Media Life Magazine - For ABC's 'GMA,' better safe than sorry

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For ABC's 'GMA,'
better safe than sorry

Stephanopoulos is likely set to take Sawyer's place

By Tom Conroy
Oct 30, 2009

When ABC announced that Diane Sawyer would take over for Charles Gibson as anchor of "World News," the real issue was not how well Sawyer would do but who would replace her on "Good Morning America." It was clear then that ABC hadn't worked that out.

Now it has, apparently, with George Stephanopoulos expected to move into her "GMA" slot when she slides into Gibson's at the end of the year.

As the longtime anchor of "This Week" and a staple on the network's political coverage, Stephanopoulos is likely the safest bet, and playing it safe is clearly what ABC has in mind.

Sawyer, an experienced and able newswoman, as well as a known commodity, is a safe bet to hold up ratings for "World News," and Stephanopoulos is ABC's safest bet to do the same for "GMA."

ABC is not out to catch up with NBC's dominant "Today" show. Its aim is to hold onto the audience it has as the No. 2 morning news show.

In the mature field of network news, there's little upside in taking big chances, and lots of downside. Viewers don't like change, and the worry is they'll take flight in protest.

Case in point: “The CBS Evening News.” All the talk years ago was that the network was going to entirely revamp its nightly newscast in a bid to challenge No. 2 ABC and the longtime leader, NBC.

Katie Couric was brought in to replace Dan Rather as evening anchor, and she was just one of the changes CBS had in mind.

That was in September of 2006, and in the time since the broadcast’s ratings have plummeted, dropping from a 1.8 in the adults 25-54 demographic in the second quarter of that year to a 1.2 in the third quarter of 2009.

We've also seen the effect of change on Sunday mornings.

Since the death of anchor Tim Russert in 2008, NBC’s “Meet the Press” has seen its ratings decline, to the point where it is now in spitting distance of “This Week” and CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Since joining the broadcast in 1991, Russert had taken it from third place to first, gaining significantly when David Brinkley retired as host of “This Week” in 1997.

The morning news shows have been remarkably stable in recent years, with “Today” maintaining a comfortable lead over “Good Morning America” while CBS’s “Morning News” trails the others significantly.

Stephanopoulos makes sense for “GMA” because he's well known and on a rise--ratings for "This Week" are up--but also because he's male. His appointment would restore the male-female anchor format that worked so well for so long with Gibson and Sawyer before Gibson moved into the evening news chair in 2006.

In 2008, GMA accounted for $400 million of ABC News’ $700 million revenue, according to estimates by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. That's a lot of revenue to protect by staying a competitive No. 2.

In network TV these days, you win by not losing.

Tom Conroy is a Connecticut writer.