Networks may decide today when to return to normal

The major television networks and the all-news cable networks continued to broadcast commercial-free coverage of the New York disaster this morning (Thursday), with network spokespersons indicating that no decisions had yet been made about when they would return to regular programming. (Commercial broadcasters in Britain also abandoned advertising during continuous coverage of the attack. Britain’s Guardian newspaper noted that the last time such large amounts of advertising airtime was lost was in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death in 1997.) Since authorities were willing only to offer slivers of information about reporters’ basic questions — What is the casualty count? Who was responsible? When will the financial markets reopen? How will we respond militarily? When will regular airline service resume? — it appeared that the broadcast networks would be returning to normalcy sooner than later, although the cable news networks would probably continue to provide “wall to wall” coverage for days to come. Other cable networks — TBS Superstation and TNT, which had been carrying a feed from CNN, and MTV and VH1, which had been carrying one from CBS — switched back to their regular programs on Wednesday.