The Last Great TV News War | WBUR and NPR - On Point with Tom Ashbrook

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Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 11:00 AM EDT

The Last Great TV News War

When it comes to network TV news, we are not in Kansas anymore. We’re far from the high, proud heyday. This weekend, NBC News anchor Brian Williams will host Saturday Night Live. We wonder if Walter Cronkite will be watching.

For a solid string of decades, the networks’ evening news was the glamorous national campfire, where Americans gathered everyday to get the news. Now, we’re all over the place — from You Tube to Colbert. But the Big Three are still battling in their shrinking pond.

This hour, On Point: Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz on the last great television news war.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Howard Kurtz, media reporter for The Washington Post and host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” his new book is “Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War.”

Douglas Rushkoff, lecturer on technology, media, and popular culture at New York University and author of “Get Back in the Box: Innovation From the Inside Out” and “Coercion: Why We Listen to What ‘They’ Say.”

Tags: news media, politics, television

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