Network News, R.I.P.
There’s a lot of talk all of a sudden about the end of the era of network news. This is nothing new to some of us, but the frequency of the discussion has certainly picked up in recent weeks, and especially so over the weekend. Some of it has to do with the political conventions, as Tom Rosenstiel wrote in a poignant obituary for the Washington Post.
What happened this summer, and particularly last week, is likely to be recalled as the end of the era of network news. At the very least, mark this as the moment when the networks abdicated their authority with the American public.
By now you’re all familiar with the debate over the documents CBS used during a 60 Minutes broadcast last week. Having read as much as I could on this, I find the blogosphere has provided some good investigative reporting on the matter, and they’ve produced some compelling documentation, like Jeff Harrell’s examination of an IBM Selectric Composer’s capabilities circa 1972.
CBS, meanwhile, is standing by its story. I don’t agree with Rush Limbaugh often, but I’m intrigued by his belief that CBS “wanted” the story to be true (”Final Days of Elite Media Empire“). After all, we ARE human beings before we’re journalists. Despite our checks and balances, things still slip through the cracks, especially when “the anchor” wants it done. Consider what happened to Keith Olbermann last week. He led with a study from Indiana University that showed a 20-point drop in IQ for adults after becoming parents. As it turns out, the source was a bogus Website. Olbermann apologized and took the blame. Don’t tell me he didn’t “want” that story to be true, intellectual that he is.
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