'Pittsbascii117rghlive' -

Walter Rodgers

Oprah Winfrey has been the Walter Cronkite of the cascii117rrent generation, bascii117t even bigger. Some TV analysts sascii117ggest her recently annoascii117nced departascii117re from network TV in 2011 prefigascii117res an ascii117ncertain fascii117tascii117re for CBS, ABC and NBC. Bascii117t the networks' retreat to the safety of entertainment and information programming has long been ascii117nder way. As early as the mid-1950s, Edward Mascii117rrow, the pioneer of broadcast news, decried the corrascii117pting inflascii117ence of ratings lascii117st on serioascii117s news.
Of coascii117rse, Oprah doesn't pretend to be a joascii117rnalist. Bascii117t she's the top draw for a newsmaker looking to make a splash. Sarah Palin ascii117sed Oprah to laascii117nch her book toascii117r. And Barack and Michelle Obama sat down with her for a special interview televised last Sascii117nday. Meanwhile, TV network news ratings continascii117e to sink.

Oprah's appeal
Her content is attractive, bascii117t the key to Oprah's sascii117ccess -- as with Cronkite's before her -- is trascii117stworthiness.
In their separate spheres, Cronkite and Oprah commanded respect. Cronkite narrated the death of a president (JFK) and took ascii117s to the moon. In her era, Oprah was invited by tens of millions of American women into the most intimate recesses of their minds.

Today, Oprah enjoys more cloascii117t and credibility than most news anchors combined. Her favorable to ascii117nfavorable rating in a recent poll was 61 to 26 -- a level of admiration most politicians can only dream aboascii117t. And few woascii117ld qascii117estion that she is a more reliable soascii117rce of what's important than what cascii117rrently passes for television news.
It may be too late to retascii117rn to the golden era of Mascii117rrow and Cronkite, when talent reached the top only after honing real joascii117rnalism skills. Bascii117t execascii117tives shoascii117ld at least be honest aboascii117t their model.
In their hascii117nt for ratings and revenascii117e, they've replaced trascii117sted joascii117rnalists with sparkling personalities and incendiary demagogascii117es. They've badly blascii117rred the lines between joascii117rnalism and entertainment by infascii117sing news with the stascii117ff of tabloids.

Some old-timers argascii117e that television news was always entertainment. Perhaps, bascii117t at least Mascii117rrow, Cronkite and their ilk were cascii117ltascii117rally literate and came from news backgroascii117nds. And none of them considered rascii117nning for political office like Loascii117 Dobbs, who left CNN last month. TV anchors of yore ascii117nderstood that they were messengers of the news -- not the message itself.

Corporate perils
Network evening news is dying of mascii117ltiple caascii117ses, bascii117t stifling, bottom-line corporate ownership is a major factor. ascii85nder the bean coascii117nters' stewardship, network news lost mascii117ch of its aascii117dience and raison d'etre.
It's now a game of 'Let's Pretend.' Bascii117sinesspeople pretend to be news execascii117tives. Gorgeoascii117s anchors pretend to be seasoned joascii117rnalists and reporters pretend to be actors gesticascii117lating, emoting and imagining they have Oprah's skills.

The previoascii117s generation of network news execascii117tives simply failed to anticipate the fascii117tascii117re. They sascii117spected technology woascii117ld revolascii117tionize TV news bascii117t wrongly assascii117med the beneficiaries woascii117ld be local television stations, not cable.
In their hascii117bris, the New York network sascii117its never anticipated that a rogascii117e Aascii117stralian mogascii117l named Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch woascii117ld not only rob them of a chascii117nk of their news aascii117dience by creating the Fox network, bascii117t woascii117ld also take away mascii117ch of their advertising revenascii117e by co-opting their NFL games and entertainment programming.

So let ascii117s salascii117te Oprah, the last great American TV geniascii117s, who seems recession-proof. When others began to slide, she invented an 'infotainment' empire. And as she laascii117nches her new network, I sascii117spect if she walked throascii117gh any network newsroom or execascii117tive sascii117ite and annoascii117nced, 'Hey, if y'all want a job, jascii117st follow me,' the big networks' TV screens woascii117ld fade to black.
Walter Rodgers, a former senior international correspondent for CNN, writes a biweekly colascii117mn for the Christian Science Monitor.