The "news" itself on cable TV at times such as this is almost perfectly analogous to raw FBI files--a compost of fact, rumor, hearsay and speculation. The FBI keeps this dangerous stuff locked up. But on TV, when you've exhausted the facts, you go with what you've got, which may be mostly thin air. You go with it anyway.

....Not since long ago when villagers whispered that witches danced in the night-forest, has mere rumor been elevated to such high status in the life of a society. Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose deserves the honor of a dinner for refusing, with dignity, to participate in this ritualistic rumor-mongering that has become a staple of American news gathering.
But stay with us. We're now listening to a clinical psychologist discuss "fear." "There are so many people in the D.C. area, Chris, who are terrified to leave their homes. What do we do about this?" Here we arrive at the heart of the problem. Why all the melodrama?

Gathering information live on TV is difficult, and you could perhaps excuse some of the rough edges (and yes, good work gets done). But cable doesn't trust the news alone to hold an audience. So everything it does gets infused with the theatrical techniques of melodrama. Anything real or human is exaggerated and milked for effect (but never milked dry). Anchorly voices, from Brian Williams down to the lowliest sub, rumble with melodramatic inflection. CNN: "Chillldren could be targeted aany place, aaany time. This is affecting parents aalllll across the region." Boom, boom, boom. What Henninger doesn't mention is that these stations are in business to make money - period - and the kind of in depth, reasoned reporting and analysis that he advocates is expensive and less immediate. Live (local) on the scene reporting, interviews, and the endless chatter of "experts" is cheap and immediate. Melodrama grabs wandering viewers by the throat and costs nothing extra. Put them together and you have the television news of today: it certainly isn't just cable that answers to these sins. Cable news just has more time to fill and its excesses and deficiencies are just more obvious. What else would you expect?