Television has always been a cutthroat medium that elevates dollars and cents over quality and creativity. If a program doesn’t perform, no matter how acclaimed, it gets the guillotine. Most people tend to fault the networks themselves for allowing this to happen, but at the end of the day, they’re just a business trying to earn enough for rent and child support payments each month.
Until recently, though, this fiscally conservative approach didn’t really apply to the nightly news. It was widely thought that these daily half hours lent the big four credibility, making narrow losses a moot point. Unfortunately, less and less Americans care about the news now-a-days, which continues to spiral earnings south of the border. I’m not talking about the good south of the border either.
According to Variety, ABC will layoff as many as 35 news department workers in a massive restructuring. The American Broadcasting Company will be hiring more foreign correspondents, though. So, in essence, some employees will be victimized by the same job outsourcing plans they have been reporting on to the American public for years. Alanis Morissette would probably call that ironic, but really, I think this is probably a little more serious than rain on your wedding day or a no smoking sign on your cigarette break. Don’t ya think?
There’s no word yet on whether any big names will be affected, but ‘Primetime’ will be reduced from a weekly to a series of infrequent special reports. Check back with us ten years. We’ll probably be bringing you stories on teen heartthrobs reading nightly news teleprompters in an attempt to boost ratings.
