Weighing Anchors

Once, news anchors were not only the public faces of their networks but also trusted icons, to the point that Sweden’s television anchors were dubbed “Kronkiters” after the fatherly CBS newsman. Tuesday’s announcement that Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite’s successor at CBS, is departing is further evidence of how far anchors have fallen.

Conservative Web logs and talk radio shows, where it’s been Rathergate 24/7 since the network’s botched news report on President Bush’s National Guard service, rejoiced. They guffawed over denials that CBS had pushed out Rather in the wake of the controversial story and subsequent retraction. But he and his network kin are falling victim to stagnant ratings as well. It’s all a far cry from the sorrowful reaction when Cronkite announced his retirement in 1980.

Meanwhile, NBC’s Tom Brokaw, the nation’s top-rated news anchor for the last seven years, will turn his desk over to anchor-in-waiting Brian Williams next week. Peter Jennings of ABC, who at age 66 will become the new dean of network anchors, will now make a last run at reclaiming the No. 1 spot in the network ratings. But that doesn’t mean nearly as much as it once did.

Ratings for evening network news have declined dramatically since the early 1970s. Cable networks are eating away at the networks’ franchise with niche, all-day coverage of news, weather or sports -- in your pick of languages. Local television stations further blur the line by dispatching crews to far-flung locations to flesh out local angles.

It’s not quite yet Howard Beale’s mad world from the 1976 film “Network.” But a local news anchor in Cleveland recently stripped naked to help illustrate a story. MTV gives viewers news with a beat, there are plenty of rim shots on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” and you can be sure that today’s headliners will be on “Larry King Live” tomorrow night to confess their sins. And there’s no need to shout out the window that you’re mad as hell, because web logs will send your message worldwide with a click of a mouse.

Network news divisions once were the crown jewels of broadcast companies. Now they just seem like a footnote at NBC, ABC and CBS, which themselves have been turned into cogs in the corporate machinery of General Electric, Walt Disney Co. and Viacom. The next generation of network anchors will have to shout to be heard, while even the idea of networks goes increasingly out of focus.

As Cronkite would say: And that’s the way it is.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Network Slide

Ratings* for the network evening news have been falling since the early 1970s.

CBS

‘73-’74: 13.3

‘03-’04: 5.4

*

NBC

‘73-’74: 12.7

‘03-’04: 6.9

*

ABC

‘73-’74: 10.3

‘03-’04: 6.5

*percentage of all television households

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Los Angeles Times