Never mind nightly TV newscasts are geared toward older generation. Never mind scandals like Dan Rather and the falsified National Guard documents leading up to the 2004 presidential elections have caused people to look for their news from other sources like the Internet and talk radio.
Former "CBS Evening News" weekend and fill-in anchor and NBC's "Meet the Press" and "Nightly News" co-anchor Roger Mudd places the blame for the decline of television news on there being too many choices - with cable television.
"[B]ut there were so few [good TV news writers] because we became dependent on pictures and that coupled with deregulation of television, when you had three, four networks - and suddenly, there are 20, then there are 50 and now there are 300 and however many - 500," he said. "And as a consequence, the pie that used to be sliced three or four ways is now slivers and as a consequence, everybody is trying to hold on to their little audience and to do that, you got to entertain."
Mudd spoke to an audience at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., on April 13. He was promoting his book "The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News."
Mudd said "the one bright light that still shines" was PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," but that there was very little cause for optimism for TV news.
"It's disappointing and it's almost self-defeating because the attention-span is getting shorter and shorter," Mudd added.
Mudd accused the media of "following the flag" in the lead-up to the Iraq war for not altering public opinion prior to the invasion.
"[I] think that one of the weaknesses with the press, more so with television, is that they tend to follow the flag in times of national crisis, when all his advisors say this is the way it is," Mudd said. "The tendency is - there are exceptions like the McClatchy papers for instance - the tendency is to go with the leadership and that gets us into a lot of trouble. It's not self-correcting and I think in this case, those were the circumstances that caused the press to wobble on following up with what should have been followed up."
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Alter? . . . Or Inform?
April 14, 2008 - 12:10 ET by Junk Science Skeptic"Mudd accused the media of "following the flag" in the lead-up to the
Iraq war for not altering public opinion prior to the invasion."
I guess now the truth is out. The MSM is no longer seeking to "inform" public opinion, but rather, like any good propagandist, it seeks to "alter" public opinion.
ABC 2008 (Anybody But Clinton)
Oops, but Roger Mudd is right
April 14, 2008 - 12:37 ET by mitchfloridaMudd is making the obvious (and true) point that the Networks' heyday was pre-CNN, pre-Fox, and pre-Internet era.
Sort of a no-brainer here. I don't think he is calling for the re-regulation of the News Industry.
Oops, but Roger Mudd is right
April 14, 2008 - 12:37 ET by mitchfloridaMudd is making the obvious (and true) point that the Networks' heyday was pre-CNN, pre-Fox, and pre-Internet era.
Sort of a no-brainer here. I don't think he is calling for the re-regulation of the News Industry.
Roger, 10-4, Roger, I Roger That. Over.
April 14, 2008 - 12:20 ET by geoff.galeI had to chuckle - Roger contends that the situation with the TV network news is not self-correcting, when actually, the failure of TV network news is the correction. The failure and disappearance or diminishment of a particular segment of the media is is how media markets self-correct, Roger. They survive until they collapse under the weight of their own unacceptability, then they die a public and laughable death. Witness Katie Couric.
"All that is necessary for the trimuph of evil is that good men do nothing."
- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
www.conservativeboot...
O.k. Mudd....
April 14, 2008 - 12:23 ET by ForeverOnTheRightyou think that it's deregulation, and the proliferation of news on the web, that has hurt the network news. Problem is that more and more people are understanding that the nets distort, manipulate and are politically biased, so we LOOK for other news sources and the web provides that other news source. If the nets were more interested in reporting the unbiased truth and not their ratings and profits, you'd keep a greater number of your audience.
He admits it?
April 14, 2008 - 12:24 ET by rbchaffeHe actually accused the media of "following the flag" in the lead-up to the Iraq war for not altering public opinion prior to the invasion?
So much for objective journalism. So much for patriotism, for that matter. I thought the media were to report the news, not alter public opinion. How naive I am!
The NETs have the easiest
April 14, 2008 - 12:27 ET by mattmThe NETs have the easiest access to the largest market and they want to blame the additional choices cable provides?
Their product is free, cable charges for theirs, yet the NETs are losing ground and it's the fault of too many outlets???
Start producing a worthwhile product and you will gain audience.
Talk about ones name being
April 14, 2008 - 12:27 ET by bassndudeTalk about ones name being Mudd! Dont even need to change it for him.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
The big problem "everybody
April 14, 2008 - 12:30 ET by Dan The Man 2The big problem "everybody is trying to hold on to their little audience and to do that, you got to entertain" is we dont want to be entertained or told what to think, we want to be informed of the facts like Sgt. Friday says "The facts mam just the facts"
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
Roger Mudd is still alive?
April 14, 2008 - 12:33 ET by R D HelmTheme for Election '08: Who cares?
Dont know, havent watched
April 14, 2008 - 12:35 ET by bassndudeDont know, havent watched the video yet. I personaly think it is a cyborg.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Mudd says:
April 14, 2008 - 12:33 ET by WhoIsJohnGalt"...the pie that used to be sliced three or four ways is now slivers and as a consequence, everybody is trying to hold on to their little audience and to do that, you got to entertain."
Hey, here's a thought, Mr. Mudd; perhaps the business model for TV news has changed, and the profit is no longer there to support the enormous newsroom (and enormous salaries of the "talent")the way he liked back in the 1960's. Smaller, more targeted audiences for different tastes.
Of course, I'm sure that someone back in the early years of the automobile lamented the loss of market share for the Model A when competitors hit the market. Life changes, so do markets.
Cliche after Cliche
April 14, 2008 - 12:53 ET by V the KLet's see, Mudd whines that news is in decline because there are too many outlets (1) but none of them do a good job of covering the news in depth because they're more interested in entertainment (2) which is caused by evil capitalism and its demand for ratings (3) the audience is too dumb to appreciate real news (4) also, the media should have been anti-war from the get-go but they were too afraid to be independent (5).
Is there any tired cliche held by the elitist media that he didn't manage to send out into the echo chamber again?
for not altering public opinion
April 14, 2008 - 13:28 ET by wizardjrThat's the crux of it. These are not reporters. They are journalists out to change the world, yet passing themselves off as 'news'. El Rushbo and the others like him make to bones about it - they are opinion shows. These Lame Stream Media types still conflate news with 'changing things'. Their whole lament is that they have competition. Oh No! Not competition! This guy's whine is that with only 3 or 4 networks they had a complete stranglehold on 'news'. Now people can find real news when they want it and it's not on the old media channels. Poor baby.
Time until we hear about "The Fairness Doctrine"... 9.. 8.. 7...
Wizjr... "These are not
April 14, 2008 - 13:36 ET by Clear thinkerWizjr...
"These are not reporters. They are journalists out to change the world, yet passing themselves off as 'news'."
Yep, and they have an agenda! Below is part of something I posted earlier in the OT.....
She played back a commercial for an upcoming new program on VH1. It's a new reality show about a High School Newspaper. One line in the commercial that caused me to write to all of you is... a young staffer says straight into the camera "after all, journalists are the most important people in the world".
God help us all!
We are doomed!
"Abstain from McCain"
Saw the ad, had same thought
April 14, 2008 - 17:43 ET by FastEdbut had to remind myself - high school, young, self important, liberal education, no experience, etc.
If lucky, this young head of mush will learn about REAL life, when asking some poor shlub, "How do you feel?"
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
If the pie that used to be
April 14, 2008 - 14:41 ET by suzycreamcheeseIf the pie that used to be split three or four ways still tasted as sweet, we'd all be eating it. We have more choices, better choices, and that's why viewers are turning away from the three original biggies.
I love how people seeking the truth turned away from the networks that for decades shoved their skewed opinions down our throats. I'm so thankful for all the choices on cable and the Internet.
Why not blame it on Global Warming?
April 14, 2008 - 17:33 ET by needleBlaming the fall of TV news for the major networks on deregulation of television is a great example of victimology. The professionals abandoned their professionalism as if it were the plague, and then they are dismayed and blame their resulting plight on deregulation, of all things. Why not blame it on Global Warming? This is also a great example of chutzpah (like the child who deliberately poisons both of his parents, and then expects sympathy because he is an orphan). (I am still savoring Helen Thomas’ rant about the low standards of bloggers(!) – What a hoot!)
By the way folks, in the same vein it is the sun the controls the earth’s temperature, not an extremely minor constituent of the atmosphere. But how can you explain that to our betters who are so smart and clever they can disassociate themselves from basic reality with impunity.
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
"...everybody is trying to
April 14, 2008 - 18:47 ET by Chris Norman"...everybody is trying to hold on to their little audience and to do that, you got to entertain."
I've never found the network news particularly entertaining - especially their liberal bias. This is the old media self-verdict of "we're not guilty, we're inane". Like all the old MSM dinosaurs, he just doesn't get it, as he sinks in the tar - or mudd...