December 9, 2002

Who ever thought that the same Dan Rather who once denounced his rival Tom Brokaw as "news-lite" would now be reduced to reporting the jokes of the late-night comics on his broadcast?

In an attempt to boost the ratings of its perpetually last-place evening news program, CBS and Dan Rather have embarked on a new, multi-faceted strategy to draw in new as well as younger viewers. Through cosmetic changes in appearance and presentation as well as changes in content, the news division and Rather, the Managing Editor for the CBS Evening News, are making yet another try to crawl out of the ratings cellar.

Key to the effort is an attempt to change the overall tone of the program to make it hipper and more appealing with sleek, colorful graphics including computer mouse-click sound effects that "pull down" the next story. Additionally, the CBS Evening News is

Slick transitions and intros are abundant on the new CEN.

now running weekly compilations of jokes from late-night television comedians and a large number of human-interest stories more commonly seen on local television newscasts.

Despite looking somewhat out of place in all this slickness—no one has ever accused the 71-year-old Texan of being cool—Rather has tried to alter his on-air style to fit with the new theme. For the first time since the "courage" debacle in the mid-eighties, Rather has modified his sign-off, including the energetic-sounding phrase "What's next?" before his trademark "And that's part of our world tonight," in addition to trying to speak in a less edgy voice. CBS producers have also begun filming Rather in tighter shots to accentuate the closely cropped haircut he has been sporting since early last year. Trying to capitalize on the popularity of the hit CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Rather has used the show's name in non-related stories, something which he had never done prior to the beginning of the show.

Aside from the cosmetics, the change in the content of the Evening News is the most significant for it signals that Rather has abandoned his professed belief that "hard news" (non-fluff stories, according to the anchorman) will win the ratings crown in the end. In the past, when his program was fortunate enough to finish second, Rather would attribute its success to his journalistic values and belief in "news that matters."

Under the new plan, regular ratings-grab stories like reporter Steve Hartman's "Everybody Has a Story" pieces and "Friday Consumer Alerts" which used to air once a week are now running multiple times a week and even being promoted along with the real news of the day.

The late night jokes are the perfect example of the hipness strategy at work. CBS first came up with the idea during the two parties' 2000 conventions and ran it every Friday until the end of the Florida recount fiasco. This year CBS trotted out the late-night comedians (minus NBC's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien) after the highly contested congressional races. But unlike two years ago, CBS hasn't pulled the plug, four weeks after the election. With the political season ended, needing some excuse to continue running the segments, Rather and his colleague John Roberts introduce them as the "the social commentators of the television age" and promote them at the top of each Friday's broadcast as well as the night before.

While serving up humor can be successful at attracting viewers, fearmongering is more lucrative. Having seen the success that scaring the viewer has been for local TV news, CBS has decided to follow suit. Previously restricted to "Friday Consumer Alerts," fearmongering is now a multi-day ratings ploy. Viewers are told to beware of "toys that could be dangerous for your children" devious doctors and the "hidden dangers in some prescription drugs."

With CBS banking on fear, you can also expect its weather coverage (already disproportionately larger than its rivals') to increase even more.

So will any of CBS's efforts pay off? Perhaps. But likely not. The network still hasn't addressed CEN's three biggest problems: an ancient anchorman, liberal bias, and weird histrionics.

Facts and Figures

"Consumer Alerts"

The CBS Evening News started its "Friday Consumer Alert" on September 13, 2002. It was then only once a week. After carrying on with these indulgent hype stories for more than a month, CBS expanded it into a multi-day event on Monday, November 18. Called simply "Consumer Alert," Rather said the report would be the first "investigation of dangers in your prescription drugs." There was a CA every day that week, and from then, there were CAs on various days of the week as well as reports which, while not labeled as such, were certainly in the same fearmongering spirit.

"And the Friday Consumer Alert: one of America's biggest retailers accused of some shady telemarketing."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, September 13, 2002.

Rather tells how some companies do what he does--live off fear:

"The Friday Consumer Alert: profits of doom. New stores cash in on fear, but do their products work at all?"
--Dan Rather, November 15, 2002.

"And up next, a consumer alert for parents about toys that could be dangerous for your children."
--Dan Rather, November 26, 2002.

"Consumer alert--how a mortgage-loan scheme called deed-swapping can cost you your home."
--John Roberts, November 29, 2002.

"Now a quick look at some of the stories we're working on for later this week. Tomorrow, we'll tell you about the search for a safer peanut for those who are dangerously allergic.

"Later in the week, those big SUVs may be more dangerous than you thought. Why the driver can't always see you.

"And a bit later, a consumer alert about criminal cashiers and the scam they're pulling at the checkout."
--Dan Rather, December 2, 2002

Comedians on the News

The CBS Evening News started running late night-jokes on November 8 with an introduction by Dan Rather: "We end the week with a few final words about the 2002 election. The words of the late-night comedians, beginning with Jon Stewart, on what he said was his brand-new election set."

Rather's news team did the same thing during the 2000 campaign, but unlike 2000, this year it hasn't stopped the jokes with the election. After seeing how successful (or least theoretically successful) the late-night jokes have been, news executives have decided to run them for an additional four weeks.

John Roberts took his turn while Rather was on Thanksgiving break:

"We end this week, as we often do, with the last laugh, a festival of light moments from the late-night jokesters. This week, of course, they focused on the start of the holidays, and mostly they were talking turkey."

Piggybacking CSI

From 1990 until the first episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation two years ago, Dan Rather had never used the words "crime scene investigation." But since the popular CBS show--the crown jewel of the network--appeared, he has adopted the phrase.

On the broadcast of Wednesday, December 4, Rather used "crime scene investigation" in a peculiar way, not talking about murder, but about the stealing of dinosaur bones:

"We end tonight with a very unusual crime scene investigation. The scene is somewhere in the middle of nowhere. And the crime, as CBS's Sandra Hughes reports, was the theft of a priceless piece of history." print_file('footer'); ?>