On Sunday’s Reliable Sources, Ted Koppel said commercial broadcast networks have “become so cowed by the demographic demands of advertisers” that they only put documentaries in primetime to keep veteran anchors happy. He also said:
| KURTZ: You’ve been critical of cable news. Do you think that — you know, here’s an outfit that doesn’t have to do Desperate Housewives or ER or baseball or football like the broadcast networks do, and yet you seem to regard it as pretty superficial. KOPPEL: I’m critical — and truly I mean this out of love, because I think the cable networks could do so much more, and I think they too have allowed themselves to believe. I think somehow in the back of every television executive’s brain, there’s an image of the American viewer sitting there with five television monitors in his or her kitchen, watching to see who gets the latest breaking news story on first. And if CNN is ahead of FOX by 30 seconds, by God, they’re going to keep on CNN. But if CNN is behind MSNBC by 45 seconds, that’s it for CNN. You’ve just lost that viewer. |
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