Last month, "Interviewing" looked at changes in reporting brought about by America's war on terrorism. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who noticed."

While the news has gotten more serious, almost all of the change is focused on the war, which suggests that the networks may have simply changed subjects rather than changed their approach to the news," according to the overview of a recent study conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism."

Celebrity and lifestyle coverage, which had come to dominate network morning news and become a major factor even on the signature evening newscasts, has given way to levels of traditional hard news not seen in decades," the study found. "At night, the evening newscasts have returned to a news agenda that is closer to the 1970s than the 1990s."

PEJ reports that eight out of 10 evening news stories concern government, national or international affairs, a rate which is up 67% from a few months ago. "Celebrity and lifestyle stories, which made up roughly a quarter of nightly news stories this summer, have vanished almost entirely."

While the return to hard news reporting is strong, there are signs that it may be only temporary, the report said.