A ‘revolution’ at CBS may be minor news

CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves caused a stir last week by suggesting that his network may soon institute radical change at its scandal-tarnished news division.

With “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather set to retire March 9, Moonves said, network executives are looking to reinvent the traditional single-anchor newscast to make it “younger, more relevant.” He even played coy with the possibility of a role for Comedy Central host Jon Stewart, the king of fake newscasters. “As opposed to an evolution, maybe we’re dealing with a revolution,” Moonves told reporters at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Universal City.

But some of the innovations cited -- such as multiple anchors in different cities -- have been tried many times before. And the realities of network finances and institutional tradition are likely to rein in significant change.

As for young people, news executives have been chasing them for years -- without much success. And the fierce competition from 24-hour cable news and the Internet has made audience declines for network news all but inevitable.

Moonves “was talking about basically cosmetic changes,” said Andrew Tyndall of ADT Research, which monitors broadcast news content. “What he said doesn’t change the fundamental mission of the newscast.”

There’s little doubt that CBS News needs reform, not to mention improved morale. The news division, once home to broadcast pioneers Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, is reeling from the worst scandal in its history.

Two weeks ago an independent review issued a report lambasting CBS for “myopic zeal” in rushing to air a Sept. 8 “60 Minutes Wednesday” story about President Bush’s military service.

The story, presented by Rather, was based in part on copies of four documents suggesting that Bush received preferential treatment during his days in the Texas Air National Guard. The review panel said CBS failed to verify the authenticity of the documents and then became too stringent in defending the original story when questions were raised after the broadcast.

The controversy is sure to overshadow Rather -- the face of CBS since 1981 -- when he leaves the anchor’s chair but could give CBS an opportunity to revitalize “Evening News,” which has been mired in third place in the ratings for years behind “NBC Nightly News” and ABC’s “World News Tonight.”

A CBS spokesman said neither Moonves nor anyone in the news division would comment for this story. Rivals are curious to see what the network has in mind for the future.

“They do need something revolutionary,” said Steve Capus, executive producer of “NBC Nightly News,” where anchor Brian Williams recently replaced the retiring Tom Brokaw. “If I were in [Moonves’] shoes, I’d probably say the same thing.”

CBS may find that “revolutions,” like hit shows, seldom are as easy to execute as they are to consider. The “Evening News” may prove a hard animal to change. Take multiple anchors. Moonves said that such a format had produced “fantastic” results for CBS’ “Early Show,” whose four anchors include his new wife, Julie Chen.

However, in the ratings, “Early Show” remains a distant third to NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

On evening newscasts, multiple anchors have produced mixed results.

As Moonves pointed out, NBC’s Chet Huntley and David Brinkley coanchored an enormously successful telecast during the 1950s and ‘60s. But a CBS pairing between Rather and Connie Chung turned disastrous in the mid-1990s. They had sharply different styles -- Chung gravitated toward sensational stories, such as the tribulations of ice skater Tonya Harding; Rather went toward politics and government -- and rumors flew of off-air battles.

ABC briefly pared Harry Reasoner with Barbara Walters in a mid-1970s newscast; the pair’s mutual dislike was so evident, even on screen, that one executive compared them to a married couple secretly “wanting to claw each other’s eyes out.”

Multiple anchors are “a packaging device,” Tyndall said. “It doesn’t change the actual substance of the newscast and sometimes it detracts from it, as in the Chung-Rather experiment.”

Moonves may also be too optimistic that young people can be persuaded to watch traditional news programs, rival network executives say. Internet blogs and cable programs like Stewart’s “The Daily Show” have soared in popularity, especially among young adults, while network news primarily draws viewers who grew up on Cronkite.

Some news executives say it makes little sense to reformat the evening news to appeal to young people because they’re often not watching television at that hour anyway.

“I don’t know too many people under 30 who are at home at 6:30 and sitting down at the television, waiting for the news to begin,” said Jon Banner, executive producer of ABC’s “World News Tonight.”

Moreover, the relentless focus on the anchor may be somewhat misguided, observers say.

While the average viewer tends to remember whoever sits behind the desk, the evening newscasts rely most heavily on the correspondents in the field. Minus commercials and promos, each evening newscast amounts to about 19 minutes of content, Tyndall said. Nearly 80% of that is devoted to correspondents’ produced pieces, which typically run about two minutes apiece.

The correspondents’ stories give the network newscast a much different flavor than cable news, which relies heavily on live “stand-ups” -- the reporter simply reciting the latest news from a certain location with no taped interviews -- and opinion shows such as “The O’Reilly Factor.”

The two-minute prepared report “is the unique thing these newscasts have to offer, the thing you don’t get on the cable networks or the morning shows,” Tyndall said.

As the networks like to point out, the evening newscasts are still watched by a collective audience of more than 30 million viewers -- far greater than that mustered by cable TV. By comparison, Stewart’s “Daily Show” on Comedy Central has recently drawn around a million viewers -- respectable numbers for basic cable but lower than what the show’s ubiquitous media coverage might lead one to expect.

And the evening news on broadcast networks remain capable of delivering large profits. That’s why any revolution, even at a place in as dire need of a shakeup as CBS News, will probably occur in slow motion.

As Banner, the executive producer at ABC News, put it, “The one thing you didn’t hear Les Moonves say is, ‘We’re doing away with the evening news’” altogether.