Leaderboard

Unless we totally destroy our democracy, the worst that can be done is to cut the federal funding to NPR and PBS. When it comes to the content that NPR and PBS put out, it is not under the FCC's jurisdiction, period. The only way if it's a violation of sponsorship (overtly commercial content) or something profane or indecent during regular hours. If this comes to pass, it will be fought in court and NPR/PBS SHOULD prevail, unless our system of government totally goes off the rails.

Unless? We’re so far off the rails that we can’t begin to measure.

Also if they're going to investigate NPR/PBS over their underwriting load, how about TBN and multiple other religious for doing the same, but in an even more egregious manner as some of those channels are carrying obvious commercial advertising. They're not going to do it because they'll just grease the palms and open up more non-commercial licenses which will be specifically conditioned on things only the EMFs, Daystars and TBNs can provide to lock out true non-commercial and educational interests.

With how the kid's market has now declined to the lowest effort slurry like Poppy Playtime to 'educational programming' meant more for seniors, PBS is the firewall for good kid's programming. Like this and the BBC and CBC defunding drives, they want kids to suffer and be marketed to, and public broadcasters are seen as obstructing commercial interests and as liberal havens, even as the average PBS schedules and pledge drives actively market to a conservative nostalgic audience.

I know nobody has noticed this but more and more Nexstar stations are streaming live online and dropping the company's horrendous two-hour delay policy... KELO, WCMH, WKRN, WFLA, WXIN, and WDAF are a few examples.

Just recently there was the first solo CBS Special Report, with Maurice DuBois.

Absolutely. History has shown that you can't necessarily count on the free market to always serve the public good.

That's a start. Now they need to get on OTT platforms.

CNN recently debuted it's AR extensions of Studio H at Techwood, which has allowed them to use more wide shots of the studio as a whole.

Bumping... Over a year after leaving MTP, Chuck Todd will be leaving NBC News after almost 18 years. https://deadline.com/2025/01/chuck-todd-nbc-news-exit-1236274198/

CBS Mornings/CBS Mornings + and CBS News 24/7 follow a traditional news format where viewers can get their fill of the news of the day. I don’t think viewers are necessarily missing out when CBS has alternatives readily available for viewers throughout the day. I would argue that the Evening News now has a very structured format that they are not likely going to change unless a 9/11-like event happens. I would be surprised if we ever see DuBois or Dickerson live in the field. That said, I don’t think cost is a factor in this situation.

According to the NY Post, the ‘stodgy’ new CBS Evening News anchors received a modest viewership bump for their premier. The broadcast had 5.2 million viewers, a +14% spike from Norah's 2024 average. What I find laughable is the article's extremely negative viewpoint. (I'm laughing, but I'm not surprised because this is the Post, after all) My favorite quote is from the nameless former TV executive who doesn't think "audiences have the capacity to absorb a reporting-led show with lots of segments." Yes, our attention spans have shortened, but not everyone needs the news to be quick hits served with extra flash like Entertainment Tonight. That show has the attention span of a fly. Not bashing ET. There's a place for that, and there's a place for the new CBS Evening News. It is hilarious that people say, "Try something different to stand out," and then, when someone does that, they get bashed for not looking like everyone else. If you want a typical newscast, two broadcast networks offer typical news of the day presentation.

Well I didnt realize how much of the set was actually screens. It turns out the only part that is real, is the wooden header and the desk. Everything else we see is just graphics on the screens. Even the floor behind the anchor desk is a big screen. Even the coloured lighting on the floor is just graphics. The entire back of the set is all screens and the "Set" can be changed to look like anything instantly. Its the cheapest and easiest way to change the set to look like anything. They dont even have to change the floor. Its literally all screens. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gabriel-almanzar-aa177141_thrilled-to-reveal-the-new-cbs-evening-news-activity-7290079729657757697-o3yd

Finally! CBS is being CBS. Instead of trying to copy and beat NBC and ABC, they are compiling a broadcast that fits CBS's ethos. It has the feel, pacing, and in-depth storytelling that is the hallmark of CBS News. I don't know how it will do long term in the ratings, but I applaud them for going their own way. Even the minimalistic graphics is refreshing. (Yes, I hate how the other two label everything as BREAKING NEWS.) But this also feels very CBS. 60 Minutes doesn't use lower thirds at all. They make it a point to incorporate the person's ID into the script. Every version of their morning show used to be a poor imitation of TODAY and Good Morning America. Remember their 5th Ave. streetside studio? It always felt like they were going against the grain, trying to be something that was unnatural for their organization. Until they stopped the cooking segments, concerts, Halloween parties, etc., that the others do well and focused on good storytelling and smart conversation. It hasn't set the ratings on fire, but they are doing something different, which works for them. Now, they appear to have embraced their DNA in the evenings by assembling one heck of a smart newscast.

Dish Nation, Person, Place or Thing and Pictionary are all axed.

Guess I’ll add also. Watching it, it felt more like something from the BBC. The fact they didn’t have a “breaking news” cyron up speaks volume to what they want with this newscast. I think the tease being gone is just something they are testing and we will probably see it back, but will be short to just two or three stories. We will probably see changes happen in the next few months before something more permanent happens. Let’s hope CBS doesn’t mess up anything else.

@Geoffrey I think the two anchor format is just to be different from NBC & ABC. By God, this may be their best revamp since Bob Schiffer. Hopefully CBS stays the course. Loved the international coverage, more of that please Overall I think CBS shines when they do what they do best: hard documentary style/mature/intellectual reporting, not imitating the competition.

Observations from tonight, Not that you asked for it lol.... This was good. Slower paced, zero sensationalism, PBS quality. Definitely better than NBC and ABC journalistically speaking. 1. Love the return of the 1987 Rather theme. I would love to see the 1991 theme comeback but this is great 2. No headlines tease, straight into the broadcast. This is a nice contrast to the two minute headlines on WNT. 3. They seem to be going for a more discussion-based format because Maurice and John had an extended conversation with Margaret Brennan for their lead story. 4. The CBS EN logo is in the Upper third. European style. 5. Documentary style L3 6. No rapid flips between frames and images during packages like NNN, and WNT 7. No lower third graphic present during the entirety of the story 8. No use of "breaking news" at all 9. Slower paced than the competition, definitely has a 60 minutes feel to it. They did a news Roundup at the end of the A block to rapidly acknowledge the major stories in the world. 10. The set looks good. The lighting on the talent is to washed out though. If they dim the lighting like they did for Inside Edition interview it would look better.

He's not a meteorologist.

I'd be surprised if they didn't choose a network version of the Ant Food theme, to tie it all together. Though I swear to god, if they are using Lonnie Quinn and Maurice DuBois to push more New York featured stories to a national audience, it's going to bomb. Hint: Most of America doesn't live in NYC, in case you didn't know.

That's a very CNN branding

I think it's 47. They probably changed the set's orientation in which the newsroom looks 'into' the set instead of the newsroom serving as the background. We'll find out soon enough.... Part of me feels like they want the new CBS EN to look/feel like a local CBS O&O newscast (using a similar desk, flooring, etc...). Including, based on the aforementioned picture, images of Chicago and SF (?). Even the new promo had a 'news from the heartland' feel to it. They need to differentiate themselves from Nightly and WNT in order to draw people in. Creating a national newscast that feels like a local one would be interesting.

There is hardly anyone on the floor during newscasts anymore, some don't even have robotic cameras..just set it and forget it.

I saw it on X/Twitter, I don't know if we can trust it. But it looks like this is going to be the new set for the CBS Evening News

Perhaps CBS realizes that the majority of the news audience they have watch streaming instead of broadcast, and in turn are turning to their streaming anchors to be the new face of the division? Can we also hypothesize that DuBois and Dickerson together are probably still less expensive than O'Donnell salary-wise, and CBS is doing it on the cheap realizing no matter what, they are likely to stay in 3rd place?

I'm not sure how long Tom could have done MTP prior to his cancer diagnosis.

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/30/nx-s1-5281162/fcc-npr-pbs-investigation Is this the beginning of the end for federal funding for PBS? Efforts to defund it, including past attempts by Trump and others, have failed before. But in today’s digital age, is PBS still as much of a public necessity? They often argue that they provide crucial access to children’s programming and the arts, particularly in rural areas—but with the internet, is that still a compelling case? Currently, CPB funding is secured through FY2026. Without federal support, many local public media stations would likely cease to exist or have a dramatic reduction in original local programming, and larger stations would struggle significantly. Stations are already facing fundraising shortfalls in a tricky economy, with many stations as well as PBS making layoffs last year. If this becomes a reality, might we start to see a consolidation of local PBS stations? Some markets overlap with up to 3 feeds of PBS from various public, state, or college-run stations.

Pictures are absolutely awful tonight. CNN is really on it tonight, along with Fox 5/WTTG. I had a fear we were due one.

I believe those are real comments. I'm not nearly as negative on the new show as those comments are, but I get the criticism and share some of it. On Monday, the lead story on CBS's competitors and pretty much every other major national news outlet was the ICE raids. CBS reduced it to barely more than a 10 second mention. Instead, they led with Margaret Brennan on Deepsake as a debrief segment with nothing more than talk and some slick fullscreens. They didn't roll a frame of video or sound until almost four minutes in when they were onto the second story. After watching the first two days, it seems like they're not really chasing the news of the day anymore in favor of fewer, longer enterprise stories. That's a fundamentally different strategy from anything CBS has done before. I'd argue that the Pelley era did the best job of balancing both. It's not a bad program. But is it the newscast of record with news from today? I'm not sure that it is. This is a great show for news junkies and anyone who's already read the major headlines online all day long. I'm not sure if it's a great show for someone who's too busy to keep up with the news and wants to watch a recap of it at dinnertime, and I think most broadcast viewers are probably the latter.