Being the nightly news anchor for ABC, CBS, or NBC used to be the top of the network TV news mountain top. But, safe to say, the news involving CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell giving up the post calls into question whether that remains true in 2024.
It was announced Tuesday that O’Donnell was voluntarily leaving the post to work on other projects for the news organization, noting that “It’s time to do something different.”
Can you imagine a world where Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, or Walter Cronkite would simply say “Meh, this is boring to me. I want to get away from hosting the nightly news and do more interviews”? Because I can’t.
And that’s not a knock on O’Donnell. She has other interests she’d like to explore, and I can’t fault her for that.
But it does call into question the importance that once prominent role has in today’s news media ecosystem. With the rise of cable news outlets, streaming services, YouTube, and podcasts, news consumers have a bevy of options at their fingertips.
The news world isn’t alone in this phenomenon. SportsCenter used to be the pinnacle of sports television anchors. Now? You’d be hard-pressed to find an average sports fan who could name an anchor of the venerable ESPN program.
But comparing SportsCenter to the CBS Evening News, ABC World News Tonight, or NBC Nightly News is almost comparing apples to oranges. In 1980, an average of 53 million viewers watched those three programs nightly. By 2000, that figure had fallen to 32 million. Today, ABC’s nightly news program is the top dog on the block…with 6.9 million viewers, on average.
So, where does the television news industry go from here? Because, I can’t help but think the message to viewers is “This program isn’t really all that important to us any longer,” if the anchor decides to try something new after five years at the desk. I just have a hard time conflating how it’s anything other than that to a regular viewer.
Compounding that is the report from Dylan Byers of Puck News that claimed CBS was likely to utilize a rotating cast of anchors to fill the shoes vacated by the exit of Norah O’Donnell. If that’s the case, you’re really driving home the lack of importance of a more than 80-year-old institution. If CBS — and they’re likely not alone if David Muir (ABC) or Lester Holt were to give up their nightly programs — can’t be bothered to install a permanent host, how can news viewers take them as seriously as the other two options?
It feels as if the network is waving the white flag on CBS Evening News, which, despite all of the changes in the television landscape, feels a bit early, in my estimation. What still drives large television audiences? News and live sports. So CBS — which has famously featured an audience on the higher end of the TV demographic — is going to essentially punt on one of those two drivers of advertising revenue and audiences?
In news, trust matters. It’s why anchors like Dan Rather and Brian Williams didn’t get to step away from the nightly news anchor desk the way they would have liked to. If viewers feel like they trust Holt, Muir, or O’Donnell, they’ll tune in. It’s why NBC Nightly News has hammered home Holt’s finish as “the most trusted name in news” after a recent survey from Morning Consult and The Hollywood Reporter. Above almost all else, trust matters. And if the decision by CBS News to not name a permanent replacement for O’Donnell is true, they’re giving up that trust.
Now, to be clear, Norah O’Donnell isn’t leaving CBS News. She’ll still contribute to 60 Minutes and the evening news program, but will focus more on “storytelling and big interviews” in the future. And maybe that will provide more personal and professional fulfillment to her. But, as a 50-year-old woman who has spent decades climbing the network news ladder, I have a hard time believing that Norah O’Donnell aspired to be someone who devoted her career to “storytelling and big interviews” away from the anchor desk at one of the three largest positions in the landscape.
But maybe that’s what it says about the state of the network newscast and the prominence of the role. It just ain’t the same as it used to be. And Norah O’Donnell proved that on Tuesday.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
