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CBS testing post-Rather 'News' plan
Hollywood Reporter ^ | 5/19/05 | staff

Posted on 05/19/2005 7:29:34 AM PDT by pissant

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - CBS said Wednesday it will experiment with its evening newscast in the coming months as the network decides what direction to go in the post-Dan Rather era.

CBS News president Andrew Heyward said the moves would be built around what already has been done with temporary anchor Bob Schieffer, who took over at "CBS Evening News" on March 10. Schieffer has brought new life to the single-anchor format, spending time talking to the correspondents on-air and asking them questions instead of the standard stand-up reports common to the format.

Heyward offered few details about the reworking of "Evening News," though he said it probably would be built around several correspondents that could include Schieffer, who also is host of "Face the Nation" and is the network's chief Washington correspondent.

"We haven't worked that out yet," Heyward said.

Heyward said CBS News was looking beyond the anchor as the "voice of God." But don't count on "Evening News" to follow the lead of "The Early Show," which has four anchors, or the multiple anchors/multiple cities model that was the trademark of ABC's "World News Tonight" in the late 1970s and early '80s.

That was an innovation in Roone Arledge's time, but it wouldn't work today, Heyward said. He feels Schieffer's manner and style are a good fit.

"We like what we've seen so far," Heyward said. He said the spring and summer were a good time to make tweaks because of the higher amounts of sampling seen during those times.

During a briefing with reporters Wednesday announcing CBS' primetime schedule, CBS chief Leslie Moonves praised Schieffer's time at the helm and said the CBS News veteran had added "a real stability" to the network's perennial third-place evening news. Moonves said there was no time schedule on changes to "Evening News," saying Schieffer is doing a great job.

"It makes making a decision (about the evening news) really quickly not as necessary," Moonves said. He, too, offered no in-depth clues to what kind of changes CBS News had in mind.

"We're looking at all sorts of things. This is a tough nut to crack," Moonves said.

But whatever the future holds for "Evening News," it isn't likely to include "Today" show host Katie Couric. Moonves confirmed that CBS "had a discussion with Katie Couric" but that the NBC News star was locked up in a contract and wasn't likely to jump to anchor "Evening News." He added, "I think she'll be at the 'Today' show for a very, very long time."


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: boycottviacom; cbsnews; seebs; seebsnews; traitors; viacommie
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Only 2 things can save CBS

1) Tell the news straight

2) Hire Laurie Dhue as anchor!

1 posted on 05/19/2005 7:29:35 AM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant
Schieffer has brought new life to the single-anchor format,

That's too funny. All they need to do is hire RUSH limbaugh for a day and he could tell them what their problems are.

2 posted on 05/19/2005 7:31:58 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: pissant

Here's a plan for CBS: Stop being a bunch of left-wing HACKS!

Might help ratings.


3 posted on 05/19/2005 7:32:12 AM PDT by Betaille (Harry Potter is a Right-Winger)
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To: pissant
"We're looking at all sorts of things. This is a tough nut to crack," Moonves said.

he ought to be fired for that quote alone

4 posted on 05/19/2005 7:32:16 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch (Look! Jimmy Carter! History's greatest monster!)
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To: pissant
Walter Cronkite is still alive, isn't he?

Maybe he'd like a chance at a comeback...

5 posted on 05/19/2005 7:32:41 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: 1Old Pro

"All they need to do is hire RUSH limbaugh for a day"

But don't you know non-Marxists are the enemy? Oh... but we're not biased or anything.


6 posted on 05/19/2005 7:33:20 AM PDT by Betaille (Harry Potter is a Right-Winger)
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To: pissant

7 posted on 05/19/2005 7:36:05 AM PDT by pabianice
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To: pissant

Is Connie Chung still around TV someplace ?


8 posted on 05/19/2005 7:37:47 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: pabianice

Wow - that is a wonderful shot.

Hubble?


9 posted on 05/19/2005 7:39:10 AM PDT by SusaninOhio
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To: pissant
CBS said Wednesday it will experiment with its evening newscast in the coming months as the network decides what direction to go...

This is not to say they will not tell truth or not put all their news in a liberal perspective. It merely means they will try new ways to mislead it's dwindling viewers.

10 posted on 05/19/2005 7:40:53 AM PDT by theDentist (The Dems are putting all their eggs in one basket-case: Howard "Belltower" Dean.)
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To: Timesink; martin_fierro; reformed_democrat; Loyalist; =Intervention=; PianoMan; GOPJ; ...
Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING

Heyward said CBS News was looking beyond the anchor as the "voice of God." But don't count on "Evening News" to follow the lead of "The Early Show," which has four anchors, or the multiple anchors/multiple cities model that was the trademark of ABC's "World News Tonight" in the late 1970s and early '80s.

Stick a fork in it. We don't need ANY nightly news program. Around the clock coverage serves us better. The "single broadcast" format never covered much "news" anyway.

Few other tv broadcasts are a shared experience anymore, no reason to have us all being fed the same propaganda at the same time. And the anchor should never be a "star".

Another "Most trusted man in America"? No thanks. Not lying is a part of the job description for ANY journalist.

11 posted on 05/19/2005 7:42:29 AM PDT by weegee (Funny how prisoners at Gitmo can have their religious books but our school kids can't.)
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To: Izzy Dunne
Walter Cronkite is still alive, isn't he? Maybe he'd like a chance at a comeback...

I don't think that being alive is a prerequisite in this case.

12 posted on 05/19/2005 7:45:44 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
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To: pissant
CBS News president Andrew Heyward said

I stopped reading right there.

13 posted on 05/19/2005 7:46:30 AM PDT by Fido969 (I see Red People!)
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To: pissant

Dear CBS:

This article is a joke, right? You surely don't think that you can find a better liar than Dan Rather for a CBS "News" show, do you?

With Rather, you had the pinnacle of liars, the most practiced, that slimiest liar ever to grace the television screen, possibly in this century (and the last).

OK, he was a little stupid, what with that lying in the face of a ton of evidence, but that only endeared him to his many fans and gave him a little extra patina. (I'm not quite sure what that means, perhaps that he was getting a bit moldy as his many lies were exposed.)

Attempting to top that would only result in disappointment and angst among your left-wing colleagues.

Just a suggestion: Musical Comedies.


14 posted on 05/19/2005 7:48:01 AM PDT by SusaninOhio
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To: pissant

"pissant" ... is that a French word?


15 posted on 05/19/2005 7:50:20 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch (Look! Jimmy Carter! History's greatest monster!)
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To: pissant

You know, I think I have a crackerjack idea for CBS news execs on how to crank up the audience share. Here it is:

Teach a really big dog how to fart "Wild Thing" backwards.
Then Bob can do a live interview with the dog!


16 posted on 05/19/2005 7:51:39 AM PDT by RexBeach ("Anyone can see what's wrong, but can you see what's right?" -Winston Churchill)
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To: pissant

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........


17 posted on 05/19/2005 7:53:13 AM PDT by GungaLaGunga
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To: RexBeach

And turn it into a musical comedy.

CBS KNOWS comedy. (anything that Rather starred in = comedy)


18 posted on 05/19/2005 7:53:23 AM PDT by SusaninOhio
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To: weegee
A transcript of everything said on a thirty minute evening news television show will fill only two-thirds of one page of a newspaper. Television news is a colossal waste of time -- only good for showing video of newsworthy scenes, which we can all get now on the Internet.
19 posted on 05/19/2005 7:53:29 AM PDT by garjog
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To: pissant

Tell the news instead of the left wing political agenda and I'll watch CBS. Well, not really but I'll make fun of them less.


20 posted on 05/19/2005 7:56:21 AM PDT by grizzly84
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