PressEthic

According to Nielsen Media Research (an arguably controversial source in itself, as we discussed in class), the CBS Evening News have fallen behind NBC’s and ABC’s corresponding news programs. Today’s New York Times speculates that the Katie Couric-led program has not only dropped in ratings, but “lost much of the momentum her program had early on.”

The Times reports:

“The viewership of Ms. Couric’s program, which CBS hyped in advance of its arrival as if it were a new prime-time drama, had dropped every week since its opening week after Labor Day (when it drew about 10.2 million viewers a night) until last week, when it regained about 300,00 viewers.”

CBS representatives, however, do not see this development as horribly disconcerting; after all, Couric’s presence has continued to boost CBS’s ratings from last year. According to Nielsen ratings, the numbers were about 400,000 lower a year ago when Bob Schieffer was the anchor of the program.

According to the article, Couric’s program will be faced with a true challenge in November when the so-called “sweeps period” takes place.

“At that time the programs that lead into them — including syndicated shows (like “The Oprah Winfrey Show”) and local newscasts — will use their best material, mindful that advertising for local stations for the next quarter-year is sold on the basis of the sweeps ratings.”

The article mentions possible reasons for CBS’s third place to be the softness of Couric’s program and her potentially controversial ‘Free Speech’ segment. Recently the 90-second clip had featured Brian Rohrbough, the father of a Columbine High School shooting victim, who believes the teaching of evolution to have contributed to recent school killings.

“While conceding that the political point the father made “was jarring,” Mr. Hartman said that to have insisted it be changed would have run counter to the segment’s “Free Speech” title.

“It was a judgment call,” he said. “I made it. I guess I would make it again.”

He and other CBS News executives continued to defend “Free Speech” overall: they cited it as one of the chief lures for young people, and said they had no immediate plans to jettison it.”

Critics thus appear to place Couric on the fine line between too controversial and not hard-hitting enough. If the Nielsen ratings are to be trusted, however, CBS has made a profitable investment. What her legacy as an anchor will be is still difficult to determine.

NYT article