The Sun Is Setting on Network News

Much has been written about the demise of traditional network news. The cable network Fox News beat ratings for not only the other cable nets, but also the "big three/four" network broadcasts during the Republican National Convention. Cable news had never beat out the network news before. Ever.

Certainly, this Dan Rather story isn't exactly helping build credibility, respect and viewership for network news, either.

James Pinkerton has a good editorial in Newsday today entitled, "As Rather Goes, So Does Network News." Pinkerton feels that Rather should resign, and gives many good points and precedants for this.

He also talks about the new ways that people are getting their news. Snippet:

So the "de-massification" of the media has been ongoing-and will keep going. In the '90s, Internet-based news-most notably the Drudge Report, which burst on the scene in 1998 by breaking the Monica Lewinsky story-proved that the "new media" could blow past older media. And now we have even newer media: the bloggers, the folks at home in their pajamas who collectively broke the "Rathergate" story.

Read the column here.

-aB