CBS, ABC, NBC, are going down in flames, and the voice of the monitors of Neros court are singing while the idiots of the family, (like Obermann)play the violins.
OPs4 God BLess America!
A report detailing "serious and fundamental deficiencies" in a CBS News report of a disputed story involving President Bush's National Guard service has already caused damage to third-place CBS "Evening News" ratings, driving down its appeal to advertisers.
For nearly a decade, Rather's "Evening News" has languished in third place in the ratings, following ABC and NBC, whose "Nightly News" broadcast typically has been the top-rated, helmed by Tom Brokaw until he stepped down last year. In the weeks following the Sept. 8 report, ratings for CBS's evening newscast dipped and then flattened out, said Leslie Moonves, Viacom co-president.
The drop in ratings meant that CBS "Evening News" and other CBS News programs had to give advertisers more commercial time to make up for lost audience numbers that are guaranteed in contracts, said John Rash, a television advertising buyer with Campbell Mithun. And it couldn't have come at a worse time, Rash said.
"The irony is the report aired on '60 Minutes II,' and yet with Dan Rather being the public personification of the problem, its effect has been most noticeable on the 'CBS Evening News,' " Rash said. "They have not been able to regain much traction and most importantly have lost a key opportunity to erode NBC's ratings lead in the wake of Tom Brokaw's departure."
For the last week of 2004, NBC's "Nightly News" was seen in an average of 8.4 million households, with ABC's "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" second at 7.7 million households and CBS's "Evening News" at 6 million households, according to Nielsen Media Research.
A 30-second ad on a network evening news broadcast typically costs about $50,000, one-tenth of what a 30-second commercial can go for on a top-rated entertainment program, such as CBS's "CSI."
"The [overall] economic hit was not a great one," Moonves said. " 'The Early Show' and the news magazines make more money than the evening news."
Ad revenue from the "Evening News" accounts for only about 10 percent of the total revenue of the CBS News division, Moonves said.