Presentation of News on Network & Cable TV

At one time, newspapers were the primary source of news. There were "Extra" editions on the streets as warranted. Then, along came the immediacy of radio, perhaps no more powerful than during the coverage of World War II, and the dramatic intonation of CBS' Edward R. Murrow: "This. . . is London". Television news coverage came along, but news was digested into what are called "sound bytes" short thirty-second or one-minute coverage of news items. The reason was the shorter attention span of the viewing audience. Then, came cable and the innovation of CNN, the Cable News Network, a 24-hour a day, seven-day a week coverage of news nationally, internationally, the financial markets, sports, gossip and fashion. CNN now has strong competition from Fox News Network, which has moved ahead in number of viewers, especially those of greatest value to advertisers, the 25-54 year old viewers. Fox has a daily average of "654,000 viewers (compared to CNN with) 595,000" (Poniewozik, 2002, p. 65).

There is half-hour programming of news, as well as detailed coverage on a separate cable channel for each of the cable networks. As the cable news networks expand, both with their points of view (CNN seemingly more left-of-center than Fox) the daily viewer totals of network news is diminishing which is causing some retrenchment in expenditures and news bureaus in order to hold down network expenses, while cable networks seem to have alliances with overseas as well as l

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eling overseas. Cable news, therefore, is not limited to one specific time, but is available whenever viewers want to check on latest events. Cable News Network (CNN): Formed in 1980, with Headline news, its thirty-minute update version begun in 1981, "CNNa.tends to accomplish more on less money than its commercial broadcast counterparts. CNN's annual budget is $140 millionaabout half the size of the news budgets of ABC, CBS and NBC" (USIA, 1990, 2). While cable television viewers are far smaller than the general network numbers, they are growing over the past few years. And, the major growth comes from the age group most desired by advertisers- the 24-54 year-olds. Why the viewer switch, other than availability? It was a slow switch at first, perhaps due to the lack of interest in network programming or re-runs on other cable channels, and the importance of international news. Of course, the September 11 terrorist attacks heightened viewer awareness, and while the networks did an outstanding job of coverage, the viewership on CNN increased 500% (Fox, the other news channel had a 300% jump). Until recently, viewers switched to cable news because there was not a cult of personality- with few exceptions, the news read

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