Rather. Jennings. Brokaw. Whatever flavor you prefer for your TV network news, better enjoy it while it lasts. At least those are the predictions from some media analysts. Cable news, they say, is coming on stronger than a squadron of Hell's Angels bikers at a debutante ball.
While the network executives argue that their offerings provide the special benefits of "depth and perspective" not available on the cable news channels, their protestations amount to little more than the "star power" of the "broadcast bigfeet," according to Mark Jurkowitz writing in Monday's "Boston Globe."
"The events of Sept. 11 have produced some shining moments by the big three broadcast networks. And since Sept. 11, their ratings are up," Jurkowtiz said. "But the war on terrorism is again proving that Americans consider cable news their go-to source for attention grabbing events. And for some observers, this raises questions about the future of the half-hour nightly network newscasts.
"Jurkowitz cites recent polling results from the Pew Research Center and media analysts' comments to back up his point. A November Pew poll shows that 53 percent of viewers get "most" of their news about the war on terror from cable. That's up from 45 percent in mid-September. And only 17 percent chose network news as their primary source in November, "a notable drop from 30 percent in September," the Jurkowitz article said.
"The period we seem to be in is the end of mass media," said network news analyst Andrew Tyndall.
"I don't think there is any question that the future for network news is up for grabs...And in the long run, an isolated half-hour in the evening does not make that much sense in terms of news," said former NBC News president Larry Grossman.
"Networks need to rethink the challenge of even the need to do a news program on a half-hour basis," said Carl Gotleib, deputy director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. "I think we are about to see the format of network news change...This entire episode in our history opens the door for a network to do a real hard-news-driven newscast."
