CNN has been relentlessly mocked for its nonstop coverage of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, but Fox News host Greta Van Susteren on Tuesday defended the network’s devotion to the story.
“Do you really think, if CNN had not done so much coverage, with its big platform, that Malaysia, Australia and even our own country would have gone the extra mile looking for that flight? I don’t. I think they would have given up a long time ago. The media spotlight is extremely powerful,” she wrote in a blog post titled “I guess I am the only one defending CNN on this one.”
Van Susteren argued that CNN can’t possibly be covering the plane for the ratings, because they aren’t even that good.
“I get the ratings every day at 4pm and CNN’s ratings just aren’t that good and the coverage is very expensive,” she wrote. “And here is another tidbit — everyone in the news business pays attention to the ratings…not just CNN. If the ratings were so great from this coverage, everyone would be doing this topic, not just CNN.”
CNN’s ratings have actually benefitted from its coverage of the missing plane and its viewership increased.
The Fox host, who got her start at CNN, said that family members of those who likely died on the missing jet want answers and it’s “cruel to walk away and say ‘tough luck.'”
“I realize we can’t cover every death, every story all the time — but to the extent CNN has sunk its teeth into this one to cover it, I say ‘good for them,'” Van Susteren wrote.
[H/t Huffington Post]
