ABSTRACT
Throughout recent decades, three national television networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, have dominated the U.S. media landscape. Although their audiences have fallen since the late 1970s as they have faced increasingly aggressive competitors, including CNN, Fox News, online newspapers, and a tidal wave of online commentators, the networks and their cable and online offshoots remain influential media players. Their flagship 30-minute evening newscasts still draw tens of millions of viewers, and the influence of network news is magnified further by the many cable and online outlets that follow their lead (Pew, 2000d; Seib, 2001).
