Today was a near textbook example of cable news overkilling a story that didn’t deserve more than a few minutes mention as a periodic update until the conclusion of the story. For three hours the channels were all over the plane with only one landing gear down. While there was some news in this story, with Nike President and CEO William D. Perez on board the Gulfstream jet, was it really necessary to follow nearly every single minute of this saga…for three hours?

What were the national ramifications of this story? That Nike might lose a CEO if the plane crashes if the plane can’t get its landing gear down? Meanwhile there’s an insurgency in Iraq, a seismic shift in Israeli politics with Sharon resigning from Likud to form a new party, Hamas making strong inroads in the run up to Palestinian elections, a shaky coalition government in Germany, GM laying off tens of thousands as the company teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, Zarqawi dodging a near capture in Iraq, and a ban on British Columbian poultry over bird flu concerns among the stories of national significance that were being ignored.

If this was just an isolated incident it would be one thing. But it’s not. It’s the latest in a series of “plane in trouble” stories that the channels were all over like a heroin addict looking for his fix. Plane problems….they’re the new car chases….

UPDATE: An emailer writes in to note that NBC News has a policy regarding covering car chases and wonders why there isn’t one for this type of scenario…

So MSNBC/NBC would rather not show a high speed chase that could end with a guy being shot on live TV, but it’s OK to show a plane crash on live TV? Seems kind of inconsistent if you ask me… any thoughts on that? It’s no secret either… they mentioned the policy on air when trying to attack FOX News a couple months ago for showing a close up of a suspect who pulled out a gun and then got shot to death live on CNN and FOX News

GretaWire has thing or two to say on the subject today…

I get asked all the time why we cover Natalee’s disappearance and not others. The answer: It is really random (there are unfortunately thousands others that could have been chosen) and the family has been willing to provide information to us to make reporting possible. (We can’t follow up on the missing honeymooner on the cruise ship since no one will talk. I can’t just talk to myself on air — I need a guest.) There are so many stories we have covered that I want to follow up on and will as time marches on. I regret that we can’t cover every story. Each day I open my e-mail to families asking for help. I try and guide them to the right places since I can’t cover them all on the air.
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Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick will be teaming up M-Fr from 2-3 pm ET on ESPN Radio….

UPDATE: Comments shut down on this entry because the “children” are misbehaving once again…

The New York Times’ Katherine Q. Seelye has a profile of Reliable Source’s Howard Kurtz. Seelye spends quite a lot of space examining Kurtz’s dual roles at The Washington Post and CNN and how that has led to the notion expressed in some circles that Kurtz has an inherent conflict of interest problem (a notion I subscribe to regardless of how impartial he tries to be)….

David Bohrman, vice president of CNN and Washington bureau chief, said that Mr. Kurtz was “as tough as anybody” on the network, adding that his dual roles at The Post and CNN served as a useful “check and balance,” because if he were “throttled or stifled at one place, he has another platform to get it out.”

Mickey Kaus, who is a blogger on Slate.com and a frequent critic of Mr. Kurtz, says that he has been an honest reporter and is equally tough on The Post and CNN, but that his dual positions create an inherent institutional conflict that exists regardless of how fair he may be and how much he discloses his various roles.
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The Sacramento Bee’s Rick Kushman does his annunal Golden Turkey awards….

This year was tough here at Turkey Central. We retired Geraldo Rivera a couple of years back and gave him a lifetime-achievement drumstick. But he was so Geraldo Rivera-ish this year, it’s so tempting to give him just one more Golden Turkey.

There was his “rescue work” during Hurricane Katrina, his threat to beat up a New York Times critic if she were male - showing he’s both a bully and a sexist - and his return to daytime sleaze with a show that used Mark Fuhrman of O.J. Simpson-trial fame as a correspondent.

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