All Blog Posts from Public Eye

In the obsessive debate over why the "Evening News" is in third place in the ratings, plenty of theories get tossed around. One argument you don't much hear outside of CBS, but often hear internally, is that the problem is one that the "Evening News" can't entirely deal with on its own.

That's because, in order to build an audience, nightly newscasts rely on their "lead-in" – the local newscast that runs at 6:00 and draws viewers in. And as Jacques Steinberg points out in today's New York Times, the ratings around the country for CBS' local newscasts aren't as strong as they are on the other networks, which puts the "Evening News" at a competitive disadvantage before the show airs each night.

"Even in an age where viewers can, with the mere touch of a remote control, choose from among hundreds of channels, most continue to get their network news from the same station that provides their local news," notes Steinberg. And since "[i]n many major markets, local newscasts on CBS stations have languished in third place for well over a decade," the "Evening News" has had to fight something of an uphill battle.

Don't think the networks aren't paying attention. NBC recently shook up its local newscast in New York City "with at least an eye toward helping" ratings for anchor Brian Williams and the NBC "Nightly News." Steinberg suggests that NBC's recent ratings slip may even have something to do with Ellen DeGeneres. (Stay with me here.) “The DeGeneres Show” replaced “Judge Judy” on WNBC in New York, and it didn't do as well as its predecessor in the ratings. That hurt the ratings for the local newscast that followed “The DeGeneres Show,” and in turn, according to the theory, the national newscast as well.

Of course, the lead-in is only so important. The nightly newscasts still have to put out a broadcast that holds onto the local news audience and brings in new viewers. And on that front, the "Evening News" has struggled.

“The fact that Katie is not holding 100 percent of the lead-in we’re giving her — she’s not,” Tom Kane, president and chief executive of the CBS division that oversees its 17 owned-and-operated stations, told the Times. “But she will.”

When it comes to snow storm coverage, as anyone watching or reading the news can attest, there is no shortage of information available online, on television and in the newspapers. And it's not just a local story – two evening newscasts (CBS and NBC) led with the winter storms last night. As for today's morning shows, NBC led with the weather and the "Early Show" and ABC's "Good Morning America" were pre-empted for local weather coverage.

While weather might not seem like the most important story when you stack it up against, say, North Korea taking steps to dismantle its nuclear program (which also happened yesterday) it's still what audiences show up for.

The second most popular story on CBSNews.com right now is "Northeast Gets A Blast Of Winter." Twenty-eight reporters apparently contributed to the Washington Post's snow coverage this morning.

And for local television news outlets, the drama of a winter storm can make for a ratings bonanza, as some local news folk told the Connecticut Post.

For example, during last year's "major northeaster" in lower Fairfield County, ratings for local cable network News12 "spiked, topping the heavy-hitter New York City broadcast stations that normally dominate Fairfield County rating wars."

"It's the biggest thing we do," Tom Applebee, anchor and news director Cablevision's News12 told the paper. "Weather is the main reason people watch local television news, and when a snowstorm hits it's even bigger."

A colleague passed along this promo for Philadelphia's KYW Eyewitness News, and we feel we have little choice but to share it with the world. The promo, which apparently ran from 1979 to 1981, features some bumping disco music, a shirtless bodybuilder, and a lot of confusing lightning. Anyway, enjoy.

Each week we invite someone from outside PE to weigh in with their thoughts about CBS News and the media at large. This week, we turned to Valerie Hyman, program director for the Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Television Journalism and former television reporter, newsroom manager and news executive. Below,Valerie argues that Wall Street is squeezing local television stations too much, and news consumers are paying the price. As always, the opinions expressed and factual assertions made in “Outside Voices” are those of the author, not ours, and we seek a wide variety of voices. Here’s Valerie:

Wall Street is undermining democracy in America. It is doing this by demanding ever higher profit margins from local television stations that have little more to give. The result is that more Americans are getting less news.

In the process, Wall Street also diminishes the democratic vision of journalism. Now, in addition to gathering and presenting news, stations must be on the lookout for ways to get more advertising money out of their newscasts.

The Ford Foundation and the Radio Television News Directors Foundation just released a study that shows that two-thirds of Americans choose local television as their top source of news compared to any other traditional or new media.

No matter how dismissive you may be of local TV news, most of your neighbors rely on it. Like it or not, this is a story that concerns us all.

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Each week we invite someone from outside PE to weigh in with their thoughts about CBS News and the media at large. This week, we turned to Alan Mutter, author of the blog Reflections Of A Newsosaur and former newspaper columnist and editor. He's currently a managing partner at Tapit Partners. Below, Alan discusses some of the shortcomings of local television news, a subject we've touched upon only briefly. As always, the opinions expressed and factual assertions made in “Outside Voices” are those of the author, not ours, and we seek a wide variety of voices. Here's Alan:


If you’ve been feeling edgy lately, one contributing factor may be the heavy dose of meaningless mayhem you watch on the typical local television newscast.

Statistically speaking, I found in a quick bit of number crunching, you are about 50 times more likely to view a local TV news story about a murder than one about science, child care or pollution. You are roughly 20 times more likely to “eyewitness” a fire than a report on education, discrimination or marriage.

Confirming the not-so-subliminally scary tone of many local newscasts, I found that stories about murders, fires and rapes actually dominated more than two-thirds of the coverage I sampled. The distressing results are depicted in the graphic below.

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