TV Networks Shift From Politics to Storm as Gustav Takes Over

NEW YORK - The television networks tore up their convention-week playbooks Sunday, pulling anchors from St. Paul and dispatching them to the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Gustav muscled the Republican convention off the air.

All three broadcast networks had planned scaled-back convention coverage even before the storm. With Republicans canceling the opening night's program, NBC, ABC and CBS said they would cover Gustav as their lead story and take convention events as warranted.

Cable news, which feasted on last week's Democratic convention in Denver, pivoted to the hurricane: correspondents staked out the levees, the shelters and the emergency operations centers, and the Weather Channel reported record online traffic.

The shift was a particular blow to the McCain campaign, which had counted on the convention to introduce Sarah Palin to a national television audience. Instead, the images were of empty seats and gray skies over the Gulf.

"You can't schedule a hurricane, and you can't fight one for airtime," said a veteran network producer. "The story is the storm."

NBC, coming off its triumphant Olympics coverage, kept its "NBC Nightly News" anchor in the Gulf region, where he had been for the weekend.

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Associated Press writers contributed to this report.

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