Much is being written about the death of ABC News anchor Peter Jennings and I will not add anything further to those words except to say that it is unfortunate. When I did watch network news, I probably watched Jennings more than any of the other two, though, mostly because he annoyed me much less than Dan Rather did. What is significant, though, is that it is clear that Jennings’ death, combined with the retirements of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather within the last year, mark the end of an era in mass media.
I haven’t watched a nightly network newscast on a regular basis in years. Mostly, this is because of my own work schedule and that I’m generally getting home from work right about the same time these programs are ending. That said, it has been clear for some time that the days of the network news as the primary information source for the nation are over. The nightly ratings for all three networks have been dropping for years as people migrate to cable and the internet. I only think that will intensify over the next several years, and I personally would not be surprised to see one of the big three networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) drop its nightly news broadcast entirely within the next five years.
Its not that people are any less aware of what’s going on in the world than they were in the 1960s and 70s when these shows were at their peak, its just that people are finding different sources for information and no longer need an anchorman who tells them “that’s the way it is.”
