15 Responses to “Walter Cronkite, RIP”

1. ljo says:

   July 17, 2009 at 6:16 pm

   I remember in my younger years always watching either Walter or Huntley and Brinkley. Once the latter went off the air (early 1970’s?), it was alway’s CBS news in our home.
2. Drew says:

   July 17, 2009 at 6:23 pm

   Kind of eery that he died within a few days of the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings.
3. Anonymous says:

   July 17, 2009 at 6:46 pm

   Wow, those ratings seem kinda low (even at the peak)
   I kept hearing/reading that the “evening news” used to get something like 10-15 million EACH…or was that before 1970?
4. Bill Gorman says:

   July 17, 2009 at 7:02 pm

   Anon, the chart is households and not viewers (which is typical of the historical data we’ve got), so 15 million viewers at the CBS peak is definitely within reason, even for ABC and NBC 10+ million viewers easy.

   I updated the chart to make the title more obvious and the colors a bit easier to read.
5. Anonymous says:

   July 17, 2009 at 7:12 pm

   Ahhh ok, thanks for the clarification!
6. TheMediaFan says:

   July 18, 2009 at 4:03 am

   I was not born yet when Walter Cronkite starting anchoring the news. But, I wish todays tv reporters had as much concern for the news as Walter had. Unfortunately, a lot of the young anchor people just want to be tv stars instead of journalists. They are more concerned with their hairstyle than the news they are reading. There’s very little actual journalism at CNN anymore. Now, we have opinions without verified facts. We have punditry instead of journalism because punditry is cheaper. Cronkite wasn’t afraid to report on stories that angered the administration. Can you imagine the courage Walter would have had going after the Bush administration on torture, surveillance, Downingstreet Memos, War in Iraq, the stealing of the elections in 2000 and 2004. The truth would have been forefront if Cronkite had been still anchoring the news. He would have had the courage to ask questioned the evidence of WMD leading to our invasion of Iraq. None of todays corporate journalists did any of that. Cronkite was the one who helped keep the Watergate story
   alive, much to the chagrin of Richard Nixon. Cronkite helped comfort a nation when President Kennedy was shot and he would have done the same on 911. Walter also took America along the journey when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. He also helped everyone understand things when Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I just wonder how Karl Rove would have tried to destroy Cronkite’s reputation during the Bush years. Anyway, Walter expected the news to be about facts, not propoganda. There just any reporters like him or his generation anymore.
   PS:
   Say what you will about Al Jazeera, but how embarrassing is it that Al Jazeera English has more news bureaus around the world than ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, and CNN.
7. Scott Jensen says:

   July 18, 2009 at 10:07 am

   TheMediaFan,

   I agree. If Walter was alive during this last presidential election year, he wouldn’t have fawned all over Obama, asked questions about his lack of any real credentials to do the job, pushed him to reveal his past, and so forth. And if Obama then did still get in office, Walter wouldn’t fawn over him then either and not ask tough questions, he would be pointing out to the American public when Obama speaks out of both sides of his mouth, and so forth.

   It is too bad there’s no integrity, objectivity, or balance left in the press. Walter’s passing reminds us of when there.
8. jay says:

   July 18, 2009 at 10:39 am

   To show how conscientous Cronkite was compared to his successors, he was quoted as saying he agonized over the famous ” We lost TET ” broadcast statement, because even that was too much opinion and not ascertainable ” fact.” I remember Cronkite’s retirement as a signal for the sharks who had been itching to cut the news budgets and hire talking heads like Brokaw and Jennings. Check the chart: brief surge in ratings,( ” Who’s hotter, Jennings or Brokaw?” was something you heard a lot arouind the water cooler in the eighties) followed by long well-desreved decline.
9. Bill Gorman says:

   July 18, 2009 at 10:44 am

   jay, I disagree with that cause/effect with these broadcast evening news ratings. The early 80’s was when cable started it’s long (still continuing) share grab from broadcast. I’d attribute most of the broadcast losses to that vs. the retirement of the “old guard” anchors.
10. TheMediaFan says:

    July 18, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    Honestly, I think both were a factor.
11. Boy Wonder says:

    July 18, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    I wonder how Walter felt about Katie in the chair?
12. TheMediaFan says:

    July 19, 2009 at 3:13 am

    Well, he did the voice over for the CBS Evening News when Katie Couric took over. She says that he took her out to dinner just before she began her tenure at CBS. All that I know is that he felt the corporate takeover of the news has hurt journalism. Just look at how bad CNN has become since Ted Turner left.
13. Moose says:

    July 19, 2009 at 4:27 am

    TheMediaFan – IMO, it is pretty clear that you are letting your ideology show. Frankly, it is not very attractive. Cronkite just died, it is no time to go on a political rant regardless of what yours or anyone else’s ideology is.

    I find it humorous when Couric tries to relate to the everyday folk. Given her overly huge salary, I don’t think she can relate to anyone that isn’t in the millionaires club. I am surprised she still has the job. The ratings don’t warrant that high paycheck and her still having the job.
14. jay says:

    July 19, 2009 at 8:21 am

    You’re the ratings guru, Bill, and I’m not being sarcastic; so I’m sure cable penetration was a very big factor. My ancient history is vague but couldn’t the fear of cable (and later VCR viewingwith its potential for ad-skipping and shaking up schedules )have led to the cutting of news budgets, Roone Arledge taking over ABC news dept and jazzing it up, etc? Funny thing, in the Reagen years,it was liberals who were kvetching the most about network news being shallow. Now, with the last two out of three presidents being Demopcrats, of course its the conservatives who are sure Katie Couric is a commie and who gloat over her bad ratings.( I started rooting for her, to no avail, just because they were jeering her so much.) Politics, gotta love it – mean detest it. It’s so conducive to honesty, objectivity and fairness.
15. John says:

    July 22, 2009 at 10:58 am

    Cronkite was actually happy with CBS decision to hire Couric. He’s happy with her work.. and definitely CBS Evening News

    The passing of Walter Cronkite brings back memories of a time when the CBS Evening News not only dominated the ratings, but the news conversation as a whole. It also highlights the current state of the once influential newscast, as it sits in a clear third place in the ratings.

    There are many reasons for this: here’s why the CBS Evening News is struggling in the ratings, how it can turn things around…and why none of it is Katie Couric’s fault.
    Over the past couple weeks, we’ve talked to several people in and around the program who can provide varied insight into what’s happening at the newscast. As we spoke to people like former CBS Evening News executive producer Rome Hartman (currently executive producer of BBC World News America) and network news analyst Andrew Tyndall of the Tyndall Report, a clearer picture emerged about the roadblocks facing the program and some ways CBS can turn around. With their help, here is our take on the problems, and solutions, for a newscast that has seen record low ratings as recently as last month:

    CBS Problem #1: Politics

    There’s no denying CBS News is viewed by some as a left-leaning network, and it has nothing to do with Couric. “The perception of the right-wing existed about CBS way before she began at CBS,” says Tyndall. “It might go back as far as Murrow taking on McCarthy, and certainly as far back as Rather facing down Nixon or Rather going after George Bush Senior on Iran Contra.” (Even Cronkite has his detractors on the right.)

    But it is without a doubt Dan Rather who cemented the ire of many conservatives, most notably with his 2004 report about the Killian documents. Now, not every Republican is an anti-Evening Newser. And its true that there is a general feeling among many on the right that the media as a whole is biased. But with nearly half the country voting GOP, it doesn’t help bring viewers in when there is a public perception of unfriendliness toward the party.

    Making matters worse is the fact that the CBS prime time viewership is actually more red than that of NBC and ABC. This makes it even more difficult to see cross-viewership between the news and entertainment products. The enormous success of CBS in prime time actually ends up working to the detriment of the Evening News.

    CBS Problem #2: Lead-in

    While local news affiliates lose viewers across the board, it doesn’t detract from the fact they are tremendously important as a lead-in to the evening newscasts. A strong 6pm local newscast (or 5pm in some markets) is key to keeping eyeballs on the national product. A point made by Tyndall was that in many of the bigger markets, the CBS news outlet is particularly weak. A couple examples: KCBS-TV in LA and WBBM-TV in Chicago are floundering in the ratings, and hurt CBS immensely in those markets. (Interestingly, in New York, there’s the opposite effect: WNBC’s low ratings has brought Brian Williams‘ Nightly News to 3rd in the Big Apple.)

    But the problems facing the CBS Evening News aren’t completely unique. There are also the significant issues facing all networks, not just CBS:

    Evening News Problem #1: Competition

    “I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but cumulatively the three network evening broadcasts have been declining about 1 million viewers each year for about a decade now,” says Hartman. “That’s a very sad, but seemingly unstoppable, trend line.”

    Tyndall echoes those sentiments. “It’s in decline, that’s just a given,” he says. “There’s nothing in the long run that anyone can do about that. There are forces at play that have nothing to do with the evening broadcasts.”

    Namely, 24-hour cable news networks and the Internet. These outlets may not have the gravitas of the evening newscasts, but they have the immediacy. That’s a problem that cannot be overcome.

    Evening News Problem #2: Audience

    The audience age of evening newscasts is on the rise (now over 60 years old), and the number of people watching the evening newscasts is on the decline. What does that mean? Well, as Hartman puts it bluntly: “People that watch the evening news are dying and they’re not being replaced.”

    The CBS average age is highest of the three networks.

    Evening News Problem #3: Time

    Because of the work schedules of Americans now, fewer and fewer people are able to get home by 6:30pm (or earlier in some markets). The evening newscasts are not going to be changing the start time, so the audience is bound to decrease simply due to not being around to watch them.

    So! How does CBS go about solving these problems? Here are a few solutions.

    Solution #1: Buzz

    When asked about solutions, both Hartman and Tyndall jumped to Couric’s work during the 2008 presidential campaign – and Gov. Sarah Palin.

    Says Hartman: “She did the best work of any of the evening news anchors during the political campaign. It was not just the Palin interview. If you look at the work Katie did all through 2008, it was really strong and innovative and smart and original and competitively, I think she was terrific. I think her instinct is to innovate and try new things.”

    Tyndall agrees, and points to the Palin interview as part of the reason for the network’s bump in the ratings at the end of 2008: “You could argue the success at the end of last year was a result of buzz from the Palin interviews. The job of these newscasts, first and foremost, is to grow the non-broadcast audience faster than they’re losing the broadcast audience. Palin is the model…To get three or four viral online hits a year which showcase Couric’s special skills, get a buzz about her, get people emailing clips around their social networks, that’s going to be the marketing device: to get people re-sampling the CBS Evening News.”

    Couric’s interview with Palin was an iconic moment that put on tape the narrative being woven by her critics. It also showcased Couric’s strong interviewing skills – and of course, did little to fight the liberal bias storyline. These types of interviews and moments are not easy to plan. In many ways, they have to come to Couric as much as she must seek them out. But when the opportunity presents itself, it must be all hands on deck in the same way the Palin interview played out, and was disseminated across the Web and into the national conversation.

    She could work towards solving the political problem through these means as well. Let’s say she gets an interview with President Obama, and hits him with some tough questions that severely throw him off his game. Like, ‘Drudge flashing sirens’ throw him off his game. It becomes a moment – and one the CBS Evening News must capitalize on and own.

    Solution #2: Integration

    No one can discount how incredibly helped the NBC Nightly News is by MSNBC. Lacking a 24-hour cable news outlet is something both CBS and ABC are hurt by, and CBS must find other ways to combat this problem. One way is to showcase Couric, and other Evening News elements on the local affiliates. This could serve to boost the struggling local news outlets in some cases, and also raise the profile of Couric. Featuring Evening News pieces, reporters and more on the late night local newscasts, 11pm in most markets, could showcase the national product in a new way.

    In thinking about integration of a different kind, CBS News does seem to have one day perfected – Sunday. “Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes are better than ever,” says Tyndall. “Older than ever, but better than ever.” Couric does appear periodically on 60 Minutes, but it is through these successful outlets that the Evening News could help itself expand on the 22-minutes allotted each weekday.

    Solution #3: Change the metrics

    When all else fails, find a new measuring stick. Look, when CNN began talking about Fusion data, they did so because the Nielsen metric that combined television viewership and Web readership made them look better. And sure, it got panned by its competitors. And yes, it could be all talk and Nielsen Fusion may never catch on.

    But is it so crazy? Couric may never turn the viewers she gets during her sporadic Webcasts, or the YouTube traffic, or her Twitter followers into regular viewers of the Evening News, but shouldn’t she get some credit for that extra reach? (She clearly does in the Power Grid – which is why she’s the only evening news anchor in the Top 5 right now.) There may come a time when ratings actually do take into account what happens online. But until that occurs, it doesn’t mean the facts can’t be a PR point.

    There’s something else too – and it relates to history. Maybe we need to stop all the comparisons to The Way It Was, and step back from it all. As Hartman says: “Despite the trends, when you put all the cable news networks together in their prime time audience it doesn’t come close to the last place network’s evening news program on most days. They still have enormous reach and do great work…We all have to be careful about writing the obituary of evening news.”