passed.