The Associated Press reports both CBS and ABC are gaining ground on the once-dominant NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams:
Evening newscasts on ABC and CBS are both gaining ground on market leader Brian Williams of NBC News, but that’s one of the few things they have in common.
Behind Diane Sawyer, second-place ABC is making strides with a sleek “World News” that emphasizes the American family, news that hits home and the cultural zeitgeist. Scott Pelley has revealed himself to be a traditionalist at “CBS Evening News,” leading a show weighty with significant national and international events.
NBC’s “Nightly News” remains in first place, where it has generally been since the late 1990s except for a brief run by Charles Gibson at ABC. The Nielsen company said NBC’s viewership is down from last year while ABC and CBS are up, with ABC in July winning a week among the key 25-to-54-year-old demographic for the first time since 2008.
The AP analysis focuses on the content and style choices made by CBS and ABC, but they don’t delve into any of the systemic problems at NBC News and how they might be affecting the Brian Williams broadcast. As much as Williams and his team at 30 Rock would like to try, they ultimately can’t divorce themselves from their cable outlet MSNBC, which sports the same peacock logo and much of the same reportage throughout the day.
Isn’t it possible that NBC News is being dragged down due to their association with the miserable failiure that is MSNBC, with its rancid ideological line-up featuring Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell, Martin Bashir and Al Sharpton?