What surprised PEJ researchers is just how much that is so.

In 1977, Jimmy Carter was in the White House, the Vietnam War had only recently ended, and the Watergate scandal that had forced Richard Nixon from office was still fresh in people's minds.

Yet the types of stories the networks air has changed little.

Last year foreign affairs took up 25 percent of broadcast time, compared with 22 percent 30 years ago. Crime accounted for 8 percent then, 6 percent now. Accidents and disasters got 9 percent of airtime then, 7 percent now. And celebrity/entertainment and science have continued to take up very small parts of the newshole.

The biggest shifts came in government, which dropped from 37 percent to 5 percent, and domestic affairs, which has risen from 8 percent to 24 percent.

These days taped reports from the field account for 77 percent or more of the networks’ newscasts, with anchor-read stories accounting for another 10 percent. That hasn't changed much over the years either.

“Even newspapers are in some ways playing around with format and style more than we see in network TV news,” Mitchell says.

It's not hard to understand why evening newscasts have resisted change.

In some ways the nightly news is the dinosaur of media, a carryover from a time when people were home for dinner, ate together as a family, and were in front of their TV sets by 6:30 for an evening of television. Those people are still watching, but they are older--among the oldest TV viewers--and far fewer. All three shows have seen steady ratings declines.

Networks that attempt to change risk alienating the viewers, as CBS learned when Katie Couric became the evening news anchor more than a year ago. What few changes she introduced--such as doing more one-on-one interviews--were soon scuttled. Viewers didn’t like what they saw, and after an initial sampling, ratings slipped back.

Rather than Couric shooting ahead, as many expected, it was ABC's Charles Gibson, also new to the anchor seat, who saw ratings climb, based on his low-key, no-frills straight news approach.

“There was lots of discussion about change but by and large they had very little impact,” Mitchell says. “It ended up not amounting to any major changes in the end.”

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Meanwhile, in daypart ratings for the week ended March 9, NBC’s “Meet the Press” was first among the Sunday morning shows in total viewers with 4.2 million tuning in and was also first among viewers 25-54 with a 1.2 rating. ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” was second in viewers with 2.91 million and third among 25-54s with a 0.8, with CBS’s “Face the Nation” pulling 2.9 million viewers and a 0.9 among 25-54s. “Fox News Sunday” averaged 1.74 million viewers and a 0.6 rating among 25-54s.
 
In late night, NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” finished first for the week, averaging 4.2 million total viewers and a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49. CBS’s “The Late Show with David Letterman” had 3.5 million viewers and a 1.0 rating in the demo, with ABC’s “Nightline” bringing in 3.3 million viewers and a 1.0 18-49 rating. In late-late night, NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” had 1.8 million total viewers and a 0.7 in 18-49s, with CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” at 1.7 million viewers and a 0.6, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at 1.6 million viewers and a 0.6, and NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” bringing in 1.0 million viewers and a 0.4 among 18-49s.
 
In morning shows, NBC’s “Today” was first with 6.2 million total viewers and a 4.7 household rating and 16 share, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” with 4.8 million viewers and a 3.6/12. CBS’s “Early Show” was third with 3.1 million total viewers and a 2.3/8.
 
CBS once again had the largest full daytime audience during the week, averaging 4.06 million viewers, but was third among women 18-49 with a 1.3 rating. NBC had the second-largest audience, averaging 2.9 million viewers, but it was first among women 18-49 with a 1.5 rating. ABC had a full daytime audience of 2.88 million and was second among women 18-49 with a 1.4 rating.
 
In evening network news for the week ended March 16, with early daylight savings time kicking in, NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams” was first among total viewers, averaging 8.32 million, and tied for first among 25-54s with a 2.0 average rating. ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” was second in viewers, averaging 8.10 million, and tied for first among 25-54s with a 2.0, while CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” was third for the week with 6.3 million total viewers and a 1.6 25-54 rating.