Decline and Fall of ABC 'News'? Will Carry Jackson Memorial

A new low for ABC News? ABC decided Saturday to bump its daytime soap operas (and, in the MDT/PDT, a re-run of The View -- so that's an upside) to provide live coverage at 1 PM EDT/12 PM CDT/11 AM MDT/10 AM PDT (9 AM for Sarah Palin and, so everyone in the U.S. is covered, that's 7 AM in Hawaii, thus bumping GMA) of Tuesday's memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

It won't be an ABC entertainment division production, but an ABC News broadcast. As reported by TV Newser and announced by David Muir on Saturday's World News, which already had a graphic for “Remembering Michael Jackson” with an image of Jackson standing in for the “I” in Michael, Charles Gibson will anchor.

[UPDATE, Sunday at 4:50 PM EDT: NBC has announced it too will provide live coverage as will Fox, so my doubt about Fox, which only carries one hour of news a week, was misplaced.]  

So far, CBS and NBC have yet to announce live coverage on Tuesday, though obviously it will be wall-to-wall on NBC's MSNBC and while it's doubtful the news-light Fox will air it, the Fox News Channel certainly will show it as well as CNN. TV Newser had item on CBS News sending Katie Couric to Los Angeles to anchor the CBS Evening News and 48 Hours from the Staples Center which will also be the venue for The Early Show.