This year's study did not include a separate content analysis of prime time news magazines. But two previous studies of those programs, in 1997 and 1999, showed a clear pattern. With the exception of "60 Minutes," the magazines in no way could be said to cover major news of the day.6 [1] Instead, these programs, up against prime time entertainment shows, specialize in lifestyle and behavior stories, consumer news-you-can-use pieces and celebrity entertainment. In the 1997 study, 55 percent of their stories concerned these issues. In addition, 23 percent concerned crime.
Only 8 percent of stories concerned the combined areas of education, economics, foreign affairs, the military, national security, politics, government or social welfare issues. A similar audit of the magazine programs two years later by the journalist Marc Gunther published in Nieman Reports found similar results.
The CBS "60 Minutes" program stands out as an exception, more likely to touch on issues or topics that involved major events of the day. At the mid-way point in the 2003 - 2004 season, the program aired 12 foreign segments out of 50, about 22 percent, according to an audit compiled for a yet-to-be-published paper by Elizabeth Weinreb, Director of Special Projects at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a former journalist at "60 Minutes."7 [2] That percentage is about what the show averages in a regular season, according to "60 Minutes" staff calculations. The other exception is "Nightline," the ABC news program that differs from the magazines not only in content but also in time slot and in format. It remains probably the most serious and distinctive news magazine program on television.
Why have the magazines other than "60 Minutes" and "Nightline" moved so far away from major news events? It wasn't always this way. Over the past 20 years, the main mission of prime time news magazines has changed. When "60 Minutes" began in 1968, it was largely seen by CBS as a way to fulfill Federal Communications Commission requirements for public affairs broadcasting. While the network would have liked the show to make money, the other needs it helped meet sustained the show through seven years of poor ratings when it aired irregularly in the Tuesday night 10 pm time slot. It was not until 1975, when CBS moved the show to the dead hour between 7 and 8 p.m. on Sunday that it became noticed. By 1978 it was among the top 10 rated programs on the air and it has been a big success and moneymaker for CBS ever since.8 [3]
Seeing that news magazines could be moneymakers - and, more important, moneymakers that could be produced relatively cheaply compared with most entertainment programs - the networks went on a news magazine binge in the 1980s and particularly the 1990s. But as revenues and ratings became the new bottom-line, that brought changes in how segments were put together and how they were selected. These programs were competing with entertainment shows and that affected content.
Topics that scored viewers on one program began appearing on different shows within weeks or even days of each other. Tom Yellin, the executive producer of "Peter Jennings Reporting" on ABC summed up the problem this way: "Deciding you want to do a story because you think it's interesting is a risk. If it doesn't work you will be called to account."9 [4]
To determine a segment's success, according to Weinreb, many executives turn to research, including minute-by-minute ratings, to determine what kinds of stories hold viewers. And some networks tested story concepts to determine whether segments were winning the "right" (i.e., young) viewers.
The result is that most programs are largely not the home of heavy investigative pieces anymore. And the long-term trend here may be troubling for news professionals when one looks at what is drawing desirable demographics. President Bush's first interview about the war in Iraq after the capture of Saddam Hussein on ABC did not win the ratings battle for younger viewers. More were tuned into Paris Hilton's turn on Fox's reality program "The Simple Life."