Network evening news has made a comeback amid the coronavirus crisis

The New York Times

Viewers in quarantine have been boosting the ratings of ABC's World News Tonight, NBC's NBC Nightly News and CBS' CBS Evening News. "Sober and straightforward, evening news programs were a chief information delivery system for decades, led by stolid anchors who guided viewers through triumphs and tragedies alike," says John Koblin. "But they long ago lost their agenda-setting influence, supplanted by cable news networks that performed roughly the same function 24 hours a day. They have been pushed further into the background in recent years by digital media, with its minute-by-minute chronicling of events. The coronavirus pandemic has brought millions of viewers back. For now, at least, a concise, crisply produced news program, devoid of the punditry and histrionics typical of many cable broadcasts, seems to match the national moment." As CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell put it: "I think the evening news plays a public service role, and now we’re playing a public health role."