Posted on 04/26/2005 5:36:10 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
CBS' "Evening News," led by interim anchor Bob Schieffer, saw its lowest viewer tally on record last week, while the sprint for first in the evening news race remained incredibly close with 150,000 viewers separating NBC and ABC.
CBS' 6.1 million average nightly viewers last week was its lowest total since record-keeping started in 1987.
Meanwhile, NBC's Brian Williams held a hair-thin margin over a Peter Jennings-less ABC. The Peacock retained the overall lead, which it has kept for 42 straight weeks, but the two newscasts tied in the 25-54 demographic on which advertising is sold.
ABC's "World News Tonight" has been without the on-air presence of Peter Jennings for the past three weeks as he undergoes chemotherapy for lung cancer. Sources said Jennings has been in the ABC studios and contributing as managing editor of the newscast, but his voice is still too weak for him to return to the anchor chair.
Low ratings for "Evening News" are a setback for CBS, which had received plenty of critical acclaim for the Schieffer-led broadcast. Schieffer scored a notable scoop on the Minnesota school shooting story in his first week on the air, and the newscast showcased his conversational style via live Q&As with correspondents.
CBS has averaged a little more than 6.8 million viewers in Schieffer's first six weeks at the helmhelm, down 7% from the same period last year. NBC also was down 7% in the same period from last year, while ABC was flat.
"Our focus right now is on the content of the broadcast. We realize it will take time for the audience to respond to the changes we're making," said CBS NewsCBS News spokeswoman Donna Dees. "The journalism is strong, the spirit is fresh, and the initial reaction has been very positive."
In cable news, Fox News Channel showed a rare weakness, slipping 6% in total audience in April from the same period a year ago, while CNN gained 11% and MSNBC 7%.
Fox averaged 825,000 viewers in a month marked by the deaths of Pope John Paul II and Terry Schiavo, compared to 531,000 for CNN, 249,000 for MSNBC and 235,000 for CNN's Headline News.
Headline News appears to have ceded third place to MSNBC after a strong start and plenty of marketing power behind its revamped "Headline Prime" lineup.
In primetime, Fox was up 1% to 1.5 million viewers, led by a 25% increase for "On the Record With Greta Van Susteren," while CNN grew 6% in prime to 893,000, led by a 37% increase for "Anderson Cooper 360."
I saw Bob Schieffer's CBS News this evening, and noticed the new format of veiled commentary after almost every polical news story. "Let me get this straight, Ben. Are you saying that the new law on gun use in Florida forces the state to presume innocence whenever a gun is used in self-defense? . . . Well, that IS a big change!"
CBS News with Bob Schieffer. Same old liberal lies, but with less charm, if that were possible.
(Er, polical = political.)
Schieffer is a Dan Rather wannabe. His politics are so obvious its laughable.
Remember Donna Dees-Thomases? Hillary's best friend and political activist that led the Clinton charge against gun owners.
CBS is staffed top to bottom with hard left liberal political activists, no bias though!
Bob Schieffer is alright, but the damage done by Rather and Co. will be felt by CBS for a decade. And CBS absolutely deserves to be in the toilet for all the damage that the network has done to the nation by shamelessly aiding and abetting the scumbag Democrats, year after year.
Good news WCC! Thanks for posting.
Thankfully, CBS is a house built on sand.
6.1 million people still watch CBS News - amazing
ping
I wonder what the average age of those 6.1 million viewers are?
The 6.1 million people that don't have cable yet.
Mental age, emotional maturity age or chronological age?
And what would you guess all three add up to?
Bad news for the Taliban.
I had to read it to see whether we were talking about a "news low" or neilson low.
Schieffer is much dumber than dan blather.. and THATS DUMB..
Whos running Viacom(parent company).?.
Richard Simmons in a chicken suit.?.
The CEO of Viacom is really really overpaid..
Free Republic Television to buy CBS, well we can dream can't we?
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