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What was the most notable trend or theme to emerge among the Big Three nightly newscasts in 2008? External events, outside of the control of the network news executives, had the biggest hand in shaping the nightly newscasts during 2008. A combination of three enormous developments -- an unprecedentedly newsworthy presidential campaign, the collapse of the financial economy and a reduction in violence in Iraq -- reshaped journalistic priorities to make this the most domestic-oriented, least-foreign year of news in a decade. Coverage of campaign politics was heavier than any of the previous five presidential cycles (3,673 minutes versus 2,433 in 2004, 3,102 in 2000, 1,883 in 1996, 3,040 in 1992 and 3,117 in 1988). The economy is on track to register the heaviest coverage in 20 years, with the 2008 recession outstripping those of the early '90s and the turn of the century.
Television coverage of campaign '08 was different from that of previous cycles. The classic style of campaign coverage consisted of correspondents reporting on each day's activity by the candidates on the stump. This daily news cycle was a neat match for the nightly rhythms of a dinnertime newscast. Campaign '08 saw a different rhythm of news-making. The major news events were fewer and spaced farther apart. When they happened, the role of TV news was to transmit them (C-SPAN style) rather than report on them. During the winter and spring these events were the primary elections and their accompanying victory and concession speeches. During the summer they were the national conventions. During the fall they were the debates. These major events were covered live, mostly commercial free, by both the broadcast networks and the cable news channels. The cable channels, during the campaign, converted from covering general news to devoting themselves almost entirely to politics, catering to the minority audience of political junkies that the campaign season created. In contrast to previous election cycles, the nightly newscasts' campaign coverage was more feature-interview focused than news oriented.
CBS (1,318 minutes versus ABC’s 1,154 and NBC’s 1,201) covered Campaign '08 more heavily than its two rivals. In the lead was anchor Katie Couric. During the primary season she unveiled her “Primary Questions” series, in which she posed the same battery of questions to 10 of the top contenders in order to reveal insights into the characters and personalities behind the sound bites and position papers. Couric got most mileage out of her Palin interview, but not necessarily on the “CBS Evening News” proper. Her interview was a viral hit online, the first time Couric demonstrated incontrovertibly that her skills may turn out to be more useful to CBS across several media rather than solely at the anchor chair of a nightly newscast. Couric, in general, gets much more reportorial airtime (243 min in taped packages versus 180 for ABC's Charles Gibson and 94 for NBC's Brian Williams) than the other anchors.
The key question concerns the extent to which overseas coverage rebounds in the absence of a presidential campaign, especially if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan do not intensify. It looks like a feasible model for continued overseas coverage can be a throwback to the mid-20th century notion of a foreign correspondent. Digital video technology allows maximum mobility and flexibility, minimum expense for reporters overseas, especially compared with the cost of fixed bureaus. In general, foreign news tends to succeed more online than on any other medium. As the nightly newscasts continue to experiment with managing the decline of their broadcast television audience by trying to build their online video audience, a foreign emphasis might be the ticket. CBS, which, prior to Couric's arrival as anchor, habitually relied on foreign correspondents most heavily, now uses them least (317 minutes in the first eleven months of 2008 versus ABC’s 437 and NBC’s 544). Apart from that, here are a few trends from 2008 that may or may not continue: NBC, following the green edicts of corporate parent General Electric, has specialized in environmental coverage (164 minutes in the first 11 months of 2008 versus ABC’s 89 and CBS’s 131). CBS continues to target an older audience with its concentration on health and Medicine (324 minutes in first 11 months of 2008 versus ABC’s 262 and NBC’s 253). ABC's Jake Tapper, the most heavily used correspondent across all three newscasts in 2007, continues in his prominent role (305 minutes in first 11 months of 2008, second only to NBC's Andrea Mitchell with 339). With NBC's David Gregory leaving the White House beat and Tapper arriving (replacing Martha Raddatz), Tapper may turn out to be the nation's most visible reporter of the Obama presidency.
The churning in the network news audience that accompanied the changing of anchor chairs at all three newscasts during the past four years appears to have stabilized as, roughly speaking, NBC and ABC tied for first place with CBS continuing to languish in third. The trend is a gradual decline of broadcast audiences in this timeslot as competition for growth switches to online. Especially if the recession gets worse, 2009 may see the decline in broadcast audiences abate as viewers switch from cable to broadcast after the February analog-to-digital switch. With broadcast image quality improving significantly, canceling cable may be no longer unthinkable for cost-cutting households. This need not confer an advantage on any of the three networks individually but may help them all collectively.
She spent most time on the campaign. She has put her face on the newscast more than her fellow anchors. She has had success using the newscast as a platform for attracting a viral audience online. Her Palin interviews reminded audiences and critics of what they always knew, but forgot -- she is a major on-camera talent.
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