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Jim Cramer: Time to get out of stocks

Bullish investors should turn into shrinking violets as the stock market continues its shocking downward spiral, CNBC’s... more

Pericles1978
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Rihanna Rocks the Today Show

Rihanna impressed fans on NBC's "Today" Show in Rockefeller Center, New York City, June 20,The Good Girl Gone Bad... more

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Mike Myers Has A Man Crush On Justin Timberlake

Check out this clip from The Today Show today.. Looks like LOVE.. I can not wait to see the Love Guru.. Looks GREAT

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5 months ago

$Network news feels pain of fractured audiences$

Network news feels pain of fractured audiences

"The “Today” show said goodbye to Katie Couric two years ago yesterday in a televised bash designed to reduce the departing host to tears. Couric didn't cry then, but as the ratings for her “CBS Evening News” broadcast continue to drop, she has plenty of reasons to cry now. And plenty of company to cry with.

Although the big nightly news shows on ABC, NBC and CBS still command a collective audience of more than 23 million, the Big Three face major challenges.

Revenues are down and news staffs have been cut. The network news audience is half of what it was 40 years ago and in 2007 dropped 5 percent from the previous year, the Project for Excellence in Journalism reported this year. The average viewer age was 61.

“I'm not sure kids care about the news,” said former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, who has been teaching at Arizona State University. “Eventually, the 25-year-olds will become the 35-year-olds, and all of a sudden the great debates of the moment are going to matter a little more to them. But I'm not persuaded that they are going to get their news from television.”

News is becoming an a la carte business as more people of all ages get their information from Internet searches, YouTube clips and updates sent to their phones. Media watchers and broadcasters know that that TV news won't remain viable if it doesn't start thinking outside the TV box.

“Whether it is your iPod, your daily download of top stories or getting a text message on your phone to see what your favorite blogger has just written, information has become much more individualized, and that sense of coming to a communal place together has been diminishing,” said Amy Mitchell, deputy director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

When Couric began her $15 million-a-year stint anchoring “The CBS Evening News” in 2006, it had been the third-place network broadcast for more than a decade. In spite of a new high-tech set, You Tube-style commentaries and celebrity interviews, younger viewers did not tune in, and established viewers began tuning out.

The broadcast has since returned to a more traditional format, as rumors of Couric's departure have driven ratings to record lows. Although CBS recently made a $1.8 billion deal to buy the tech-savvy CNET Web site, the network's revenues are down; CBS News recently laid off about 1 percent of its nearly 1,200 employees.

“We did try something different, and what we discovered was that you're probably better off doing a traditional newscast that traditional news viewers feel more comfortable watching,” said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and CBS Sports.

The cable news outlets, with their 24/7 news cycle and blanket coverage of the 2008 presidential race, are having better luck attracting younger viewers. In 2007, prime-time ratings for audiences ages 24 to 54 were up 22 percent at MSNBC and up 7 percent at CNN.

“CNN is always on, and you know you can get an update any time. You can only get network news at a certain time, and I think those broadcasts are geared toward an older audience,” said Angela Chen, 21, a University of California San Diego senior who plans to pursue a career in broadcast journalism."

By Karla Peterson
Union-Tribune Staff Writer"The “Today” show said goodbye to Katie Couric two years ago yesterday in a televised bash designed to reduce the... more