United States television news

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Television news in the United States has evolved over many years. It has gone from a simple 10 to 15-minute format in the evenings, to a variety of programs and channels. Today, viewers can watch local, regional and national news programming, in many different ways, any time of the day.

Contents

[edit] Origin of television news

Lowell Thomas hosted the first-ever news broadcast on television in 1930 and the first regularly scheduled television-news broadcast in 1940. Television newscasts began entering American homes for good in the late 1940s with NBC's Camel Newsreel Theatre. However, Edward R. Murrow was widely regarded as the pioneer of U.S. television news. On his weekly news show See It Now on CBS, Murrow presented live reports from journalists on both the east and west coasts of the United States—the first program with live simultaneous transmission from coast to coast. See It Now focused on a number of controversial issues, but its most memorable moment was a 30-minute special on March 9, 1954, entitled "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy," which contributed to the eventual political downfall of the senator.

[edit] History of network news

Network news had a humble beginning. Launched in February 1948 by NBC, Camel Newsreel Theatre was a 10-minute program anchored by John Cameron Swayze, and featured Movietone News. CBS soon followed suit in May 1948 with a 15-minute program, CBS-TV News, anchored by Douglas Edwards and subsequently renamed Douglas Edwards with the News.

Camel Newsreel Theatre was later expanded to 15 minutes and renamed Camel News Caravan. The show was succeeded by the Huntley-Brinkley Report in 1956, featuring a duo-anchor format with Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. On September 9, 1963, the Huntley-Brinkley Report expanded to 30 minutes, following a similar move by CBS. It was renamed NBC Nightly News in 1970, after Huntley's retirement. Initially, NBC Nightly News was presented by two anchors from a rotating group of three: Brinkley, John Chancellor, and Frank McGee. A year later, Chancellor became sole anchor, and Brinkley provided commentaries. (McGee became host of Today.) In 1976, Brinkley rejoined the program as co-anchor. He continued in that role until 1979, when Chancellor resumed anchoring the program solo. Chancellor moved to the role of commentator in 1982 and was succeeded by a team of Tom Brokaw in New York and Roger Mudd in Washington. Brokaw became sole anchor in 1983.

CBS launched CBS-TV News in May 1948 to compete against Camel News Caravan. Hosted by Douglas Edwards, it was renamed Douglas Edwards with the News in 1950. In 1962, Walter Cronkite landed the anchor seat, which he would hold until 1981, and the program's name was changed to CBS Evening News. On September 2, 1963, the show expanded from 15 to 30 minutes. In the 1970s, CBS Evening News was the dominant newscast on American television, and Cronkite was often cited as the "most trusted man in America." After Cronkite's retirement in 1981, Dan Rather became the anchor of CBS Evening News. He was joined by co-anchor Connie Chung from 1993 to 1995.

ABC Evening News began airing in 1953, hosted by John Charles Daly. Daly had been a well-known CBS radio correspondent, though today he is best remembered as the emcee of CBS's long-running game show, What's My Line?, which he hosted while serving as ABC's anchorman. Daly left ABC in 1960 and was succeeded by a frequently expanding list of successors that included John Cameron Swayze, Bill Laurence, Bill Sheehan, Ron Cochran, a young Peter Jennings, and Bob Young. In 1968, Frank Reynolds became anchor of the program, and it soon expanded from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. A year later, Howard K. Smith joined as co-anchor, reporting from Washington. In early 1971, Harry Reasoner left CBS News and replaced Reynolds as the New York anchor. Reasoner became the sole anchor in 1975, and Smith provided commentaries. In 1976, Barbara Walters joined the program as Reasoner's co-anchor in New York, thus becoming the first woman to serve as a network news anchor (though Marlene Sanders had previously filled in on the program). Reasoner was very unhappy with the move, and the two did not work well together. In 1978, a year after Roone Arledge became President of ABC News, the ABC Evening News was succeeded by ABC World News Tonight with a trio of anchors: Frank Reynolds, Peter Jennings and Max Robinson. Jennings assumed solo anchor responsibility in 1983 following Reynolds's death.

Brokaw, Rather, and Jennings became the familiar faces of network news for more than two decades. But changes began in December 2004, when Brian Williams took over from Brokaw as anchor of NBC Nightly News, after Brokaw's well-anticipated retirement, announced in 2002. Rather also retired from the anchor seat of CBS Evening News in March 2005, albeit quite abruptly, after it was discovered that CBS used fake documents in a report on George W. Bush's Air National Guard record. Jennings stepped away from the network anchor seat as well in April 2005, after he announced that he had lung cancer and would undergo chemotherapy. After the announcement, ABC World News Tonight was hosted by Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas.

Jennings died in August 2005 and ABC named Vargas and Woodruff as co-anchors of the broadcast in January 2006. Later that month, Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were injured in a roadside bomb attack while on assignment in Iraq. His injuries were so severe, it became apparent he would not return to the anchor chair, although he eventually recovered enough to return as an occasional correspondent. Vargas continued on the broadcast, until May 2006, when she announced she was stepping down and going on maternity leave.

On May 29, 2006 ABC named Charles Gibson as sole anchor of ABC World News Tonight. Two months later, ABC renamed the program World News with Charles Gibson. In February 2007, the program achieved the number one spot in the Nielsen Ratings for nightly news broadcasts, overtaking NBC Nightly News. This was ABC's first victory since the week Peter Jennings died in August 2005, and the first time since 1996.[1] NBC Nightly News subsequently reclaimed the lead, and the two programs are now in a nip-and-tuck battle for first place.

At CBS, Bob Schieffer took over the anchor chair at CBS Evening News on an interim basis. In an effort by CBS to reach a younger audience, Today's Katie Couric was made the new anchorperson. She is the first solo female anchor of a broadcast network's flagship evening newscast.

[edit] Today's television news

Television news has come a long way since its beginning. Today, electronic news gathering has enabled reporters to capture video and audio at greater ease and edit the footage faster than when film was used. Journalists have also employed microwave and satellite feeds, and even videophone, to transmit live video and audio signals from remote locations.

Television news programming in the U.S. can be separated into three different categories: local news, network news, and cable news.

[edit] Local news

Many local broadcast television stations have in-house news departments that produce their own newscasts. The content of the newscasts are geared towards viewers in specific Designated Market Areas in which the stations operate. In other words, the stories have a strong local focus, and are relevant to local lives. Weather reports also play a very important role in local news. Compared to national news, local news provides more in-depth and regular coverage of weather, and there are usually at least three weather updates in the newscast, regardless of the newscast's length.[citation needed] Sports news are also a major feature during evening newscasts.

A station typically produces around four to five hours of local news on weekdays and airs fewer hours on weekends.

[edit] Network news

ABC, CBS, and NBC all operate news divisions, named ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News respectively. Their schedules are broadly similar, with minor exceptions.

Early weekday mornings, at 4:30AM EST, all three air half hour programs, ABC's America This Morning, CBS's CBS Morning News, and NBC's Early Today. Early Today is the highest rated of these programs.

Following local news, ABC's Good Morning America, CBS's The Early Show, and NBC's Today air. Today has a significant lead over Good Morning America, while The Early Show trails further. Good Morning America also airs on weekends, as does Weekend Today. The Early Show only has a Saturday edition. On Sundays, CBS instead airs CBS News Sunday Morning, a long-running arts and culture anthology. The top stories come in the first few segments of the show but as the minutes pass, the stories presented gradually shift to more lifestyle-oriented and light-hearted ones. These national morning newscasts have cut-ins to local weather and newscasts every half hour. On weekdays, the shows air at 7:00 in each and every time zone but on weekends, they either air live or with a 1-hour tape delay from the original broadcast in all time zones. ABC's and CBS' morning shows are two hours long, while Today has expanded to four hours. NBC affiliates that air either Live with Regis and Kelly, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet or both tape-delay the hours preempted by those progams.

On Sunday mornings, the networks air political interview programs. NBC's Meet the Press leads CBS's Face the Nation and ABC's This Week. In addition, Fox airs a program produced by its Fox News sister company called Fox News Sunday, which is the FOX network's only scheduled news program.

During daytime on weekdays, ABC's ABC News Brief airs at 2:58PM and CBS's CBS Newsbreak airs at 3:58PM. Both programs are one minute long.

In the evenings, World News with Charles Gibson, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams are the networks' flagship news programs. All three shows air seven nights a week, but their titular hosts only appear on weeknights unless there is major breaking news during weekends. World News and NBC Nightly News battle for the ratings lead, trailed by a significant margin by CBS Evening News. On weekdays, the evening newscasts air at 6:30 in most East Coast stations and Los Angeles, and 5:30 local time in most other time zones.

During primetime, all three networks air newsmagazine programs. ABC airs 20/20 Fridays at 10PM and Primetime Wednesdays at 10PM. 20/20 often airs 2 hour editions beginning at 9PM and Primetime is often expanded to multiple airings per week to fill programming holes. CBS airs 60 Minutes Sundays at 7PM and 48 Hours Saturdays at 10PM. Unlike ABC and NBC, these are not expanded to fill holes in the schedule. NBC's Dateline currently airs Tuesdays and Saturdays at 8PM, but like ABC's programs frequently switches, adds, and drops timeslots to fill primetime. 60 Minutes is the most popular of these programs, but they rarely directly compete with one another.

On late weeknights, ABC airs Nightline at 11:30PM. This half hour newsmagazine competes with comedy/variety programs on NBC and CBS. From 2 to 6 AM, CBS offers its Up to the Minute, a program consisting of repeats of features from other CBS News programs, interspersed with new news, weather, and sports updates. Few affiliates air the entire broadcast, but most air a substantial portion of it. ABC airs its eclectic World News Now from 2AM to 3:30AM, and many affiliates repeat a portion of it to fill time until America This Morning. NBC airs poker and repeats of its variety shows in these time periods.

[edit] Cable news

The advent of cable television in the United States led to the eventual birth of cable news. On June 1, 1980, Ted Turner launched CNN, the first 24-hour cable news operation. The station gained reputation significantly with its 1991 coverage of the Gulf War.

The success of CNN inspired many other 24-hour cable news stations. Today, CNN, Headline News, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNBC compete for viewers in the national cable news arena. Regional cable news operations, such as New England Cable News, NY1 for NYC, Northwest Cable News, and Texas Cable News, have also gained prominence among regional viewers.

The programming styles vary among these cable news channels. But during prime time, these cable news networks air programming strongly driven by their key personalities; typically such programming is in "TV Show" format around a particular host, rather than continuous broadcasts of breaking news. There are no regular live overnight newscasts and instead, primetime shows are replayed but MSNBC and Fox News provide live bulletins at the top of each overnight hour which last for a few minutes.

[edit] Current development

As the Internet become more prevalent in American lives, television news operations learn to adapt and embrace new technologies. Today, most television news operations would publish the text of the stories aired during their newscasts on their websites. Some of them, including all the network and national cable news operations, post videos of the stories for visitors to their websites. Some anchors, reporters, and notable news programs also have blogs that take viewers behind the scenes of their news operation or provide a forum for either the personalities or viewers to air their opinions. In recent years, these news outlets have also provided an avenue for amateurs with digital or mobile phone cameras to send video created by them to be used in the broadcast and website. Television journalists are acquiring skills for the convergence between television and the Internet.

Technological advancement is also changing the ways news is gathered and edited. The newsreel days are long gone. Reporters do not use film anymore. Television journalists are capturing images and sound on video and DV. Some stations even begin gathering and reporting news in high-definition television. Even editing and archiving systems are evolving, as more and more stations convert to non-linear editing systems, and storing file footage on computer servers rather than tapes.

With digital cable comes on-demand news programming. News operations slowly begin to feel the burden to generate news content on a 24-hour news cycle, while keeping material fresh on their regularly scheduled newscasts. This means around-the-clock coverage. Rather than having a certain deadline for scheduled newscasts to meet, reporters have to file stories as fast as they can. Producers, on the other hand, have to find more ways to keep news stories "fresh" to the viewers.

[edit] Formats

Over the years, television news in the U.S. has evolved into a variety of formats. Local news and network news, once similar in having slow paces and low story counts, are now quite different in styles and tunes.

[edit] Traditional

In the early days, local newscasts were seen more as a public service. The style was straightforward. A newscast was divided into three "blocks": news, sports, and weather. The news block was divided into national, international, and local stories. These newscasts usually had a solo white male anchor, with white males announcing sports and weather as well.

This format is no longer prevalent.

[edit] Eyewitness News

Main article: Eyewitness News

In the late 1960s, Group W, a division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, devised a new format of local news called "Eyewitness News". Reporters were hired to go out of the newsroom, become "eyewitnesses" of news stories, and record them on film. Later, these reporters were also asked to join the anchors in the studio to talk about the stories.

The Eyewitness format also helped introduce different anchor combinations to local newscasts. The format continued to flourish, and imitated by stations across the country.

Today, most television news operations are working under some variation of the Eyewitness format.

[edit] Action News

Main article: Action News

"Action News" was devised by WPVI-TV in Philadelphia to compete against the Eyewitness News format. The Action News format features short stories, high story counts in newscasts, and a strong focus on spot news. The "Action" refers to the fast pacing of the newscast.

[edit] Franchise News

"Franchise News" is a variation of Eyewitness News. Some stations decide to brand their news with slogans such as News you can use, Coverage you can count on, or On your side. The newscasts at these stations tend to focus more on franchises—stories that cover a topic important to local viewers. The most successful franchises are health and consumer news. Other franchises include parenting, pets, environment, and crime fighting.

Almost every news operation uses some franchises. But a few stations build their news identities around these topical stories.

[edit] Other formats

Other newscast formats have been proven successful. The newscasts at WSVN in Miami are often regarded as "tabloid news", with sensational writing and energetic reporters. Another example of this is WOIO in Cleveland, where anchor Sharon Reed infamously appeared nude on-air during a sweeps period. Many shows on cable news channels incorporate lots of talk and heated debates between anchors and guests. This format has become quite popular as well.

[edit] News during sweeps

During "sweeps", newscasts often feature stories that are more sensationalized, in order to attract more viewers. Some stations save highly controversial investigative stories covered earlier for airing during sweeps.

News department at television stations work closely with promotions department during sweeps to create promotional spots throughout the day that will entice viewers to tune in to the newscasts.

[edit] References

  • Encyclopædia Britannica (2006). "Thomas, Lowell (Jackson)". Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Deluxe Edition. 
  • Smith, Dow (2002). Power Producer: A Practical Guide to TV News Producing. Washington: Radio-Television News Director Association. ISBN 0-9678432-0-0. 
  • TV News in the Fifties. Retrieved on August 4, 2005.
  • Matusow, Barbara, The Evening Stars (Houghton Mifflin Company 1983).

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ | TheLedger.com

[edit] External links