TV News Reverts to Pre-Sept. 11 Patterns

After a period of marked change post-Sept. 11, the network evening newscasts’ coverage of national and international affairs has decreased, according to a Project for Excellence in Journalism study to be released today. The content now more closely resembles what existed before the terrorist attacks and war in Afghanistan.

Advance copies of the study circulated Wednesday, a day when cable news, too, reverted to pre-Sept. 11 mode with heavy speculation over a possible break in the case of missing Washington intern Chandra Levy.

The study of the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, covering the period from Jan. 1 to April 5, found that stories about national and international affairs, so-called “hard news,” now make up 52% of all stories, down from 80% in October but up from 45.5% in June 2001. Lifestyle and celebrity coverage, which almost disappeared in October, now accounts for 20% of stories, down slightly from 23% in June 2001.

Business coverage fell dramatically post-Sept. 11 but has risen to 15%, partly attributable to coverage of Enron Corp.’s collapse.

Other categories of coverage, including crime, science and religion, make up the difference.

The makeup of the hard news has changed since June 2001, the study found, with increases in coverage of the military and international affairs and a decrease in domestic affairs.

The study examined story counts, not the number of minutes devoted to each topic. Paul Slavin, executive producer of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” said he found the methodology unclear and took issue with business stories not being counted as hard news, although he acknowledged that “yes, we have moved back to a more balanced program.”

“NBC Nightly News” executive producer Steve Capus also took issue with some classifications but agreed his broadcast has changed, just as “life is different than it was [in the first months] after September.” He said his program continued to cover hard news, noting, “We’ve got a mirror on the world.” With viewership of newscasts up, he said, “America’s spoken about the quality of not just our broadcast but all network broadcasts.”

CBS News said in a statement that it “has been committed to hard news for a long time and has not changed since 9/11,” as evidenced by anchor Dan Rather’s three recent overseas trips.

The story in the mornings was somewhat different, with hard news (22.5%) still a bigger component than before. In June 2001, according to the study, just 7% of stories dealt with hard news, while celebrity, entertainment and lifestyle news took up 72%. Immediately after Sept. 11, the amount of hard news jumped to 58%, while lighter news dropped to 24%, increasing to 58% in early 2002.