They can't just refill the chairs

By Matea Gold

Dec. 18, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

New York — LATELY, nearly every conversation with someone in the television news business begins with a common refrain: “Can you believe what’s going on this year?”

In the last 12 months, the industry has been confronted with waves of change so relentless that they have remade the very appearance, tone and distribution of broadcast news.

Think about it: At this time last year, Tom Brokaw had just retired from the anchor desk at NBC. Dan Rather had three months left at the helm of the “CBS Evening News.” And Peter Jennings was planning on spending several more years as the face of ABC News.

Now all three have left their anchor chairs. And even as the network news divisions try to adjust to their departures, they’ve been forced to confront an even bigger challenge -- a wholesale revolution in the very delivery of news and information.

The advancements of the Internet and wireless devices have made the concept of a 6:30 evening newscast appear quaint. And the rapidly progressing technology suggests that more new forms of media are on the horizon -- and what seems fresh out of the box in December 2005 may be old hat by December 2006.

“I actually think we’re still in the first inning,” said Jeff Zucker, president of the NBC Universal Television Group. “The changes are coming fast and furious, but I think it’s going to evolve so much more over the next five years. Organizations that have been set up to deliver news and information in a very specific manner for the last 50 years need to evolve and need to evolve quickly.”

For television viewers, the most obvious difference at the close of 2005 is in who they now see on-screen. Jennings’ death from lung cancer in August made 46-year-old NBC anchor Brian Williams the dean of broadcast news, just eight months after he took over the “NBC Nightly News.”

At ABC, the forced change resulting from Jennings’ passing made for a particularly tragic and trying year, finally culminating this month with the selection of Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff as the anchor team of “World News Tonight.”

But the real cliffhanger will likely be left unresolved for several more months: the future of the “CBS Evening News,” which has been temporarily anchored by veteran Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer since Rather left the show in March.

CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves is pushing the news division to rethink the format and tone of the broadcast. This fall, he replaced News President Andrew Heyward with Sean McManus, the network’s sports division president and an executive known for his competitive drive.

Since his arrival, McManus has stressed that he’s not content to let CBS’ morning and evening newscasts lag in third place. And he’s made a big push to poach top talent away from other networks -- namely NBC’s Katie Couric.

Couric, who is under contract at the “Today” show until the end of May, has said she hasn’t decided on her next move.

Anchors’ changing role

NO matter what she does, the role of the evening anchor -- who for so long represented the network’s eminence grise -- is in flux, industry veterans said, especially as morning news programs continue to generate more money for the news divisions.

“It’s a seminal moment,” said Steve Friedman, a former executive producer of “Today,” CBS’ “The Early Show” and the “NBC Nightly News” during the Brokaw era. “Is the anchor of the evening news still going to be the voice and face of the network? Is this cycle of anchors one of 20 years, like it was for the last guys?”

The tone that the last generation of anchors strove to adopt -- one of self-assurance, distance and authoritativeness -- is also now coming under question. In January, Moonves famously declared that the “voice of God” age is over, sparking a debate that took on additional momentum with the coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

In the days after the storm ravaged the Gulf Coast, television broadcasters such as Williams, ABC’s Ted Koppel, Fox News’ Shepard Smith and CNN’s Anderson Cooper reported the unfolding disaster with increasing dismay and emotion. Reporters challenged federal officials about the government’s slow response on the air; some even grew tearful as they described the suffering around them.

The strong viewer response to the empathetic tenor of the coverage offered a lesson in how to keep television news relevant, some industry executives believe.

“People just don’t believe that any one person has cornered the market on ‘the way it is,’ as Walter [Cronkite] used to term it,” said Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/US. “They certainly seem to want a human connection rather than that time-honored, almost pompous assumption that the anchor knew it all. The anchors who acquitted themselves most notably in Katrina were the ones who said, ‘I don’t know anything, and I want some answers.’ ”

Technology is now helping newscasters convey a more personal side. In the last year, all three network news divisions began blogs, forums that they have used to try to pull back the curtain on the newsgathering process and explain the occasional foible or misstep.

The race to new formats

THE online journals are just one example of the new formats growing out of the networks’ race to expand their presence on mobile phones, wireless devices, MP3 players and the Internet. This year, for the first time, they’ve also solicited contributions from viewers who capture events with their cellphone cameras.

The new ways to reach viewers have forced television executives to think differently about the news. Instead of creating a linear newscast, they’re now producing ongoing material about developing stories that can be instantly posted online or sent to cellphones.

“News has turned into a loop,” said Larry Kramer, president of CBS Digital Media. “You no longer publish a story and you’re done. A news story is posted or viewed, and it’s the beginning of the process.”

CBS, which already offers hundreds of free videos a day on its website, joined its competitors this month in providing news clips for video-enabled cellphones. This fall, NBC launched free netcasts of the “NBC Nightly News” and “Meet the Press” on MSNBC.com and is preparing to do so with segments of the “Today” show. ABC is developing new interactive Web features aimed at complementing the expanded format of “World News Tonight,” which will begin broadcasting later editions for West Coast viewers and offering an afternoon webcast in January.

“It’s the real beginning of people getting what they want to know, where they want to know it and whenever they want to know it,” said Michael Clemente, executive producer of ABCNews.com and the network’s digital channel.

But it remains to be seen how the evolving new media will affect traditional newscasts, which have until now relied on large numbers of people turning on the television at the same time every day. Will those people stop tuning in?

Network executives insist the news programs are far from moribund, noting that the morning news audience has been growing over the last decade and that the three evening newscasts still draw a combined viewership of more than 25 million people every night.

“This is a very, very healthy business still,” said NBC News President Steve Capus. “We’re not giving up this fight.”