Dan Rather: I See One Network Newscast folding up Shop in 3-5 Years

Dan Rather was pushed out of CBS News a decade ago, but he still fancies himself a bit of an expert on network newscasts.

Rather talked to the NY Post and he thinks in the near future, at least one of the network's will shutdown their evening newscast. 

NYP: Can the evening news format still work?

Rather: All three of the evening newscasts are anchored by really good TV anchor people, and each broadcast has its own style. It’s a different world for journalism now, and I know that, if left to their own devices, they would do a more substantial hard-news broadcast. But they do the best they can. This is my own opinion — and sometimes I’m wrong — but I wouldn’t be surprised to see one or more of the evening news broadcasts either done away with or moved going forward the next few years. The journalism world has moved on; everybody is looking at a digital environment. You can already see the first signs, with CBS News recently announcing it’s doing away with its weekend newscast because it wants to put more emphasis on its digital effort. I still think the evening newscast is important and is a national institution — but I am concerned one of them won’t be around in the three-to-five-year range.

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