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Abstract
Unlike the edited news package, which dominates network and local news in America, the cable news channels recount the day's news predominantly through conversation, a format dubbed here dialogical news. At the center of this article is the concept of internal fragmentation, a consequence of the turn to conversation-based reporting, and its central implications: (1) the authority of the news reporter diminishes; (2) question-asking replaces fact-checking; (3) news organizations relinquish their accountability for news content; and (4) the news audience assumes the role of witness or participant rather than receiver. As dialogical news becomes prominent in the repertoire of viewers, short- and long-term prospects are suggested here. In the short-run, journalists are losing their battle to control their sources and maintain their gatekeeping function. In the long run, journalism might lose its significance as society's reflexive storyteller, reverting instead to its former role as a partisan instrument, a source of entertainment or a bit of both.
The author thanks Michael Delli Carpini for his guidance and Matt Carlson for his input.
Notes
1. According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press cable surpassed the networks as a source of news viewers “regularly” watch in 2002, and the trend persisted in 2006 with 34 percent claiming to watch cable sources regularly and 28 percent citing the networks; a slight decline for both compared to 2004 (http://people-press.org/reports/questionnaires/282.pdf).
2. The Project for Excellence in Journalism finds 52 percent of cable news content is interviews and live conversations with reporters, 24 percent is news packages and the remaining portions, anchor voiceovers and live events. Network news, in contrast consists of 86 percent packages and 2 percent interviews and live reports (http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2005/narrative_cabletv_contentanalysis.asp?media=5&cat=2).
3. These are also the most watched cable news programs. According to the Nielsen ratings, the average primetime viewership on a given night for the cable news networks for the first quarter of 2005 was greater than three million (http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/ratings_2005q1.pdf).
4. On May 26, Citation2004 the New York Times published an elaborate editorial critique of its own coverage of the Iraqi threat, prior to the US-led invasion the year before, stating: “coverage … was not as rigorous as it should have been” (Sec. A, p. 1). On May 11, Citation2003, the New York Times published a full account of reporter Jayson Blair's deceptive conduct leading to fictitious and misleading reports that were published by the newspaper (Sec. 1, p. 26).
5. On September 8, 2004, CBS News aired a report in its 60 Minutes II program presenting evidence that President Bush wielded family influence to land a comfortable military assignment during the Vietnam war. The story was authored by news anchor Dan Rather. An internal CBS investigation revealed that a document prominently featured in the report was fabricated. Consequently, several senior producers were fired; Rather decided to leave his position as anchorman, sooner than he had previously planned.
6. The morning news shows, a form of dialogical news, have been around since the 1950s, yet they are the exception on the networks, rather than the rule. Interestingly, these programs are doing well in comparison to the sharp decline in ratings of the monological evening news.
7. Although the Pew data cited in Note 1 suggest more people watch cable news regularly than network news.
8. Phrase from Bell (1991, p. 147).