The Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual report on the state of the news media. The PEJ looks into several areas including newspapers, magazines, online, audio and ethnic press. We’ll dissect their reports on network and cable TV news.
• Audience numbers continued to fall during the year, both for morning and evening, but more slowly than in the past.
• The programs faring best on the networks, among them NBC’s Nightly News and CBS’ 60 Minutes, share something in approach, a seriousness of purpose, a sense of responsibility and a confidence that the significant can be made interesting.
• The commercial network news divisions now compete with three clear disadvantages:
— Their economic model (advertising only) significantly hinders them compared with cable television (advertising & subscription fees).
— Many in network news feel a strong sense of tradition and responsibility, but there is an air to it of greatness that is past rather than ahead.
— They offer their news at prescribed hours on programs of defined duration in an age when consumers increasingly want news on demand.
• If the network news divisions are to move beyond broadcast television to thrive, it is clearer to see how NBC might succeed. But while CNBC and the Weather Channel are clearer fits, the MSNBC brand on cable is now increasingly built around opinion.