Rating Big 3 of nightly news
November 13, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
The three 5:30 p.m. newscasts may be little more than headline news in a 1970s format. But since cable news is obsessed with politicians, the Big Three broadcasts are the last evening frontier where TV reporters interview regular people for stories about what it's like to live in America.
Last week, ABC's Dan Harris talked to Cleveland residents about the "economic rape" of mortgage foreclosures on hundreds of houses, which are morphing into crack dens.
You don't see that kind of work, much, during the same half-hour on cable news.
I realized this while watching far too many hours of the past week's news on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC. The broadcasters essentially cover the same stories the same ways. But there are slight differences:
The groove finder
After catching flak for a fluffy first year at "CBS Evening News," anchor and managing editor Katie Couric now flexes traditional news judgment in a conventional show.
In fact, two back-to-back stories on Friday were riveting and hard-hitting -- and they profiled ordinary people: about Vioxx's $5 billion bad-drug settlement, and about an insurance company giving bonuses to employees for dropping cancer patients to save money. (ABC and NBC also did those stories well.)
Best talker
Brian Williams writes descriptively and exercises the most solid news judgment at "NBC Nightly News."
Williams has a knack for boiling things down without sounding like he's condescending to 8-year-olds. He said about a dangerous kid's product, "If you have this toy in your home, take it away from your children." Introducing another story, he quickly defined ethanol as being "squeezed from corn."
Williams also had the week's best Chicago reference, saying of the space shuttle landing: "May your next landing at O'Hare be this smooth."
The steady hand
"ABC World News With Charles Gibson" is the sober, succinct newscast. It's basically just the facts. And for all the grief we critics have heaped on Couric, it was Gibson who twice teased a story with the crazy sentence, "They call him 'The Bear Whisperer!' "
I've always liked Gibson. But Elizabeth Vargas filled in Friday, and she presented an even more serious-toned half-hour. Maybe there's hope for her yet.
The three 5:30 p.m. newscasts may be little more than headline news in a 1970s format. But since cable news is obsessed with politicians, the Big Three broadcasts are the last evening frontier where TV reporters interview regular people for stories about what it's like to live in America.
Last week, ABC's Dan Harris talked to Cleveland residents about the "economic rape" of mortgage foreclosures on hundreds of houses, which are morphing into crack dens.
You don't see that kind of work, much, during the same half-hour on cable news.
I realized this while watching far too many hours of the past week's news on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC. The broadcasters essentially cover the same stories the same ways. But there are slight differences.
KATIE COURIC
'CBS Evening News'
Couric has abandoned her failed experiment of fluff and now presents a statelier newscast, with just a smidgeon of goofy features (no goofier than ABC and NBC's lighter fare).
After catching flak for a fluffy first year at "CBS Evening News," anchor and managing editor Katie Couric now flexes traditional news judgment in a conventional show.
In fact, two back-to-back stories on Friday were riveting and hard-hitting -- and they profiled ordinary people: about Vioxx's $5 billion bad-drug settlement, and about an insurance company giving bonuses to employees for dropping cancer patients to save money. (ABC and NBC also did those stories well.)
CHARLES GIBSON
'ABC's World News'
The news old-school style: no fuss, no muss.
"ABC World News With Charles Gibson" is the sober, succinct newscast. It's basically just the facts. And for all the grief we critics have heaped on Couric, it was Gibson who twice teased a story with the crazy sentence, "They call him 'The Bear Whisperer!' "
I've always liked Gibson. But Elizabeth Vargas filled in Friday, and she presented an even more serious-toned half-hour. Maybe there's hope for her yet.
BRIAN WILLIAMS
'NBC Nightly News'
For graceful narratives that give stories clear meaning in context, he's the winner.
Brian Williams writes descriptively and exercises the most solid news judgment at "NBC Nightly News."
Williams has a knack for boiling things down without sounding like he's condescending to 8-year-olds. He said about a dangerous kid's product, "If you have this toy in your home, take it away from your children." Introducing another story, he quickly defined ethanol as being "squeezed from corn."
Williams also had the week's best Chicago reference, saying of the space shuttle landing: "May your next landing at O'Hare be this smooth."
Stating obvious is a big turnoff
November 13, 2007
By Doug Elfman
Regular Americans are an endangered species on TV news. Instead, cable newscasts in particular -- but broadcasters, too -- pay ex-politicians and their aides to lobby the same opinions, over and over and over.
That system isn't news. But the result is depressing from a journalistic standpoint: Ordinary people have been replaced in news reports by political wonks engaging in a national poli-sci class, arguing over just two social theories (Democratic and Republican) and their horserace for a leader.
It's no wonder some fed-up viewers have given up watching TV news.
CNN and Fox regurgitate congressional infighting the way local newscasts cover city councils. It's just louder than that. And it's not the news. It's news-eque. News-ish. Or as the logo behind Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" brags, "CNN = Politics."
Several things seem obvious, watching the news in the past week:
Snooze-a-rama: PBS' "The News Hour With Jim Lehrer" is claustrophobic and boring, because everyone just sits and delivers. Can PBS not afford to send reporters to the field to interview Americans? At least "News Hour's" political round tables are calm affairs balanced on the left and right, unlike conservative-centric ditto heads on Fox.
Funniest 'Tell': On Fox's "Special Report With Brit Hume," Ainsley Earhardt announced, "The GOP went one-for-two in Tuesday's gubernatorial races." Fox denies it's the GOP News, but that's hard to believe when something's phrased in terms of how the party is batting.
Biggest Smirk: Hume looks like he gets a charge out of any negative Clinton story. And there are oh, so many negative Clinton stories on "Special Report."
Sloppiest News: CNN's Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" deals in so much political shorthand that talking heads sometimes forget to attribute statements. Reporting on an anti-discrimination bill, CNN's Jessica Yellin referred to Nancy Pelosi's "radical homosexual agenda," making it sound like the reporter's thoughts rather than just a Republican attack ad.
Write What You Know: The broadcast and cable newscasts are obsessed with the stock market. Is this because anchors are rich? Blitzer candidly admitted: "We're also following another very important story right now -- one that's devastating to a lot of us who invest in the markets."
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
The three 5:30 p.m. newscasts may be little more than headline news in a 1970s format. But since cable news is obsessed with politicians, the Big Three broadcasts are the last evening frontier where TV reporters interview regular people for stories about what it's like to live in America.
Last week, ABC's Dan Harris talked to Cleveland residents about the "economic rape" of mortgage foreclosures on hundreds of houses, which are morphing into crack dens.
You don't see that kind of work, much, during the same half-hour on cable news.
I realized this while watching far too many hours of the past week's news on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC. The broadcasters essentially cover the same stories the same ways. But there are slight differences:
The groove finder
After catching flak for a fluffy first year at "CBS Evening News," anchor and managing editor Katie Couric now flexes traditional news judgment in a conventional show.
In fact, two back-to-back stories on Friday were riveting and hard-hitting -- and they profiled ordinary people: about Vioxx's $5 billion bad-drug settlement, and about an insurance company giving bonuses to employees for dropping cancer patients to save money. (ABC and NBC also did those stories well.)
Best talker
Brian Williams writes descriptively and exercises the most solid news judgment at "NBC Nightly News."
Williams has a knack for boiling things down without sounding like he's condescending to 8-year-olds. He said about a dangerous kid's product, "If you have this toy in your home, take it away from your children." Introducing another story, he quickly defined ethanol as being "squeezed from corn."
Williams also had the week's best Chicago reference, saying of the space shuttle landing: "May your next landing at O'Hare be this smooth."
The steady hand
"ABC World News With Charles Gibson" is the sober, succinct newscast. It's basically just the facts. And for all the grief we critics have heaped on Couric, it was Gibson who twice teased a story with the crazy sentence, "They call him 'The Bear Whisperer!' "
I've always liked Gibson. But Elizabeth Vargas filled in Friday, and she presented an even more serious-toned half-hour. Maybe there's hope for her yet.
The three 5:30 p.m. newscasts may be little more than headline news in a 1970s format. But since cable news is obsessed with politicians, the Big Three broadcasts are the last evening frontier where TV reporters interview regular people for stories about what it's like to live in America.
Last week, ABC's Dan Harris talked to Cleveland residents about the "economic rape" of mortgage foreclosures on hundreds of houses, which are morphing into crack dens.
You don't see that kind of work, much, during the same half-hour on cable news.
I realized this while watching far too many hours of the past week's news on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC. The broadcasters essentially cover the same stories the same ways. But there are slight differences.
KATIE COURIC
'CBS Evening News'
Couric has abandoned her failed experiment of fluff and now presents a statelier newscast, with just a smidgeon of goofy features (no goofier than ABC and NBC's lighter fare).
After catching flak for a fluffy first year at "CBS Evening News," anchor and managing editor Katie Couric now flexes traditional news judgment in a conventional show.
In fact, two back-to-back stories on Friday were riveting and hard-hitting -- and they profiled ordinary people: about Vioxx's $5 billion bad-drug settlement, and about an insurance company giving bonuses to employees for dropping cancer patients to save money. (ABC and NBC also did those stories well.)
CHARLES GIBSON
'ABC's World News'
The news old-school style: no fuss, no muss.
"ABC World News With Charles Gibson" is the sober, succinct newscast. It's basically just the facts. And for all the grief we critics have heaped on Couric, it was Gibson who twice teased a story with the crazy sentence, "They call him 'The Bear Whisperer!' "
I've always liked Gibson. But Elizabeth Vargas filled in Friday, and she presented an even more serious-toned half-hour. Maybe there's hope for her yet.
BRIAN WILLIAMS
'NBC Nightly News'
For graceful narratives that give stories clear meaning in context, he's the winner.
Brian Williams writes descriptively and exercises the most solid news judgment at "NBC Nightly News."
Williams has a knack for boiling things down without sounding like he's condescending to 8-year-olds. He said about a dangerous kid's product, "If you have this toy in your home, take it away from your children." Introducing another story, he quickly defined ethanol as being "squeezed from corn."
Williams also had the week's best Chicago reference, saying of the space shuttle landing: "May your next landing at O'Hare be this smooth."
Stating obvious is a big turnoff
November 13, 2007
By Doug Elfman
Regular Americans are an endangered species on TV news. Instead, cable newscasts in particular -- but broadcasters, too -- pay ex-politicians and their aides to lobby the same opinions, over and over and over.
That system isn't news. But the result is depressing from a journalistic standpoint: Ordinary people have been replaced in news reports by political wonks engaging in a national poli-sci class, arguing over just two social theories (Democratic and Republican) and their horserace for a leader.
It's no wonder some fed-up viewers have given up watching TV news.
CNN and Fox regurgitate congressional infighting the way local newscasts cover city councils. It's just louder than that. And it's not the news. It's news-eque. News-ish. Or as the logo behind Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" brags, "CNN = Politics."
Several things seem obvious, watching the news in the past week:
Snooze-a-rama: PBS' "The News Hour With Jim Lehrer" is claustrophobic and boring, because everyone just sits and delivers. Can PBS not afford to send reporters to the field to interview Americans? At least "News Hour's" political round tables are calm affairs balanced on the left and right, unlike conservative-centric ditto heads on Fox.
Funniest 'Tell': On Fox's "Special Report With Brit Hume," Ainsley Earhardt announced, "The GOP went one-for-two in Tuesday's gubernatorial races." Fox denies it's the GOP News, but that's hard to believe when something's phrased in terms of how the party is batting.
Biggest Smirk: Hume looks like he gets a charge out of any negative Clinton story. And there are oh, so many negative Clinton stories on "Special Report."
Sloppiest News: CNN's Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" deals in so much political shorthand that talking heads sometimes forget to attribute statements. Reporting on an anti-discrimination bill, CNN's Jessica Yellin referred to Nancy Pelosi's "radical homosexual agenda," making it sound like the reporter's thoughts rather than just a Republican attack ad.
Write What You Know: The broadcast and cable newscasts are obsessed with the stock market. Is this because anchors are rich? Blitzer candidly admitted: "We're also following another very important story right now -- one that's devastating to a lot of us who invest in the markets."
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