Brokaw Gone; Rather Next -- What's the Future Hold for Evening News?
by Chad Groening
January 6, 2005
(AgapePress) - A media watchdog says the retirement of two major news anchors and the rising influence of 24-hour cable news channels show that broadcast news is in a time of transition.Brian Williams has already taken over the anchor desk on NBC Nightly News, replacing Tom Brokaw. In March, CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather steps aside for a replacement who has yet to be identified. Rich Noyes, director of research at the Media Research Center, says the future of network news is unclear.
"I think television news -- particularly broadcast television news --is in a transition," he offers. "Cable is now the place where people just instinctively turn for news when they know something's happening in the world -- and broadcast [news] is trying to figure out what niche it fills and what unique service it can provide."
Noyes contends the answer may be morning news broadcasts. "They're almost competitive now with the evening news," he suggests, "and they're a place where the news is covered in a much more conversational style and in a much more opinionated way. I think that may be the place where you see a lot of the bias in the future."
The MRC spokesman says the next generation of evening news anchors may be generally weaker than the group currently in the midst of retiring. "I'm not sure that Brian Williams, in the long run, will be able to maintain the ratings that NBC Nightly News had under Tom Brokaw," he says.
Ultimately, Noyes says, the evening half-hour synopsis of the day that has long been the mainstay of network television news on ABC, CBS, and NBC could become a thing of the past and just "fade into history."
