Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
News Flash
Thursday
February 8, 2007
Apparently the promos for the CBS Evening News during the Super Bowl failed to help the program's sagging ratings. The Drudge Report revealed bad news this morning with this bulletin:
CBS COURIC NIGHTMARE... WEDNESDAY EDITION OF 'EVENING NEWS' 3RD PLACE IN ALL TOP 7 MARKETS, NIELSEN REPORTS... LAST PLACE IN ALL OF LOS ANGELES BROADCAST-TV, BEHIND ABC, NBC AND 'MALCOLM IN MIDDLE', 'FRIENDS', 'KING OF QUEENS' RERUNS...
Network news is a dinosaur, a relic from an era where television choices were limited, where there were no 24 hour news channels, unlike the many that proliferate the cable television universe today. But the sure way to lose the remaining viewers, and potentially ruin the franchise, is by taking too many chances with the product.
To be fair, CBS looked to change its fortune with the move to sign Couric away from NBC. But much like The Tonight Show, NBC's Today morning show is a franchise built not so much on any one anchor's personality, but instead by maintaining a model of consistency and reliability that makes watching a habitual thing.
Couric's strong numbers at Today have not translated over to CBS' Evening News program. Moreover, attempts to take the show in different directions, like with the "Talkback" segment and the Super Bowl promos touting the positive stories of America, have not resonated with viewers. After an initial ratings burst from curiosity, CBS' newscast has lost viewers.
Human habit and nature is an interesting thing. Many people through the years have told me how they wish there was more positive, good news, that people are cynical because the news reported is almost all bad, etc. In reality people were cynical far before the advent of television, and moreover there's a simple truth: most of the time, positive stories aren't really news.
There are fluff pieces that a newscast can be filled with to be positive: stories about fire prevention seminars or volunteers making a difference in the community or people doing their jobs properly and succeeding. But those are mostly qualified as B-block stories, feature pieces that involve the unique television news storytelling elements but items which don't make a program must-see.
CBS News has made a major financial commitment to Couric. But the network is doing her, and its advertisers, a disservice by allowing the programming to reflect the perception of what people want instead of the reality, however negative, that they truly crave and tune in to see.
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