54
Popular Culture Review
1987—^The Ratings Scorecard
When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the three networks’ output of
documentaries was essentially what it had been in the 1970s—an average of sUghtly
more than one program per month per network (Mascaro 1994).
A couple of years into the Reagan administration, several factors converged
to alter the networks’ commitment. These include deregulation championed by the
Federal Communications Commission and its chairman, Mark Fowler (Mascaro
1994); relaxation of aggressive coverage of the administration by the press due to
a combination of sympathy over the assassination attempt and skillful manipulation
of the press by the president’s staff (Hertsgaard); General Wilham Westmoreland’s
high-profile libel suit against CBS over the CBS Reports documentary “The
Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception,” as well as a general period of increased
litigation against media organizations by the poUtical right (Sanoff; Schmidt; Schneir
and Schneir; Mascaro 1994); highly visible attacks by Senator Jesse Helms against
CBS; and the normal shifting of news resources to cover the 1984 election, which
drew money from documentary coverage.
Owing to these factors, documentary output for ABC, CBS, and NBC dropped
to a three-network total of eleven in 1984— fewer than one documentary every
three months for each network (Mascaro 1994). After the election, the networks
changed hands and a new generation of executives ended the traditional commitment
to pubhc affairs television (Boyer 1988). News divisions were expected to contribute
to profits.
The idea of news programming generating revenue was not new in the 1980s.
After struggUng for several years with poor ratings, 60 Minutes eventually found a
comfortable spot on Sunday evenings and became a stalwart profit center for CBS.
News veterans, a costly but necessary staff who fulfilled pubhc service mandates
that enabled the entertainment division to make money, found themselves in the
enviable position of being sought after by management to draw an audience in
prime time.
Richard Salant, CBS News president and a reluctant early supporter of 60
Minutes, crowed when he was asked to move the program to Sundays at 7:(X) p.m.
to help the entertainment division (Gates 414). Within eight years of its 1968
premier, the newsmagazine was a top-20 show and ensconced in the top 10 the
next season, 1977-78 (Brooks and Marsh 1266+). Throughout its run, the CBS
newsmagazine has earned the network more than one bilhon dollars in profits
(Waite).
Other newsmagazines have been utihzed by programmers to bolster their prime
time schedules. First Tuesday, NBC’s answer in 1969 to 60 Minutes, was the first
two-hour prime-time news program. The luxury of two hours was given to the
news division once each month—^thus the title—to fill a hole in the schedule. NBC