Existing comment:
The Real Story:
Local TV news teams that stressed rapport along with reporting became a broadcast news phenomenon in the 1970s. Led by news executive Al Primo, WABC-TV in New York brought national attention to the "eyewitness news" format, which replaced the lone TV anchorman with news teams and featured live, on-the-scene reporting and casual "happy talk" between co-anchors. Not everyone was sold on the revolutionary new format. CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite called it "cosmetic, pretty packaging, not substance." Still, the eyewitness news format rocked local TV news when it brought third-place WABC-TV to first place in the ratings in a little over a year. Newscasts across the nation copied the formula. |