Tabloid news didn’t make it to the evening news, according to a new report.
The new 2007 Tyndall Report, which picks apart and analyzes TV news, reports that the War in Iraq was the top story across the three main network evening news programs. This included stories on the Petraeus report in September, the summer troop surge and calls for a troop deadline. It was the top story on all three networks by a huge margin – the runner-up stories (Virginia Tech shootings and Southern California wildfires) weren’t even close.
The report lists the top 20 stories of 2007 – at least within the evening news realm.
Anna Nicole’s death. Astronaut in a diaper. Michael Vick’s dog problem. Britney’s meltdown.
None of those ‘news’ stories made the top 20 list. This is incredibly encouraging and just where the current state of the media belongs.
That is not to say that the evening news completely ignored soft news – but even the Anna Nicole story was reduced to a mere (and appropriate) 21 minutes of total coverage between the three network programs.
This report reveals that newsroom judgment is not as far gone as the most jaded critics worry – at least in regard to the evening news programs.
