Has Media Saturated Viewers With Coverage Of Missing Flight 370?

Now that Flight 370 is officially lost in the Southern Indian Ocean, finger-pointing over the TV coverage is reaching a fever pitch.

An outraged Bill O'Reilly lashed out Monday night at the many theories put forward on cable TV about what might have happened to the missing plane.

He said, “The coverage of the missing jetliner was embarrassing, irresponsible, and dishonest.  Anyone, anyone, who will not admit that, is dishonest as well. It allowed charlatans to put forth preposterous theories and denigrated the journalism industry.”

O'Reilly seemed to call out retired U.S. Air Force General Thomas McInerney, who told the world last week on Hannity that the jetliner was hijacked to Pakistan for use as a terrorist weapon.

O’Reilly said, “What if your husband, wife, or family member were on the plane and people on national television were telling you it landed someplace? I mean that's just cruel.”

Mary Murphy is professor of communications at USC. She told INSIDE EDITION, "Bill O'Reilly went ballistic, but CNN is laughing all the way to ratings gold. Their ratings doubled over this."

It's not just O'Reilly who's ticked off, Jon Stewart ripped CNN for its non-stop, wall-to-wall coverage on The Daily Show Monday night.

Murphy said, "They went far, they went too far, then they went outlandish, but it didn't matter. People wanted to know and watched."