I hate cable news

Cable news sucks.

That might seem like a fairly obvious statement to you, but honestly, I have only recently begun to notice this. Though I have always recognized the biases of CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and the lot, I still turned to them for up-to-date coverage of late-breaking news. At worst, I expected the cable news networks to adequately cover a breaking story. Not even all sides, but certainly provide me with the gist.

But if you watch enough cable news these days, I think it is fairly obvious they can no longer even do that.

After the election coverage had me partially skeptical, the last few months have driven the point home. And the recent coverage of Michael Jackson’s death happened to be the tipping point for me.

I was watching CNN’s “The Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer when the news broke that the King of Pop had been rushed to the hospital and was possibly not breathing. So obviously being the 24 hours-a-day news source it is, CNN brass gave the call to Wolf to jump into all Jacko, all the time – as they should, because it was a huge developing story at the time.

But the subsequent events and CNN’s coverage (and other networks’, I’m sure) of those events really proved that for the most part, cable news can be really, really bad at times.

At that point, most news outlets were reporting that Jacko had been taken to the hospital. That’s it. CNN trotted out some entertainment reporters, music journalists, people in Jackson’s circle to talk about the developing story, and that was all fine, for the most part. We were treated to the usual helicopter coverage of the hospital, some police cars putting up barricades – you know, the usual.

But then things spiraled out of control for CNN. The following is a rough timeline of the events:

About 5 p.m.: Gossip/tabloid/trash Web site TMZ.com reports Jackson has died. Obviously most people with a brain take this rumor with a grain of salt because of TMZ’s “reputation.” Thus, CNN refuses to acknowledge the rumor on-air. Wolf looks like he wishes it was still 1991 and Saddam Hussein were alive as he comments on Jacko’s penchant for wearing pajamas outside.

Shortly after 6 p.m.: A more reputable source, the Los Angeles Times, confirms Jackson’s death. Now with a publication closer to the story acknowledging the death and TMZ (a source that is owned by the same parent company as CNN) standing strong, one would think CNN would be on board. Nope. Instead, Wolf informs us that the sources say he’s in a coma. Sanjay Gupta comes on the air so Wolf can get answers to questions like “What is a coma?” and “Can he even look in the mirror?”

Sometime after 7 p.m.: After an hour of denying Jackson’s death and saying CNN couldn’t confirm it on its own while focusing on describing a heart attack to viewers and letting Wolf have his own private listening party to Jacko’s greatest hits, CNN finally announces the King of Pop is gone. Another death it forgot to report: Wolf Blitzer’s career.

In the days after the death, critics have taken CNN to task for their confirmation of the death, and though I respect CNN’s right not to believe TMZ and need to be completely sure on a major event, this is a clear example of cable news’ failures. They have too much time to fill and thus we get Wolf Blitzer going through Michael Jackson’s catalog and helicopter shots. And when they’re too worried to cover their own tracks, viewers suffer even more.