Public Eye
October 4, 2005 2:44 PM

Surviving The Shrinking News Cycle

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Media Issues
Once upon a time, the nightly news broadcasts, in conjunction with the daily paper, were our prime sources of news. They appeared just once a day, which meant that breaking news that took place at noon didn't get to most of us until we saw it on television in the evening. Nowadays, however, cable news channels broadcast around the clock. The Internet has put the news, literally, at our fingertips. The news cycle is shorter than it's ever been. If news happens at noon, savvy news consumers often know about it by 12:01. By 6:30, they've already absorbed news analysis, talking head debates, and endless reports about the event.

This leaves the nightly newscasts with a challenge: Should producers assume their viewers haven't seen the headlines, and orient their coverage accordingly? Or should they assume they have, and try to do something new?

"It's a delicate balance," says CBS National Editor Bill Felling. "You're looking for some way to differentiate from what people have been watching all day, but you don't want to underserve the people who haven't been watching."

Felling cites as an example the "Evening News" coverage of the tragedy at Lake George, in which a tour boat capsized and sank, killing 21 people. The network did a segment giving the latest on what happened, and then a second piece from the hometown of many of the tourists, Trenton, Mich., which included interviews with the mayor and travel club – something the cable channels didn't do. "The cable channels pick the top one or two stories and they will mine them all day long, but they do it in a way that will leave out some stuff," says Felling. "They mostly talk about it."

Still, says Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, the increased competition has fundamentally changed the way nightly newscasts work. "The 24-hour news cycle has done to the networks the same thing it's done to the newsmagazines," he says. "Once a day is no longer current, so they have to cover trends, lifestyles, things that go beyond what you get on cable news. Like the newsmagazines, they have to do more news that is thematic, continuous, and relevant over time so they can't be beaten to the punch."

That's a challenge, however, when you also need to report the day's news. It's not easy to cover the president's press conference this morning, for example, a stand-alone event, in a way that is "thematic, continuous, and relevant over time." One solution the nightly news broadcasts have adopted is to balance the standard news with the lifestyle stories. Last night's "Evening News," for example, started with the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, followed with the Lake George story and stories on terrorism and those left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. The broadcast then moved onto the kind of stories Lichter seems to be talking about: the topics were hybrid cars and the increasing pressures in the kindergarten classroom, the kind in which the concept of "scoops" don't come into play.

"It's a shift right now from breaking news to long term news," he says. "They have to look for news that stays news."

Add a Comment
by dw438 October 5, 2005 6:53 PM EDT
It\'s so true, especially in the case of CBS and ABC, which do not have traditional 24-hour cable networks to work with. By the time 630 p ET rolls around, all the news consumers in the nation have heard, seen or read something about the day\'s top stories. It\'s up to the 630p broadcasts to summarize, put things into prespective and as Bill Felling said, gin up a fresh angle or two. Delicate balance, indeed.
Reply to this comment
by cbs-watcher October 5, 2005 2:25 PM EDT
Dan Rather said, as he left the air, \"Courage!\". Will CBS be first to show courage in exposing Bush\'s murders and high treason?
Reply to this comment
by ronmwanga October 4, 2005 11:41 PM EDT
I believe that evening news producers should assume the viewer has already seen the headlines. The early show -- an noontime -- news segment producers should not.
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by tomgrey2 October 4, 2005 9:59 PM EDT
I think a good story about Air America, like what Michelle Malkin is doing, should be aired by CBS. Other aspects of the Highlight should be covered in later sessions. More should be done for the repeat viewer, who HAS seen the headline (after the second or third time), so they see a briefer summary and some one view they haven\'t seen yet.
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by bmadeline-2009 October 4, 2005 7:12 PM EDT
Of course, they shoot the messenger. Do you really think with everything that\'s happened is a left wing media conspiracy? Where there\'s smoke, there\'s usually at least a little flame!!
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by mailpro56 October 4, 2005 6:50 PM EDT
I think CBS tried the reporting on impeaching or at least getting rid of Bush. If I remember it blew up in Dan Rathers face.
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by bmadeline-2009 October 4, 2005 6:37 PM EDT
Rather than doing the \"news\" that everyone else is doing, why not report the important stories that are a little riskier......The Ohio pol that has been found guilty, etc. George Bush should be impeached...why not provide the investigative reporting that will get that ball rolling? This is a totally corrupt administration that has lied about everything. You all sure didn\'t have any problem reporting twenty-four seven on Clinton\'s affair.
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by foshoyaknow October 4, 2005 6:21 PM EDT
I haven\'t watched, either. Anyone who wants to be informed could never rely on TV.
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by mailpro56 October 4, 2005 5:51 PM EDT
I haven\'t watched a full network news cast in the last few years. Living on the west coast...by the time they are broadcast..the news is way old....
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