KATRINA AND THE CABLES

Shep Smith of Fox News is in New Orleans via telephone, blabbing with people in the French Quarter, hanging out around the daiquiri machines.

CNN let Wolf Blitzer yammer on with his Sunday political talk show. Like we care right now about the Iraq constitution.

That's the low side of the cable networks on this Sunday, as Hurricane Katrina comes closer to the Gulf Coast and reporters become battier.

We like MSNBC on Sunday afternoon. Donna Gregory is in New Orleans, feeding solid reports devoid of the hype one can expect from Fox. Colette Cassidy, a former Philly anchor, is doing great work riding the anchor's desk; she's much better than we expected, and certainly worth more than the cut-in news breaks she does in the evening.

And sure sure, the Weather Channel is fine, but what they know in weather, they lack in speedy news judgment.

Everytime we see footage from the French Quarter, from the Dome, from the causeway over Lake Pontchartrain, from the Monteleone, we wince. Will it all be there after the sun comes back out?