ABC took some heat from affiliates for going off its coverage of Monday's
horrific plane crash in Queens, N.Y., to return, for about half an hour to its
morning talk show, The View, while other networks stayed with the
story.
The network, which acknowledged affiliates' complaints, said it was a control
room decision based on the lack of news coming from the story, which was about
an hour-and-a-half old when ABC left it.
ABC noted that it soon returned with live coverage and carried the
President's press conference Monday afternoon.
But some frustrated news directors lamented that ABC's early coverage had
attracted a large audience--which had dropped considerably by the time The
View was dropped and the news with Peter Jennings was back.
Ironically, The View began with live shots and acknowledgement of the
disaster, but later 'was doing a segment on how to change your hair color, ' a
news director noted. - Dan Trigoboff
