Within seconds of feeling an unfamiliar rumble on the East Coast, journalists knew a big story was on their hands.

From the sight of our sister station WJLA-7 anchors running across the newsroom after the reported 5.9-magnitude jolt to breaking news banners being tossed up on cable, the media scrambled to cover the developing story. But Tuesday was no ordinary news day: The fight for Tripoli raged at the same time the ground shook.

Fox News, CNN and MSNBC all cut away from live shots of Libya to earthquake coverage, and more than an hour after the trembler struck, all three still had cameras trained at anxious citizens milling about the streets of New York and Washington. The New York Times kept the battling in Libya in their site’s top spot, with earthquake stories displayed prominently below, which included a link to the Times' The Lede liveblog.

 

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