Know how you remember exactly what you were doing on the day that a tragic event occurred?
Like, for example, several months ago as I listened on my car radio in disbelief as Katie Couric's appointment as successor to CBS news anchor Dan Rather was announced. The news network over which Walter Conkrite once presided had decided that a journalism background was no longer essential for its anchor. Instead, it was decided that entertainment credentials trumped news reporting ones.
And so, it comes with little surprise to learn that the numbers are not doing so well, even with the likes of the well-dressed and once-popular co-host of NBC's lite-fare Today Show.
As reported in the Los Angeles Times this week, "Last week, the program continued to lag in third place, drawing an average of 7.76 million viewers to NBC's 9.8 million and ABC's 8.82 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. CBS officials noted that their newscast has drawn 348,000 more viewers on average this season compared with last, while the other two networks have seen their audiences shrink slightly. But CBS' season-to-date gains have been among younger viewers; the number of adult viewers older than 55 has actually declined by 3%, a drop that has worried CBS executives."
What do you think?
15 November 2006
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2 comments:
It's unfortunate that a network with such a rich tradition of superior news coverage has chosen to give into the entertainment first, news coverage second mentality that controls so many "news" organizations.
Anyone with any understanding of how news coverage should work knew that bringing on Katie Couric would be a disaster and it seems as if the latest ratings back that up.
CBS should do more work like 60 Minutes and 48 Hours and leave the entertainment to Comedy Central. Because if they don't, it won't be long before shows like The Daily Show with John Stewart has more redeeming news value than the CBS Evening News.
I agree, but it's truly not just CBS that is doing this. All the other "major" networks have been doing this entertainment first and true news some time later if at all for some time. Anyone who has watched the transition, although nearly imperceptible to the unwatching eye, of Fox News this is clear. It is very hard to find any "mainstream" or "major" news outlets that have true journalistic integrity and not a bias to either the right or the left outside of the opinions page.
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