“A Voice of God With Backup Singers”

> Update: 8:44am: “Doesn’t anyone realize that the gains at CBS Evening News are only a function of the fact that Dan Rather literally DROVE the audience away…. and the broadcast hit rock bottom. With all respect for Bob Schieffer, the program couldn’t have fallen any more. UP was the only direction it could go,” a tipster writes…

Alessandra Stanley‘s take on the evening newscasts: “NBC offers the old, familiar one-man anchor format; ABC is experimenting with multiple anchors. CBS is testing a hybrid of both: a voice of God with backup singers.”

She focuses on the “folksy” changes at CBS: “The high-strung showboat that was Dan Rather is gone. Now, the newscast is led by a folksy country doctor who consults younger specialists and applauds their work, while gently reminding them to keep it simple for the patient.” Here’s what she means…

> Update: 8:50am: “I must articulate this,” an e-mailer adds. “It truly amazes me how obsessed industry insiders are with describing the evening news wars. Note to insiders: ‘Normal’ people don’t sit there and contemplate how to characterize the newscast using breathlessly-impressive-dramatic terms. They just watch to watch!”