Amid all the tributes to CNN interview giant Larry King, who died late last week, another giant of US journalism retired on Friday. Tom Brokaw was the host of NBC News for 22 years and a contemporary of Dan Rather — now an independent journalist/commentator and Brokaw’s former peer at CBS — and the late Peter Jennings at ABC.
All three started in the mid-’60s and trace their journalism back to the likes of Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley at CBS, and before them, Edward R Murrow at CBS. Modern TV journalism and news hosting techniques are to be found in the skills of these major figures, even today. Brokaw is 80 and retired after 55 years at NBC. Larry King died at the age of 87 having retired in 2010. No one has replaced him in the eyes of viewers as a must watch for an interview with a major figure.
Those on the cable channels today such as CNN, MSNBC, BBC World, Sky News Australia and especially Fox News might dream of being Larry King-like but they are fooling themselves. They are, in most cases, pretenders or worse.
Last night, I’m A Celebrity had an elimination (842,000). But of those watching the lead up (904,000), more than 60,000 viewers didn’t wait to see who was punted. A reminder for Ten that some viewers, at least, have standards. It was also down 150,000 or so from the previous Sunday night. It still won the demos, Seven’s BBL game did OK. Nine won the night, though.
In breakfast: Weekend Sunrise, 392,000 viewers; Weekend Today, 266,000; Landline Summer, 198,000; Offsiders, 132,000.
In regional markets: Seven News, 420,000; BBL Innings Break, 294,000; BBL Session 1, 277,000; 7pm ABC News, 273,000; I’m A Celebrity, 255,000.
Network channel share:
- Nine (27.1%)
- Seven (24.7%)
- Ten (23.4%)
- ABC (15.3%)
- SBS (9.5%)
Network main channels:
- Nine, Seven (17.4%)
- Ten (16.2%)
- ABC (9.7%)
- SBS ONE (6.5%)
Top 5 digital channels:
- 10 Bold (4.5%)
- 7mate (3.8%)
- Gem (3.6%)
- GO (3.0%)
- ABC Kids/Comedy/Plus (2.7%)
Top 10 national programs:
- Seven News — 1.30 million
- Nine/NBN News — 1.09 million
- I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (Ten) — 904,000
- 7pm ABC News — 861,000
- I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here — Elimination (Ten) — 942,000
- Cricket: BBL Innings Break (Seven) — 668,000
- Cricket: BBL Session 1 (Seven) — 646,000
- The Diana Interview (Nine) — 605,000
- The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 571,000
- Grand Designs (ABC) — 559,000
Losers: Slept through the week, so hot and humid.
Metro news and current affairs:
- Seven News — 875,000
- Nine News — 836,000
- 7pm ABC News – 587,000
- The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 441,000
- 60 Minutes — Summer (Nine) — 335,000
- Ten News First — 296,000
- The Project 6.30 (Ten) — 235,000
- SBS World News — 168,000
Morning (National) TV:
- Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 392,000
- Weekend Today (Nine) – 266,000
- Landline — Summer (ABC) — 198,000
- Offsiders — Summer Extra (ABC) – 132,000
Top five pay TV programs:
- Cricket: BBL (Fox Cricket) — 247,000
- Cricket: BBL Between The Innings (Fox Cricket) — 239,000
- Cricket: BBL Between The Innings (Fox Cricket) — 236,000
- Cricket: BBL (Fox Cricket) — 206,000
- Cricket: BBL (Fox Cricket) — 179,000
King was working until recently. I haven’t seen it mentioned in any of the obits but he was doing a show for RT America. (Perhaps with all the confected rage against Russia in the US it might be seen as a negative.) If I hadn’t seen him there, as an Australian I wouldn’t have heard of him.