CNN on top of Northwest Airline Terrorist story; FNC and MSNBC asleep at the wheel

CNN, and most notably, anchor Ali Velshi, were all over the Christmas evening Northwest Airliner terrorist story emanating out of Detroit.

Velshi, who is CNN's business reporter, found himself at the forefront of the events in Detroit; in fact, while reporting the goings-on regarding the would-be terrorist incident aboard the airbus 330, both cablers Fox News Channel and MSNBC were nowhere to be found. FNC was replaying a Bill O'Reilly show and MSNBC was running non-news programming.

Velshi, to his credit and CNN producers working on Christmas night, provided up-to-the-minute details, including the very first eye-witness account of what took place on the Northwest plane en route from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Velshi interviewed NY Congressman, Peter King, who is the ranking member of the congressional homeland security panel, along with correspondent Jean Meserve at the State department. King provided the name of the Nigerian national who allegedly tried to blow up the jetliner on its approach to Detroit Metro airport.

Footage of the plane was repeatedly shown and passengers who were on the flight described in detail how the man was subdued. Velshi interviewed one man who sat a mere three rows from where the suspect was sitting and said an extreme panic permeated the airliner.

All the while, as it became evident that the events in Detroit appeared to be a would-be terrorist attack, (a senior Obama White House adviser called it that) CNN continued to be the lone news network covering the story. Only hours later did FNC provide an update on its 11 PM news spot; MSNBC stuck to its regularly scheduled Christmas programming, and over-the-air nets ABC, CBS and NBC had no coverage of the incident.

The Detroit Northwest Airlines incident turned out to be a happy ending as the suspect was taken into custody and none of the 278 passengers were harmed, but had the story become more dire, many cable news execs would have had red faces. To some degree, they may have anyway.

This was a major story that had national and international implacations. Amazingly enough, in a post-911 world, only CNN was the network that covered it while the others, apperently, continued their Christmas celebrations.

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