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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's guest, media analyst Andrew Tyndall, writes the Tyndall Report, which monitors the big three networks' weekday nightly newscasts. Here, he wonders why the network morning shows shunt the five W's of journalism and focus on eliciting emotion from viewers. 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. Now, here's Andrew:

At the Tyndall Report we spend most of our time studying the serious news. I claim to be the only person in the world to have watched every single one of the weekday half-hour nightly newscasts by the three broadcast networks since the summer of 1987. Other people take vacations. I just leave my VCRs on timer and catch up when I return.

Not all television news is as solemn as the nightly newscasts, however. So on a lighter note, I would like to turn my attention to the networks' morning programs: NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and CBS’ “Early Show.”

It is wrong to complain when things conform to their nature. It is wrong to complain that Shakespeare's tragedies are too gory ... or that the giant panda cub at the National Zoo is too cute ... or that baseball players spit too much. So, it is wrong to complain about the essential nature of these morning programs: that they choose many stories according to the demands of demographic targeting rather than intrinsic journalistic interest; that they value the tabloid traditions of celebrity gossip and true crime melodramas; that they focus to the point of obsession on weight loss, self help and affairs of the heart; that their anchor teams share way too much personal information with us viewers.

So let's just stipulate that the form of journalism practiced in these programs -- especially after their first half hour has finished -- has more in common with Marie Claire, “Entertainment Tonight” and “America's Most Wanted” than with NBC’s “Nightly News,” ABC’s “World News Tonight” and CBS’ “Evening News.”

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This past weekend, "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts was quoted in the Los Angeles Times saying she felt "some discomfort with the show's relentless promotion of ABC entertainment programs, such as 'Desperate Housewives.'"



"It's a fine line that all the morning programs walk," she told reporter Matea Gold. "We understand the reason why, and anything we can do to keep the show successful and it helps us, as well, but, yeah, every person who's a true newsperson, there's a point where, you do it, but sometimes you're like, 'Can't we just do it three times a week instead of four times a week?'"



The cross promotion Roberts lamented in the Times has become commonplace on all the networks, and nowhere is it more apparent than in the morning. A viewer might click from a Roberts panel with "Desperate Housewives" star Marcia Cross over to Matt Lauer's chat with the latest "Apprentice" reject on "The Today Show" to Harry Smith's interview with a "Survivor" castoff on "The Early Show." (And the primetime shows often return the favor – see "Survivor's" regular plugging of "The Early Show" castoff interview in its broadcast.)



The practice troubles news purists, who complain that it further weakens the morning shows' already tenuous claims at serious news programming. "As we enter the new primetime season, the networks' primary goal seems to be to parade one perky, blow-dried, disposable TV star after another to promote the networks' primetime offerings," wrote Jon Friedman of MarketWatch on Sept. 28. He called the morning shows a "joke" engaging in "free advertising," writing that they are involved in a contest to decide, "Who's the Biggest Shill?"

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We're exploring audience research this week at Public Eye, and today we reveal the statistics that help dictate which stories make it onto the morning shows, and when.



Ever wonder why the morning shows do more straightforward news early and soft features towards the end of the program? The answer has a lot to do with demographics. Below you'll find the weekday Adult Audience Profile for the three network morning news programs, broken down by half-hour, courtesy of Rob Schlaepfer, CBS vice president of news research and program planning:

               Percent of Adult (18+) Audience

 	Adults 18+  Women 18+  Men 18+ Adults 25-54  Adults 55+
7:00 AM	 100%	    65%        35%     54%           43%
7:30 AM	 100%	    66%        34%     49%           48%
8:00 AM	 100%	    67%        33%     45%           52%
8:30 AM	 100%	    68%        32%     43%           54%

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