VIEWERS VANISH: NATION'S BROADCAST NEWS OUTLETS SEE RATINGS SLIDE DURING WAR
Viewers are increasingly tuning out the broadcast networks' evening newscasts, the NEW YORK TIMES is planning to splash on Monday.
CBS and ABC together lost nearly 2 million viewers, or a combined 10%, during the first two-week Iraq war period, according to NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH!
[Only NBC recorded a slight increase.]
"Going back the 15 years that I have researched it," said Andrew Tyndall, of the TYNDALL REPORT, which monitors network newscasts, "the networks always show an increase of about 10 percent in viewing during heavy news periods. This would be an unprecedented event."
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NYT's Bill Carter has prepared a high-impact story, according to newsroom source's, which quotes CBS NEWS President Andrew Heyward.
"I think you have to be careful about making grandiose claims for the cable news networks," Heyward tells Carter. "Remember, after the gulf war CNN seemed poised to soar, because everyone thought they had done so well on that story. We all have seen the issues and problems they've had since then. I think you'll see cable settle back into a more normal pattern."
As viewing levels for the networks' evening newscasts, which totals about 28 million people for the three networks, still dwarf the combined average of 7.3 million viewers attracted by FOXNEWSCNNMSNBC.
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