WWS309

The ABC network was formed when NBC sold its Blue Network to millionaire Edward Noble (who made Life Savers candy!), who named it the American Broadcasting System (it was later changed to American Broadcasting Company, Inc). I won’t go into details about the interim period, but it’s noteworthy that in 1995-96 Capital Cities/ABC Inc was purchased by the Walt Disney Company for $19,000,000,000, creating the “world’s largest media and entertainment company.” The merger has been problematic for ABC news, because the new division became a relatively small share of Disney’s entire business portfolio, meaning that ABC News' best interests weren't always prioritized (and sometimes Disney might not have even known what ABC News best interests were). There have also been controversies about ABC News broadcasting “news” about new movie releases that just happened to be Disney releases (Pearl Harbour was one notable example), inter alia.

ABC journalists sometimes feel they have to cover certain issues because of the connection with Disney, but as long as the journalist is honest and up front about the connection, and does not let the relationship affect the quality of reporting, then my contact does not consider it to be ethically suspect to cover Disney-related issues.

ABC is headquartered in NYC, and its second largest newsroom is located in DC (200-300 people), where my contact works. ABC’s direct competition comprises NBC and CBS, which are also owned by major media conglomerates. In 2003, NBC “had a narrow edge in ratings, followed closely by ABC, then, farther back, by CBS.” (Stateofthenewsmedia.org). So, here are the shows that are competing for viewers:

Broadcast Network Morning News Programs
(7 to 7:59 a.m. Eastern time)
ABC -- "Good Morning America"
CBS -- "The Early Show"
NBC -- "Today"

Broadcast Network Evening News Programs
(Full program as broadcast in New York market)
ABC - "World News Tonight"
CBS - "Evening News"
NBC - "Nightly News"
PBS - "NewsHour"

Regarding ABC’s position in the market compared to NBC and CBS, there is a general trend of all three networks “losing their identity” and “all becoming more or less the same in terms of the stories that they cover.” The reason for this, believes my contact, is that all three networks are increasingly concerned about ratings, and consequently gravitate towards stories that will generate ratings (eg. the Michael Jackson trial) , rather than others that might not (eg. Darfur). This tendency towards tabloid journalism is taking place across all networks, but ABC News likes to think (and we have to be the judge of whether this is the case) that it resists the temptation towards overemphasizing “soft news.”

Another factor in this increasing trend towards tabloid news is that news networks are trying to capture a younger cohort of viewers. Examples of this were in 2003 when ABC tried to replace the very successful Nightline with Dave Letterman for the same time slot, and more recently (reported a couple of weeks ago in the WSJ) with the idea of replacing Nightline with an ESPN-type of show to appeal to a younger, male audience. One interesting tidbit is that ABC, like other channels, wants to attract viewers to its late-time time slot, because research shows that viewers are likely to watch the morning news on the same channel that they watched late the previous night before turning the TV off to go to bed. So, for example, viewers tune into Jay Leno, and then in the morning watch the Today show.

The issue regarding ratings and Nightline is an interesting one, particularly because Nightline is such a strong program, and “remains probably the most serious and distinctive news magazine program on television.” Despite the fact that nightline does generate a lot of profit (ABC Nightline was at the time expected to generate $13 million in profit), Dave Letterman would have potentially attracted more revenue and a younger audience.

As was discussed in class, the network must balance between what the viewers want to see (and what will “pay the bills” and lead them to turn on their TV) and what the viewers need to see (what they will benefit from once they’re already tuned in). The journalist’s responsibility is balancing these two elements, acting as a “filter,” and committing themselves to hard news “out of respect for themselves.” It appears that the White House is trying to reduce the influence of, or rather circumvent, journalists and their "filter" to ensure that the intended message gets across to the public.

ABCs “strongest assets” are the experienced team led by Ted Koppel and Peter Jennings (who gained significant experience and exposure by covering the Vietnam War on the ground), and the very popular Nightline, which is, according to my contact, a “medium for which serious matters can be discussed in a relaxed but tough forum in terms of having a half hour to examine a single issue.” The underlying philosophy of ABC can be characterized as “tough but fair,” and also comprises the goal of reporting on stories that people need to know rather than what they want to know. My contact believes that this same overarching ideal can be attributed to NBC and CBS also.

In terms of controversy regarding ABC there is one recent issue of interest:
The ABC News special on Michael Jackson, aired on Primetime Live on Thursday: the NYT asserted that several interviewees were paid by third parties. (the NYT article is below, Appendix 1, along with the Associated Press article which serves as ABC’s response).

As an aside, ABC News had a 24-hour news channel, called ABC News Now, which is currently off air but might be re-introduced in the next year. It’s interesting to note that although the viewership of cable news has increased over the past several years, it is still relatively small compared to the network news. So, for example, Peter Jenning’s world news tonight might garner 10 million viewers, whereas if Bill O’Reilly or Larry King Live attracted 2 million viewers, that would be considered stellar. Even ABCs off-peak or overnight viewers are still two to three times greater than the cable news’ primetime slot viewership. So it’s unclear why ABC would want to relaunch its 24-hour news channel when it would have to carve out a niche in a much smaller pie to possibly attract 500,000 viewers.
Well, there’s definitely more to say but I fear this blog is getting quite long. So those are some tidbits on ABC News!

Appendix 1
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
February 19, 2005 Saturday
Section B; Column 1; The Arts/Cultural Desk; CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; Pg. 11
Rehashing Old Secrets, With Little New to Tell
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN

Near the beginning of Thursday night's two-hour episode of ''Primetime Live'' on ABC, Martin Bashir, a network correspondent, broods under storm clouds on a deserted beach. In a voice-over, we hear that he's still bedeviled by an old fixation, Michael Jackson.

He has reason to feel unsettled. In 2003, Mr. Bashir, a British journalist then famous mostly for having interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales, brought a riveting and aggressive documentary to the British television network ITV called ''Living With Michael Jackson,'' in which Mr. Jackson could be seen holding hands with a boy and offering a haphazard defense of man-boy bed-sharing. Twenty-seven million viewers tuned in when that documentary appeared on ABC the same year. By contrast, an estimated 8.76 million viewers watched ''Michael Jackson's Secret World'' on Thursday on ''Primetime Live.''

Sitting by the sea, Mr. Bashir was perhaps contemplating what he'd given up in abandoning the nuanced, heavily verite films that made his name. At ABC he appears on camera for tightly scripted, strictly vetted newsmagazine segments that are produced mainly by other people. He's in an entirely new business.

Or maybe, as he perched on a striped deck chair, Mr. Bashir was wondering how he had become part of the news: because of what he witnessed while making his 2003 documentary, a judge has ordered him to testify in Mr. Jackson's upcoming trial on charges including child molesting.

Possibly, though, Mr. Bashir's voice-over told the truth. He -- like so many of us -- may simply continue to be intrigued by the enigma of Michael Jackson, the child-loving pop star with the inventively amended face whom Mr. Bashir frequently describes as bizarre.

If so, Mr. Bashir's work on ''Michael Jackson's Secret World,'' cannot have set his mind at ease. Largely rehash, the program featured a new interview with an uncle of the boy whose accusations Mr. Jackson is facing in court. There is also a scene of Mr. Bashir and the uncle listening to tapes allegedly made by the boy's psychiatrist, on which the boy describes hugs, kisses, masturbation and oral sex he says he had with Michael Jackson.

But the film didn't make any news, chiefly because the actual principals in the court case are bound by confidentiality agreements. And Mr. Jackson himself, though he has made some unstrategic television appearances in the past, wisely refrained from talking to Mr. Bashir again.

Nor did ''Michael Jackson's Secret World'' show any of the aesthetic keenness of Mr. Bashir's earlier Jackson film, in which the singer's character was as likely to surface in a scene of an extravagant shopping trip as it was in his formally lighted interviews. Without access to Mr. Jackson, the ABC program relies for excitement on clips from the old film, as well as excerpts from a recent, heavily publicized British documentary, ''Michael Jackson's Boys,'' which was produced by the company Tiger Aspect. These latter excerpts are a controversial component of the ''Primetime Live'' piece. Some of the participants in ''Michael Jackson's Boys'' received compensation for their interviews, according to a disclaimer at the start of the program on Thursday night. The disclaimer added, ''No payment was made for any of the interviews conducted by Martin Bashir or ABC News.''
That's comforting, sort of. But ABC derived so much of the interest of ''Michael Jackson's Secret World'' from the British production that it's surprising the program still received the network's seal of ethical approval.

At the close of the two hours, which are padded with repetition, Mr. Bashir appears in a white convertible. He's still confused. One thing he might contemplate is that formal and ethical limitations severely curb the license of British filmmakers whose reputations are often founded on the artful and intelligent use of that license. Or perhaps the conventions of American news simply make it more honest. As Mr. Bashir says, again in a voice-over, at the end of the mediocre program, ''What to think at the end of it all?''