The recent announcement by NBC Nightly News of Lester Holt’s coming departure from the prestigious post, has caught America by surprise. There was little indication the move was coming. It has not been leaked whether the exit was his idea or was encouraged by network higher-ups.
Coincidentally, this news falls in the same time frame that current co-network MSNBC sent the controversial Joy Reid packing and moved other non-white hosts to different assignments within the organization.
Related to that development or not, the surprise Holt departure, scheduled for early this summer comes a month after Norah O’Donnel left her post at CBS, a move that has already been deemed calamitous, as the new revised version of the CBS Evening News has become a ratings disaster.
There’s no indication from ABC about David Muir’s position on their evening news broadcast. He seems secure at the moment.
One thing that is without question, the once prestigious evening news anchor position at the three legacy broadcast networks is far removed the glory days of yesteryear, when esteemed fellows such as Walter Cronkite at CBS, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley at NBC, and Frank Reynolds at ABC as examples, held the stage during moments of national crisis.
Who can forget the solemn, stone-faced disclosure by Walter Cronkite of the confirmed assasination death of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on November 22nd, 1963.
If such a tragic event were to occur today the news would zip around the globe on smart phones in mere seconds. The societal impact of one particular announcement on a broadcast network would be minimal in comparison.
That’s the entire issue. Citizens today receive their crisis-level news from handheld devices or desktop computers. A nearby television set or radio is not required. By the time important news events are delivered to a national audience at 7 pm in the evening, the broadcast is a rehashing of what the viewing audience has already seen and heard.
This is progress. There is no stopping the relentless march of technology and the impact of that technology upon how consumers receive their news. Just as the three major – and oldest – broadcast networks must share their former exclusive audiences with easily accessible cable channels that number, in the literal, thousands.
The importance of the 7:00 pm evening news shows simply does not exist in this era of breaking news streamed directly to a digital device.
The decline in viewship ratings over all hours, reflect how the legacy networks have been impacted by the new order.
Lester Holt, David Muir, and the departed Norah O’Donnel simply do not wield the same influence over how crisis-level events are perceived by our nation, as a whole, as their predecessors once did.
They do not shape the news anymore, as much as simply read it from a teleprompter.
Today’s more sophisticated viewing audience doesn’t need a well-respected and trustworthy middle-aged person, as a hand-holder of sorts, at a prescribed hour every single day for a reading of the national minutes.
The voices out there across the internet are many – and diverse – and all are in competition with one another.
There is no more, “if Walter Cronkite said it on CBS, then it must be true.”
In the early days of television, long before the reliable dispersal of global news through telephone lines into the nation’s home and businesses, no self-respecting major broadcast network would be without a showcase primetime variety hour.
The variety shows were extremely prestigious and featured celebrity hosts such as Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Jimmy Durante, Dean Martin, Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan and Carol Burnet, just to name a few.
The entire nation rejoiced in the graciousness of these cherished national friends that came into our homes through the wonder of television, and they brought with them their movie stars pals, along with talented and respected artists and musicians.
All through the broadcast magic of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
That America of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s was more closed and cloistered than today’s wide-open world where the news, both celebrity-based and serious, is everywhere.
The idea of a few select primetime musical variety shows that could intrigue and enchant a national audience is quaint and hopelessly outdated.
The genre hardly exists any more.
The broadcast evening news shows from what were once the three most prominent television networks are facing the same fate. The world has changed, and there is no turning the clock back. The early evening national news broadcasts days are numbered, just like yesteryear’s fabulous primetime variety hours.
Their role in society will soon fade into complete irrelevance – and then these iconic platforms will be gone and forgotten.
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