Rather, Jennings, and Brokaw retirements - the demise of network news?

[Loren Booda]

Will traditional television network (CBS, ABC and NBC) news survive the near-simultaneous retirements of their accustomed anchors and the continued restructuring of the information industry?

 

[kat]

Let's hope not...

 

[Pengwuino]

It depends if this whole thing about wanting more information about the world will hold up. Its starting to be too much for a little 30 minute show every few days or every day to handle and i think the 24 hour channels will start taking up more market share. Dont think it has anything to do with the resignations though.

 

[wasteofo2]

i think the 24 hour channels will start taking up more market share.

It's not like the 24 hour channels really do much more reporting on the world. They have hour or half an hour shows that all talk about the same hot topics, and they BS a lot about American politics, rarely getting into anything that doesn't directly involve the USA or Iraq.

 

[Pengwuino]

Not really. Durin the day there's a lot of financial stuff and during the morning there's a lot of BS woman news (the latest fashions, what's going on in over-paidwood, CA, what's the latest buzz on the Apprentice, etc etc).

Plus of course there's at least some meaningful debates on 24h news.

 

[Grogs]

I think it's just a sign of the technological revolution our society is continuing to go through. 30 years ago, if you wanted to know what was going on in the world, you either read the paper, listened to the radio, or watched TV. If you watched TV, you were limited to about 3 or 4 channels, and you could watch the news at 6 or 11pm.

The advent of cable and 24 hour news networks changed that a lot. Why wait until 6pm when you can just turn on CNN for a few minutes and get the same news any time you want it. Nowadays with the internet boom, you don't even need to watch TV to get the news anymore. There are so many news sites out there it's unbelievable. It's a good bet that anything significant going on in the world will be reported on the internet within a few minutes.

I think the only thing the major networks have going for them (at least in the near future) is the perception that since they're such large, well-established programs, they shouldn't be *too* biased and that they don't present things without at least a little research. This perception has been strained a bit lately (the Bush papers come to mind), but I think it's still widely held.

While I don't see the network news programs disappearing any time soon, I don't think they'll ever have the monolithic influence they used to enjoy.

 

[russ_watters]

Demise? That's about the opposite of the way I would have characterized it. Perhaps with Rather's demise, some ethics will find their way into CBS.