Newsmags enter a whole new reality

SUSAN ZIRINSKY, executive producer of CBS’ “48 Hours Mystery,” always feels some trepidation this time of year, but in recent years, mid-May has been more stressful than ever.

Tomorrow kicks off the annual rite known as the “upfront,” a week when the broadcast networks put on a series of lavish presentations here for advertisers touting their fall schedules, hoping to get them to commit a substantial share of their advertising dollars before the season begins.

It’s also often the first time most shows get an inkling of whether they’ve made the cut for next year. For network newsmagazine producers such as Zirinsky, the waiting game has become more anxiety producing.

“We know our lives are on the line,” she said. “It’s Darwinian, survival of the fittest.”

In all likelihood, “48 Hours Mystery” -- one of the few newsmagazines to see an uptick in viewers this season -- will be back this fall. But this is not the fittest of times for the genre as a whole. A decade ago, the long-form news programs were the mainstay of the network’s prime-time schedules, garnering huge audiences and spawning multiple editions on different nights of the week.

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A crowded field

AS dramas and reality shows have taken off in recent years, however, newsmagazines have found themselves with an increasingly smaller share of airtime -- and viewers.

Jeff Fager, executive producer of CBS’ “60 Minutes,” said the diminished popularity of the shows was inevitable: “There were too many. How many newsmagazines can you have on the air?”

Some view the genre’s decline partially as the result of a changing public sensibility. The “retells” that were so popular a decade ago, when correspondents would prompt people to recall details of an incident, now seem staid compared with the ever-more-intimate narratives that dominate television.

Newsmagazines garnered big ratings in the 1990s because “people felt they were getting a slice of something they didn’t know about that took a story from a human point of view,” Zirinsky said.

“And then ‘Nanny 911,’ ‘Amazing Race,’ ‘Survivor’ all took an enormous bite out of our rear end. The audience has their human drama, irregardless of the fact that it has been manipulated.”

“The dilemma became, ‘This is an incredible art form and a solid journalistic tool that you don’t want to go away,’ ” she added. “So how do you adapt?”

To survive, many newsmagazines are pursuing new forms of compelling -- and sometimes controversial -- storytelling. In a much-talked-about “Dateline” series, suspected Internet predators are lured to a house and then confronted on-camera. Although the investigation has drawn praise from child welfare organizations, some journalism ethics experts have questioned NBC’s collaboration with an Internet watchdog group that arranges to have police outside to arrest the men when they leave. ABC’s “Primetime,” meanwhile, recently fielded the opposite criticism -- that it had done too little -- after the show aired footage of a man punching his daughter during a piece on dysfunctional stepfamilies.

“This is the problem with hidden-camera ‘gotcha’ journalism: You’re either going to be acting as a proxy for the authorities, or you’re not and you’re going to look negligent,” said Judy Muller, a former ABC correspondent who teaches journalism at USC. “It’s a very narrow ethical line, and more and more I see it being used gratuitously for ratings.”

Aside from a few exceptions, the newsmagazine audience has continued to shrink this season. Even the venerable “60 Minutes,” which pioneered the format and continues to draw a hefty 13.8 million viewers a week on average, is down 2.6% compared with last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Last year, CBS canceled its spinoff, “60 Minutes Wednesday,” citing low viewership. It remains to be seen whether others will fall by the wayside this year. ABC officials are weighing the merit of keeping “Primetime” on next year’s schedule. “Dateline” -- which once aired five nights a week but is now down to two regular time slots -- will temporarily lose its Sunday edition to make way for the network’s football broadcasts this fall.

“This is really the golden era of drama and reality shows, and I think those two things have squeezed out the newsmagazines,” said Jeff Zucker, chief executive officer of the NBC Universal Television Group.

That’s not to say that they’ll be disappearing completely. “They’re not what they were a decade ago, but they’re still an important part of every network’s schedule,” Zucker added.

Newsmagazines remain substantially more affordable to produce than scripted series -- costing around one-third to one-half the price -- and can be counted on to deliver a consistent, if older, audience despite their smaller numbers. They serve as platforms for some of the network’s big stars, such as Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric. And when big stories break, the programs can be quickly turned into crash instant-news specials, buttressing the network’s journalistic resources.

“You need to have that avenue to tell a longer story,” said Chris Vlasto, senior investigative producer for “Primetime.” “Otherwise, it’s just going to be talking heads on cable television.”

But to compete with the slick production of procedural dramas and the eyebrow-raising stunts of reality programs, newsmagazine producers have had to become increasingly inventive.

“The programs have diverged somewhat from what they were,” said David Corvo, executive producer of “Dateline.” “Because of improved technology, our stories tend to happen before your eyes. They play out in an experiential way; they’re present tense.”

This month, “Dateline” is running four new installments of its series on Internet predators. Corvo, who called the show’s approach “socially responsible,” said the pieces have garnered an overwhelming e-mail response from viewers.

“Dateline” is now working on investigations into other issues such as counterfeit prescription drugs and adoption scams that use similar hidden-camera techniques. “You’re watching the reporter on the show learn as it goes along, and I think it immerses the viewer a little bit more,” he said.

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Reality raises the bar

THE television audience -- conditioned by the dramatic “reveals” of reality television -- now expects more of a payoff from every show, Zirinsky noted.

In the case of “48 Hours,” CBS decided to retool the program to focus exclusively on crime-and-punishment tales, told in the form of a one-hour documentary, much like a real-world version of “Without a Trace.” Although some of the shows explore well-known mysteries such as the disappearance of high school student Natalee Holloway in Aruba, most are focused on the stories of the less-famous: a murdered New York dancer, a missing Louisiana college professor. So far, it seems to be working; ratings are up 7% this season.

“We consider ourselves a reality genre that’s a newsmagazine if events warrant,” Zirinsky said, noting that this is the fifth incarnation of the program she’s overseen in the last 10 years. “Everything we do is rooted in journalism. That doesn’t mean that the show cannot be cinematically shot.”

Vlasto said the sophistication of viewers has pushed “Primetime” to search for a blend of stories that will keep them engaged.

“You can’t be a drama and you can’t be a reality show,” he said. “You have to be something in between.”

“Primetime,” with ratings up 3.2% this season, devotes about a third of its time to investigations, a third to crime stories and another third to hidden-camera “reality” stories, Vlasto said.

Some segments can feel a little too real. A recent show that featured footage of a father punching his teenage daughter, caught on tape as part of a story on stepfamilies in crisis, drew sharp criticism from many viewers who said ABC should have alerted authorities to the abuse. (The network noted that by the time producers viewed the tape, the girl had moved out of the house and the family had already sought counseling.)

Vlasto rejected the notion that such pieces veer into the tabloid, arguing that the show pursues topical, popular stories.

“If you say we’re going to be ‘Frontline’ and do stories on Africa and starving, unfortunately, viewers aren’t really turning on to that,” he said.

“I’d love to do stories about that, but it’s about what the viewers want. Otherwise, we won’t be on the air.”