State of the News Media 2005

The introduction to PEJ's cable TV report: "The challenge for cable news is that it has now reached adulthood." This introduction captures the state of cable news perfectly: "The question for cable news from now on may be how it defines news." After all, "the content of cable news is measurably thinner, more opinionated, and less densely sourced than other forms of national news." And: "In a sense, the cable channels need to decide what comes first, programming or journalism," the report asserts...

The PEJ study quotes CNN chief Jon Klein's statements about "roll-up-your-sleeves storytelling," and puts it to the test: "CNN, according to the data, does indeed seem to offer more neutral reporting. Its adherence to storytelling, though, seems to be more of a mixed bag. Its NewsNight with Aaron Brown is heavy on such pieces, but its noontime programming spends less time on packaged pieces than Fox or MSNBC."

The Pew study of Iraq war news coverage "fails to support a conclusion that events were portrayed either negatively or positively most of the time," the AP's David Bauder says. "The three network evening newscasts tended to be more negative than positive, while the opposite was true of morning shows, the study said. Fox News Channel was twice as likely to be positive than negative, unlike the more evenhanded CNN and MSNBC, the study said."

The PEJ study finds that "cable news stories are more thinly reported than other news media," USA Today's Peter Johnson writes. "The 600-page report also finds that the traditional 'journalism of verification' -- in which reporters check facts -- is ceding ground to a new 'journalism of assertion,' in which information is offered on radio and cable talk shows and via Internet bloggers, with little or no attempt to verify the facts."