Posted on 09/03/2004 5:39:09 AM PDT by OESY
On his last night in the anchor chair at a political convention, Tom Brokaw of NBC was feeling resigned. The conventions, he said in an interview on Thursday, were mere "infomercials," with little to interest anyone beyond political partisans.
"These events are managed down to the last semicolon," said Mr. Brokaw, who is retiring after the election. "That's why I find it hard to climb those stairs and get into the anchor chair anymore."
Like Mr. Brokaw, a number of television executives yesterday blamed the Republicans and Democrats for the networks' dwindling convention viewership. But as the Fox News cable channel widened its lead in the convention ratings race, other observers suggested that the networks needed to look within.
While Fox broadcast the convention for much of the day, the three networks covered it only from 10 to 11 p.m.
Dorrance Smith, the longtime former ABC News executive who is now a television consultant to the Republican National Convention, called Fox's dominance in the ratings this week "truly a seminal event," and said that that development could be interpreted as a serious threat to the identities of the broadcast news operations.
"It never ceases to amaze me how the networks can continue to rationalize their ongoing decline in both numbers and relevancy," Mr. Smith said. "The way that we and the Democrats have programmed the 10 p.m. hour has reduced their impact dramatically. By limiting their coverage, they are forced to show what the conventions have programmed, and it has reduced to a bare minimum their ability to react and opine."
Dan Rather, the CBS anchor, said that precisely that kind of stage managing had helped reduce the networks' interest in the conventions. His team, he said, was left to act less like journalists than like sports producers who show up at a prepackaged event and turn on their cameras.
"Actually, in sports you can do more," Mr. Rather said. "You can say the fullback missed a block. Here we don't even get to do that."
After beating the broadcast networks for the first time on Tuesday, Fox News dominated viewership from 10 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, when Vice President Dick Cheney gave his acceptance speech. Fox not only pulled in more viewers than any individual broadcast network, with 5.918 million, but also attracted more viewers than CBS (2.6 million) and ABC (3.3 million) combined. NBC had 4.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
While many network news executives dismissed Fox's success as a function of its warmth toward the Republicans, many admitted that the size of the audience differential on Wednesday was startling.
"Any time you see a number of that magnitude you have to think about it," Neal Shapiro, the president of NBC News, said.
Contemplating what the networks might do differently, Mr. Rather said one alternative would be to approach speeches ready to question every fact, figure and charge. Mr. Rather said that some executives at CBS had already suggested another approach this year: reducing coverage from three nights to two. With this week's ratings, he added, talk of further cuts is "in the mix for sure," though he will be opposed. And Mr. Rather said that he would not be surprised if a network started to calculate how much better it could do financially by skipping convention coverage entirely and counter-programming with an entertainment show.
In curtailing convention coverage "the networks are operating as economic institutions and very minimally as public institutions," Tom Rosenstiel, the director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said.
But he argued not to overstate Fox's success this week. "I think it's premature to suggest this is a sign of Fox rising," Mr. Rosenstiel said. He noted that CNN and PBS did far better during the Democratic National Convention and said audiences with strong partisan preferences seemed to be gravitating during the conventions to channels that they were most comfortable with.
The more general news audience, which tunes in to the networks during most breaking-news events, has sensed that the conventions do not provide much news anymore, Mr. Rosenstiel added. "Many have decided not to watch the conventions at all," he said.
Bill Shine, the vice president of production for Fox News, said that Fox was doing better than it had during the Democratic convention in Boston (its audience was up 261 percent on Wednesday versus the third night in Boston) not because of its appeal to partisan Republicans but because "the story is just more interesting than it was a month ago."
Mr. Rather suggested that the ratings may not be ideal for the Republican Party come November.
"I tip my cap to Fox," he said. "I'm sure people in the party are saying that's a great audience and on a channel that's friendly to us. But the wise ones know that this is preaching to the converted. And if they want to reach independent or swing voters, the way to do that is through the over-the-air networks."
Since when?!?
I've lived in South Dakota, where Brokaw is from-- there's not a need for a lot of stairs there. Then again, maybe he's just old. Maybe they need to install elevators where he's at. Maybe he needs a diction coach. Then again, maybe he needs to retire, as his influence is finally waning...
And what does that say about CNN and PBS's "unbiased" coverage? Go on, Mr. Rosenstiel, say it. Say it, I dares ya!
"That's why I find it hard to climb those stairs and get into the anchor chair anymore."
Awwww, poor baby.
*insert eye-rolling smiley*
Brokaw, Jenning, Rather and the other are just lucky that a car chase in LA didn't break out last nite or no one would have watched them. No network or cable channel does car chases like FoxNews.
I believe it was George Will that wrote a column back before the Iraq War that argued that the UN has become irrelevant because the need for international diplomats had diminished due to instant communications and rapid travel. There was no need for a country to send a delegate to one common place to project that countries interests--it could easily be done by the leaders themselves with the technology available.
We're rapidly seeing old institutions like the MSM crumble as new technologies take their place. Large congregations, like party conventions, where the party leaders hammer out platforms and elect candidates is just another one of those dinosaurs.
I think a lot of people were interested in the conventions. If I were watching on Fox because it's the only network with coverage, why would I change to another network at 10 PM?
That's because you just don't understand the game anymore, Danny-boy. You're liberal bias is as out-moded as the single wing offense.
Does anyone have the statistics on how many watched each convention? What were the totals for all the alphabets and cable channels for the Democrat and Republican conventions? I'll bet twice to three times as many people watched the Republican convention. It was much more entertaining.
You really have to laugh at these morons like Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, etc. They just don't get it! They are lost and will never be found? Just like John Kerry and that idiot, John Edwards!!!
Yeah, don't let the door hit you in the @ss on the way out, ya sanctimonious blowhard! Now if only Jennings and Blather would ride off into the sunset, I might actually be able to watch network TV again.
Like the fall of the roman empire, we are seeing the fall of the msm empire. They pigeon holed themselves into this position. By only having one hour, they cant impose their opinion on the audience like years past. Hopefully, we will see the effects on Nov 2.
Chris Wallace was simply giddy on Fox News this a.m. about the ratings. He quoted one of his coworkers -- talking about the network whining -- as saying "that's the sound a dinosaur makes when he's going extinct."
I am still in shock that a Cable News Network blew away the big three. Amazing and shows, at least to me, that a lot of people don't like getting their news form them.
Well the shot clock is in now and the game has adjusted, run and gun Danny boy. You guys are still trying to play keep away, and you're losing the ball. And the game. LOL.
"After beating the broadcast networks for the first time on Tuesday, Fox News dominated viewership from 10 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, when Vice President Dick Cheney gave his acceptance speech. Fox not only pulled in more viewers than any individual broadcast network, with 5.918 million, but also attracted more viewers than CBS (2.6 million) and ABC (3.3 million) combined. NBC had 4.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. "
I'm actually in shock that the NY SLimes would actually report this FACT. How unlike them!
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