Earlier tonight FOX News broadcast the first aerial shots of damage in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina…

FOXNews.com more than doubled its traffic today vs. the previous record day in July 2005.

TVNewser reports that MSNBC.com as of 3 pm was on pace to break the site’s records with more than 5.8 million videos played…

WHAC reports that as of 5 pm CNN.com’s traffic exceeded 8 million videos played, 2.5 times the previous high.

Rush and Molloy chronicle the latest spat between Bill O’Reilly and Robert Greenwald, director of the controversial movie “Outfoxed”…

Last week, in his “Talking Points Memo,” O’Reilly angered the director of “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” by comparing him to Islamic suicide bombers and believers in the Third Reich.

“O’Reilly has simply lost his mind,” Greenwald, who is Jewish, tells us. “I demand that O’Reilly apologize.”

He also challenges O’Reilly to “a real debate on the issues, not his silly name-calling.”

Is O’Reilly game?

“Why would we book a has-been like Robert Greenwald on cable’s highest-rated program?” says a Fox News rep. “We wish him well on his road to extinction.”

Says Greenwald, whose latest target is Wal-Mart: “O’Reilly continues to hide behind his microphone.”

CNBC announced today that The Chris Mathews show will follow Tyler Mathisen’s new show “High Net Worth”. I wonder what NBC Universal’s Syndication Wing thinks about having Mathews show air on CNBC, thus undercutting the syndication package it currently enjoys. Or does NBC Universal plan on terminating Mathews’ syndication deal? And I wonder what do people in Secaucus think about it since their guy is going to be appearing on the other channel?

From CJR Online again. This time CJR looks at overdramatizing the situation and aims straight at CNN….

Is it possible to overdramatize a situation this dramatic?

We wouldn’t have thought so, but we weren’t counting on CNN.com, which did just that in the form of one Ivor van Heerden, a hurricane expert from Louisiana State University.

Our favorite line from van Heerden’s repertoire:

“Imagine you’re the poor person who decides not to evacuate: Your house will disintegrate around you. The best you’ll be able to do is hang on to a light pole, and while you’re hanging on, the fire ants from all the mounds — of which there [are] two per yard on average — will clamber up that same pole. And eventually, the fire ants will win.”

CJR Online goes over the Meyers/Costello dust up and Shepard Smith’s rude interviewee…

Over the course of a day of wall-to-wall cable news coverage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, we caught what can only be called two lowlights, and both came as the result of the live shot.

Tempers were already short at 4:32 a.m. this morning, when TVNewser caught CNN meteorologist Chad Myers throwing a temper tantrum (video clip) at “Daybreak” anchor Carol Costello as he tried to describe the weather conditions in New Orleans and the condition of the Superdome. Myers, who no doubt had been up all night, was doing his best to explain the situation when Costello began interrupting him — at which point Myers took an oddly menacing step toward the camera and threw the papers in his hand down:
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A little later in the day came an unscripted moment that Fox News’ Shep Smith may remember for a while. Smith tried to conduct a “man on the street interview” (video clip) with a guy in New Orleans walking his two dogs in the middle of the storm. As you’ll see, the interview didn’t quite go the way Shep had likely hoped. The exchange:

As the smart and well informed readers of ICN will no doubt notice, CJR goofed in its timeline. Smith’s incident did not take place today. It took place yesterday.

The New York Post’s Michael Starr is reporting that CNN is dumping People In The News and instead will do more CNN Presents documentaries (via WHAC)

CNN will double its yearly documentary output from about 15 to 30, while at the same time saying bye, bye to documentary series “People in the News.” About half the staffers from “People in the News” will be re-assigned to “CNN Presents” — with the other half moving to other CNN shows.

FOX beat all the cable news competition combined in both Total Day and Prime Time. The Situation Room struggled during the 3-6 PM period and FOX’s programming beat it nearly 3:1. Rita was the strong one for MSNBC. She had more viewers than Paula Zahn Now which was very flat that night. Too bad for MSNBC they don’t compete directly. Countdown with(out) Keith Olbermann continues to struggle. It’s eerie how his show’s ratings dive occurred nearly the same time as the I Quit campaign launched. There can’t possibly be a connection there can it? Countdown’s audience can’t be made up of smokers can it? Nah. That’s just too far out there to be believable….
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FOX News is going to run Greta for three hours tonight according to their schedule on the website.

According to WHAC, Newsnight will run an extended edition….and further coverage will occur afterwards…

MSNBC is bound to do something similar. The open question is who will be doing it? Will they extend Tucker for extra hours? Or will they put someone else on? And will Olbermann be back tonight?

I’m tossing this one out for comment because I’m having a hard time making up my mind on this. For those who have been watching CNN this afternoon have all those hurricane damage moving pictures on the video walls for The Situation Room been a noisy distraction or a benefit? Or do you just tune them out and concentrate on Wolf Blitzer? And for those who do watch the walls, are you bothered that maybe the size of the picture is too small to make out what’s going on in any great detail?

So I want to hear from you on this. This is really the first time since its premiere that the show has been tested for the whole program for a crisis breaking news story.

Earlier Shepard Smith contrasted the scenario of Hurricane Katrina with past hurricanes from a coverage standpoint…

What’s unusual, for me is normally when we’re covering these hurricanes we’re covering them from a beach somewhere. This is a completely different environment. Imagine the concrete canyons of Manhattan except the buildings are only two to three stories tall yet they act as the same sort of wind tunnel. And these hurricane shutters constantly flapping and then glass windows breaking and glass flying down the street, pieces of rooftops coming off, metal peeling off, and that sailing down the street. Noises with which you’re not familiar and the echoing through these canyons is somewhat frightening. It’s a different kind of hurricane experience, and I’m sure one they hope they don’t see here anytime soon again.

Greta blogs today about the Hurricane and her concern for the intrepid reporters who court danger braving the elements…

We also worry about our correspondents and crews on the ground covering hurricanes. Correspondents and crews want to get you the best shot so that you can be there and really understand what this hurricane is doing… but sometimes the best shot is very dangerous. We have to rely on their judgment to pull back when necessary. We have to hope that in their zeal to deliver the best to you, they don’t go to far. No shot is worth loss of life and that is a real danger for correspondents and crews covering hurricanes (I hope their mothers don’t read GretaWire.)

Miles O’Brien uses his blog to reflect on the day so far…

What a morning. As it turned out our calculation was correct. The Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge was the perfect place to field anchor “American Morning.” It was close enough to the action to put me “in the story” — and yet not so severe that I was unable to interview people — and keep the program rolling. New Orleans would not have worked as well — and for that matter Anderson Cooper’s location a mile or so from me on the Mississippi River would not have worked either — too hard to hear and speak clearly.

The weather turned nasty for Steve Harrigan a couple of hours ago. Here is a transcript…(note: this entry was delayed due to my power failure)

We’re seeing quite a bit of debris fly. Every time that gust kicks up, I’ll tell you it’s gotten to that scary level right now. We’re seeing debris just fill the air, fly off…we’re seeing gutters from the hotel, little piece of the hotel. The concern here is this giant metal sign behind me is going to go. You can see these trees buckling as well.”

“You just don’t know how bad it’s going to get…wow, a big chunk of the roof just flew over there.”

“This is just like a white sheet, like a wall just coming straight here. And every time it does, little parts of the building just fly by in the air. The whole forest now is literally littered with little pieces of the hotel.”

“I’m just watching stuff fly by me…this is really unbelievable to see…we’re seeing branches fly and little bits of the roof fly by.”

“Aw man, he told me to hold on to this cable and I can’t do it.”

“I’ve seen these reporters hold up they’re little anemometers but it always seemed like kind of goofy news to me to hold something like that up and, whoaaa, pretend you’re an expert when you’re not. This is as hard as it’s been, I can tell you that. I just judge it by whether or can stand up or not. So far I can still stand up.”

“Whoaaaa, awww man, I think this wind can knock me down. We’ll find out.”

“Whoaaaa, man, I’m getting out of here, whoaaa, a big chunk of roof just landed about three feet from me. I’ll be back up next hour.”

UPDATE: Foxnews.com has video of Harrigan getting knocked about…

Power failure knocked me offline about an hour and fifteen minutes ago. But now it’s back and I can resume blogging…

Even though the hurricane eye has made landfall the situation is still dangerous. CNN’s Rob Marciano, who was broadcasting in Biloxi, Mississippi from outdoors, was forced to seek shelter and is now broadcasting from indoors looking out.

-Bill Hemmer will be on FOX today from 11-1 and again at 5pm with Martha MacCallum .

-Shepard Smith will do both Studio B and The Fox Report from New Orleans with Jane Skinner at FOX’s NY Studios.

-Bill O’Reilly is coming in from vacation to do The Factor tonight.

CNN’s Gary Tuchman was just reporting by video phone from Gulfport, Mississippi. Much of the town is flooded and numerous buildings are damaged…

TVNewser reports that CNN Meteorologist Chad Meyers went off for a split second at Daybreak anchor Carol Costello before regaining his composure. Later on they tried to laugh it off as it wasn’t serious. The two are old friends but this sure looked real to me…

The Hurricane has torn a couple of small holes (well small by comparison to the overall size of the building) in the roof of the Superdome. Brian Williams who is at the Superdome, is on right now describing the scene. MSNBC just put up a semi blurry picture of the inside of the Superdome showing the holes in the roof. Looks like it might have come from a camera phone. Williams also said that the worst of the storm isn’t due for another 60-90 minutes which is a scary thought…

UPDATE: Williams’ pic is pictured above. The holes are the two blueish lights in the middle of the picture…

We interrupt the liveblogging for a Hurricane related story. Nick Madigan of the Baltimore Sun writes about the battle between a reporter’s desire to get the story with the fact that that story could end up taking their life… (via WHAC)

“The first thing we tell them is, ‘Don’t be a hero,’ ” said Nancy Lane, CNN’s news director, as she concluded her fifth conference call of the day in preparation for the storm. “We don’t need any heroes.”
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Other CNN correspondents, including John Zarrella and David Mattingly, remained in New Orleans, evidently with the intention of riding out the storm. But in the absence of the network’s satellite truck, Zarrella, who was staked out at the Superdome, went on the air by borrowing the equipment of a Houston affiliate, KPRC, a gesture for which CNN anchor Fredericka Whitfield expressed thanks from her desk in Atlanta.

Mattingly, at the New Orleans waterfront, had to settle for a satellite phone — also known as a digital newsgathering kit — which transmits a grainy, jerky image through a computer.

Although things haven’t looked too bad from Miles O’Brien’s vantage point in Baton Rouge, Anderson Cooper has been getting buffeted quite a bit. Cooper is reporting from harbor area and it almost looks as bad as what FOX’s Steve Harrigan has been facing…

FOX News Channel’s Phil Keating is covering the storm from New Orleans. ICN was able to ask Phil a few questions yesterday about the situation…
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Brian Williams is on reporting on MSNBC by phone from the Louisiana Superdome and says that they’re facing 100-110 mile an hour winds and that officials just closed the last door to the Superdome. Williams is reporting by phone because they had to take down the satellite equipment because of the storm. This helps explain why I haven’t been seeing much reporting from the Superdome today from any of the networks whereas it was a hub of satellite activity yesterday…

Steve Harrigan just got hit in the face with broken glass and didn’t skip a beat in his reporting. Kiran Chetry said something to the effect that she expects him to be wearing protective goggles by the next time he checks in. The man is unbelievable. This was his commentary on the storm from forty five minutes ago…

You can’t really turn your head because the wind is blowing the rain so hard. It’s small droplets and is piercing pretty bad. There’s nobody out here—no movement.

Anyone who’s been watching him this morning can attest to that. He’s been facing perpendicular to the camera most of the time and has had to labor to turn towards the camera. People have started referring to him as “Hercules” Harrigan…

UPDATE: With flying rain gutters blasting past him and his camera man saying that he’s starting to not feel very safe, Harrigan may not be on the air outdoors much longer. He said that the hotel he was staying at closed its doors.

MSNBC has run two “Rita Cosby will be in Aruba” promos this morning…

“People have realized that it’s not safe out here now” - NBC News’ Don Teague, standing out in the middle of the storm in Houma, Louisiana…

Miles O’Brien’s blogging on the hurricane is getting rather gloomy…

7:20 a.m. ET Monday

Imagine being in the Louisiana Superdome with no power — well emergency power — meaning dim lights and no AC. Let’s hope the field doesn’t flood. At least 9,000 people are there. Normally the New Orleans Saints play there. This morning they are praying to the saints.

6:54 a.m. ET

Louisiana State University Hurricane Center’s Ivor van Heerden just said a real concern is coffins that would be swept away by the floodwaters — which themselves will be laced with a witches’ brew of industrial chemicals. Horrifying image.

UPDATE: O’Brien is reporting from LSU in Baton Rouge and things so far have been rather calm there

Katrina has started making landfall and it appears that New Orleans isn’t going to get the brunt of the storm. That distinction falls to areas east of New Orleans…particularly Biloxi Mississippi. Shepard Smith was just reporting from a rather not flooded French Quarter. The usual “reporters braving the storm” shots have been showing up on all three networks. A rather hard to make out Steve Harrigan was on FOX and CNN had a report from Biloxi from Rob Marciano and he was getting knocked around quite a bit. Expect more of these shots throughout the next hour or two. Then will come the damage reports.

UPDATE: Soledad O’Brien was just interviewing a meteorologist and he said that areas like New Orleans could still get hit hard from storm surge over the next few hours…

UPDATE 2: Orlando Salinas was reporting from Orange Beach, Alabama outside in the storm. But he went over to interview a local FOX TV weatherman inside a TV truck and they showed a weather picture inside the truck of the local storm surge area.

UPDATE 3: Lester Holt is reporting live from Baton Rouge, Louisiana….

UPDATE 4: I feel for Steve Harrigan. He sure looks so uncomfortable out there in the storm…

MSNBC’s ESP:Live weather technology continues to amaze. They just showed an isoloated shot of the strongest sections of the hurricane in 3D perspective and rotated around in real time. Wow…

Tucker Carlson just signed off by tossing to MSNBC’s Lisa Daniels. MSNBC ran a “Hurricane Katrina” intro graphic and then cut back to Carlson for a split second before switching to Daniels. But not before Carlson did…uh…well the picture says it all…

MSNBC is re-airing a Robert Hager segment on Hurricane wind speed from July of 2000. Hager retired from NBC earlier this year…