Are Broadcast and Cable News Dying?
The day is coming that TV news is going to have to change dramatically to maintain an audience. Howard Rheingold, Ester Dyson, and other tech futurists foresaw this need several years ago. Still, until the advertisers and eyeballs actually start a shift (which may begin to happen soon), we’re stuck with what we’ve got. And it ain’t pretty news.
When I woke up this morning, I turned on CNN while I was dressing and having a cup of coffee. My expectation was that two stories would be dominating the news: 1) The Brazilian airliner crash, and 2) the Senate “all-nighter”. Unfortunately, I was wrong on both accounts. This morning, all cable news channels (CNN, Headline News, MS-NBC, and Fox) were focused on the murder / suicide case of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit. Every single channel was leading with it.
CNN’s American Morning host John Roberts then had an interview with Sen. John Edwards. Was the focus on Edwards’ “Road to One America” campaign tour? No. Roberts focused on the haircut controversy and the purchase of Edwards’ expensive home. MS-NBC’s “Cup of Joe” (Joe Scarborough) was locked in like a laser beam on the latest NEI report, and stoking the al-Qaida and terror fires. Fox was spending most of its time on the Benoit autopsy report before I had to get to work.
Every story with a political angle had a decidedly - almost in your face - “GOP positive” slant. In almost every instance, where I caught a glimpse of a story about the Senate sleepover, the stories were disparaging of the Democrats, nearly implying that the GOP Senators were being held hostage. The primary talking point this morning was the very shallow, “Why? What’s the point? The Dems are going to lose the vote anyway.”
It’s been awhile since I watched the morning news shows, and I had no idea that there was such an extreme ideological slant in the morning to all three networks. I believe that, even with my own political leanings, I can make a fairly objective assessment of “slant”. This morning, all three channels were so far tilted to the right as to be objectionable to anyone but the most die hard 26%-er.
My assessment: broadcast news and cable are going the same direction as the dodo bird and rigid newspaper empires - irrelevancy and extinction. Maybe not today or tomorrow or even the next few years, but the news networks can see the handwriting on the wall. And in their quest to keep the advertisers coming in, they’re targeting (particularly) their morning news shows at the “stay-at-home” crowd.
Yeah, ok, the politically oriented shows later in the day will spend some time during the evening hours focusing on the battle royale in the Senate. But I’d wager that most of the people watching Hardball, Situation Room, Countdown, O’Reilly, Hannity, etc. are mostly political junkies. There aren’t a lot of “undecideds” watching these shows. From a purely political (and ideological) standpoint, it’s the morning shows that have a particular degree of importance in influencing general public opinion on political issues.
So where is this all going? Just by the fact that you’re reading this, I think you know. The world wide web is quickly changing the face of all broadcast news gathering organizations, and it’s happening so quickly that they’re evolving into “mediatainment” outfits rather than true journalistic endeavors. The cutting edge of broadcast (and text-based) journalism is right where you’re at - the internet.
There are several startups in the works. One is The Real News, and it looks very promising, even though their business model seems a bit pollyanna-ish. Perhaps that’s just the long time internet community cynic in me. The quality of the broadcasts and global reach of the startup appears solid, even if their on-air talent lineup seems a bit thin at the moment. At TPM Media, Josh Marshall is already playing with the broadcast technology a bit, as well - in fact, if I were an angel investor, TPM Media would be getting a very hard look from me right now, because Josh has positioned his company on the bleeding edge of a true revolution in news delivery. The partnerships that Marshall is forming are quite impressive.
The day is going to come, sooner than later, that broadcast and cable news are going to have to change dramatically to maintain an audience. Howard Rheingold, Ester Dyson, and other internet / web / guru’s and futurists foresaw this change several years ago.
To answer my original question: Are broadcast and cable news dying? Not yet - but both are like a chronically ill patient, trying to extend the inevitable as long as possible. Until the advertisers and eyeballs actually start a shift (which may begin to happen as soon as the 2008 election season gets in full swing), we’re left hurling rotten tomatoes at our TV screens.
Great commentary. I am in the same belief, yet even as we blog on news and events we still go largely unheard. The media condemns US as ‘alternative’ and not ‘actual news. They dont report NEWS …just steroid killer wrestlers, paris, anna, and crap like that.
Check my blog….I think you might enjoy it. http://newssophisticate.blogspot.com/
I don’t know if they play to what their audience wants to hear, or if they think their audience is just too damned stupid to understand real news. Think about how many of the talking/reading heads are actully journalist. None comes to mind.
I stopped watching all of those stations a long time ago. Instead, I’m now waking up at 4AM to watch Washington Journal on C-Span and the idiots in the House & Senate on C-Span-2. Granted, many people from all sides of the aisle and beliefs come on to speak on WJ, but what I like the best is that people can call in with their opinions about what’s happening to this country or whatever the topic happens to be. 4 years ago when I started watching, the repugs were calling in enmass to criticize….lately they’re just as disgusted as most of us who educate ourselves with what’s going on. Also seems to me our Congress people aren’t getting the real news about what’s truly going on. I’ve tried to volunteer my time and am astounded that no one gets back to me. Arrogance and ignorance, pure & simple. I just hope the rest of the country finally wakes up from the 6 year coma they’ve been in and do something about this administration.
I gave up on broadcast network news a long time ago, though sometimes I watch Olbermann for the entertainment.
The last two times I turned on a television news show to actually see the news was to see helicopter pictures of truck crashes on a local highway–and that was out of curiosity because I could see the helicopters from my back yard.
I’m a newspaper junkie, though, both traditional and electronic.
When I travel, I always read the local paper–even a crappy one has more going for it than that MacDonald’s of newspapers the hotels seem to want to foist on us–USeless Today.
And newspapers, on the web or in the hand, offer me an option broadcast doesn’t–I can turn or click past the lastest story about Br*tney or Nic*le or KF*d any of those others in the news primarily because they can’t keep their pants on when they see a camera.
And I listen to a steady diet of NPR shows when I can. Often, NPR covers a story with such depth that, when I later read the newspaper story, there is nothing new in the paper in terms of fact, though the interpretaton may be different.
I don’t trust political blogs for news, though I respect many of them for interpretation.
I don’t trust political blogs for news, though I respect many of them for interpretation.
I understand that sentiment, Frank. I’m much the same way, but then, that’s what most blogs do - interpret the news. A online operation (for example, like ASZ) simply doesn’t have the resources to break stories, although we’ve certainly catapulted a few into the mainstream. But then I look at what TPM has evolved to, and it’s so much more than just a blog anymore. They actually do original reporting and investigative journalism, even though Josh started it as a one man operation.
The face of journalism (or perhaps more correctly, information delivery) is changing rapidly, and folks like you bear witness to it.
The “news” we are getting in the MSM is the result of our government allowing the outlets to become monopolies with news being decided on and doled out by an elite and powerful few. Clinton signed the media bill, maybe in the hope the MSM would go easy on him… HAH (as Chris Matthews would say, I do still enjoy his Hardball show on MSNBC).
And, I do enjoy the Lou Dobbs CNN news at 5pm CDT… you won’t find the wrestler, paris or the other slop there. But, the Dobbs are few and far between.
Enjoyed your thoughtful take on the subject.
At The Big Brass Blog you can read “Ripping CNN.com a New One in 500 Characters by: Dark Wraith.
Actually, I’m _not_ stuck with what they throw at me.
First, I don’t have to watch them. That’s what sites like Buzzflash and Crooks and Liars are for. If the MSM says anything of noteworthy goodness or badness, I’ll learn about it from these sites without wasting time actually watching the media drivel.
Second, I built a MythTV box (give it a Google). A little local community “news”, and weather in 16:9 High Def and then I seamlessly remote control menu to full-screen BFM internet stream out of Paris that is similar in quality to analog TV with rabbit ears. Learn a language while getting the legendary European reality of showing Gaza and Iraq in their blood and guts. Then I stream the SABC (South Africa) in not-very-good stream for a few minutes until it is time for another network’s local news and weather in 4:3 High Def.
These are free. I would note that you can also pay to subscribe to BBC streaming news. With lying distortions and false arguments about every 30 seconds, I haven’t been able to stomach U.S. network news or the morning shows for years.
OFF the networks; ON the net.
Everyone to their own taste is what I feel when it comes to the news shows. I’ve been watching the news for a long time and I feel that I get good coverage when I start with CNN Lou Dobbs then the PBS newshour. I was a loyal CBS guy until Dad Rather left and the fool in charge allowed John Roberts to get away and put in Ms Cutie Face.
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now.
In Austin, every day at 6pm I get the hour long DN program on public access. DN leverages public access, PBS, pod casting and LPFM. Their work is very high quality, yet they get virtually no mention — ever — in the liberal blogosphere. My impression is most of the LB readership doesn’t even know they exist. Without support they can’t possibly survive, yet support is not forthcoming. Libs need to put some action behind their words. If you go to Robert Parry’s site, Consortium News, you’ll see this most outstanding player is desperate for operating capital, with a miserly goal of $25k a year! He deserves an order of magnitude better.
If libs would attend less to the known brands, and work more to establish these unknown brands the result would be positive. It is astonishing to me that these folks don’t resonate large and loud among libs. Buzzflash and Air America are great, but come up way short on substance compared with Democracy Now.
an excellent article..I never watch the news anymore because the Republican party has turned it into their own personel propaganda machine and unfortunately the stupid democrats allowed them to form these news monopolies.Just like in russia though the majority of people are stupid as hell and probably think they are getting the real news,so as our great facist leader says “mission accomplished”.
A friend who recently retired from being a news anchor on a local station predicted that in 5 years television news will not exist–and good riddance was her take on it. The whorification of the profession drove her out of it, in disgust.
The reason all of you have “stopped watching television news” is because no one wants impartial, objective news anymore. Each of you only wants news that reflects your own viewpoint and as the political polarization becomes wider and deeper, this situation will only be exacerbated.
The reason all of you have “stopped watching television news” is because no one wants impartial, objective news anymore.
Wrong about that, Chuck (at least in my case). I am willing to listen to both sides of a non-slanted argument - provided that there are two equally arguable sides to a particular issue or situation.