And Dan Rather thought he was being disrespected at CBS when they let him go.
Most people who had seen their audience drop by 2/3rds would have been shown the door a long time before Rather even if they never practiced fraudulent journalism.
Posted on 07/12/2006 5:52:38 AM PDT by teddyballgame
A year ago tomorrow, I did a post on the continued decline in evening news viewership at Big Three Networks NBC, ABC, and CBS, and made these observations and predictions about why that decline was taking place, and would continue (some of last year's text was slightly revised):
All three nightly broadcasts most likely lose money, when isolated from their morning counterparts (Today, Good Morning America, CBS Morning Show) and their documentary shows (Dateline, 60 Minutes, 20/20, etc.). At a minimum, none makes an acceptable level of profit.
BUT, the news operations of each of the Big 3 networks are very small parts of very large organizations (CBS-Viacom, NBC-GE, and ABC-Disney), so small that apparently no one at any of the three parent companies cares enough to do anything about the continued hemorrhaging in their evening new shows, as long as the news operations themselves are profitable.
So because those other parts of the news operations make money, the nightly news programs can chug right along, oblivous to normal profitability expectations.
The journalists who put together the nightly news programs could care less if the broadcasts are profitable. It's obvious that their agenda is more important.
Because of all of the above, the ever-shrinking audience for these broadcasts will be spoon-fed biased reporting, Bush bashing, and conservative-bashing for the foreseeable future.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
There is ONE good reason for continuing to watch the network news---it's the quickest way to find out what the "propaganda cause du jour" is. It's also good for a laugh.
Local news is still "pretty OK", as long as you stick to "breaking news" stories.
"I am persuaded that this fall will be responded by the BIG THREE's drive to start broadcasting in Spanish with English (aka American) subtitles scrolling across the bottom."
That's great insight. I agree with you. The broadcast evening news is tailored to propagandize a relatively uneducated base. An uneducated base that will vote. In the past this had been joe sixpack, typically a democrat. Now... they'll have to reach out to juan sixpack, an illegal who will vote democrat.
(1) Widespread availability of news content from other sources.
(2) Decades of declining quality in reportage.
(3) People don't get home from work at 5:15 anymore. Most people commute from the suburbs and would rather allocate their time at home to other pursuits than news they already read online during lunch.
The self-important braying? The hyper-bizarre music? The insane over-reactive coverage? The whacked-out posturing and inflections?
Seriously, I can't watch 5 minutes of it. It's way too weird.
Just wait till lil cutie couric rides to the rescue of the nightly news.
Competition tightens for network newscasts
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-news12jul12,1,21004.story
Broadcasters' audience size sets new low
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-beach1206jul12,0,7690855.story?coll=orl-caltvtop
What's a CBS?
ping
Did any of you catch the AP headline about Rove? Novak says Rove source in Plame affair...or something similar. They are irrelevant today and liars to boot.
I see you're in Washington also. What do you watch?? I find KING 5 not to be too bad (except for Ken Schram--and I simply mute the TV when his ugly puss shows up). I agree that the other local news channels in the Seattle-Tacoma market pretty much match your description (and I do NOT watch them).
I am surprised that 27 million people still watch network news. First who has time at that hour. Second, of course the liberal slant is unbearable. Third, there are plenty of 24 hour programs that are better and more informative. It just does not make sense.
I wonder if the decline could be traced to fact that, women have taken over the TV media, it is TV for women, about women, operated by women....I, as a male, can not stand to have some pretty 30 year old, with a painted face, dictate the news to me.....
Wonder if she will be wearing her newfound wardrobe of black leather? That 'tough' reporting look.
Whatever their call letters--it's definitely the channel with Schram.
Wow, great pic.
It is fascinating the little nuances the news readers project to influence the watchers, ending a statement with a question in their voice, asking another question after a statement, such as too little too late??? Sometimes it isn't so much what they say as how they say it.
a total audience drop of over 20% in just six months (from roughly 27 million to 21 million)...
And Dan Rather thought he was being disrespected at CBS when they let him go.
Most people who had seen their audience drop by 2/3rds would have been shown the door a long time before Rather even if they never practiced fraudulent journalism.
I think you mean Juan "Twelve-pack."
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