Bad Luck At The Networks, And A Little Proportion

One of the most reliable media stories for ages has been the net-to-net ratings races, the three-way face-off over the evening news and the (sorry, CBS) neck-and-neck deathmatch between the "Today" show and GMA — not to mention the various rivalries springing up amidst the drama, like Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer or the gravitas-off of Charlie Gibson and Brian Williams (Grandpa Gibson or Bono-riffic Brian?) or the renewal of Rick Kaplan's network mojo at CBS after being turfed from MSNBC. It's all made for all sorts of TVNewser-worthy intrigue over the past few years, since the era of the Big Three came to a close and the dominoes of who's-going-where started to fall. But amidst the ratings coups and gotcha gets, things happen that actually really matter. Today on "Good Morning America," Robin Roberts told the world that she has breast cancer, something she discovered, ironically, following the death of colleague Joel Siegel. Over at NBC the past weeks have brought a triple loss: Military analyst General Wayne Downing, 67, TV pioneer Tom Snyder, 71, and the sudden death of former NBC News producer Eric Wishnie, 44, who worked closely with both Williams and Tom Brokaw. News like that sort of puts today's report of a 2nd quarter earnings drop at CBS in perspective.

Does it mean that the ratings race doesn't matter? Of course not — part of how you come to care for your colleagues is by working together with them, hard, to make something worthwhile, and a little healthy competition and upward striving is ideally what brings out a person's best work. But occasionally, the hoopla can get a little crazy (considering just how small a slice of America cares about who got what percentage of which demo when). It's hard, too, not to think about this stuff in light of the terrible accident in Phoenix, where those two news choppers collided in pursuit of some high-octane chase footage, to show up on whichever network. That doesn't mean that that footage isn't of value — in this news culture, it is (after all, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie must be tracked!) but it does put in perspective just how furiously it ought to be pursued (and, though blaming the fleeing driver may be satisfying, it doesn't really get to issue of media priorities all that much). The point is, ratings and scoops and gets are important, very — until they're not. And every so often, it's also important to remember that. And to do something about it — like Robin Roberts and ABC are already, with breast cancer information up on the site ("Where To Turn: All About Breast Cancer," "Diet, Lifestyle and Breast Cancer," "The Breast Cancer Test You're Not Getting." Never mind that Katie Couric's on-air colonoscopy is only her most famous TV moment. And remember why she did that.

Robin Roberts: "I Have Breast Cancer" [ABC]
A Day of Loss [Daily Nightly]
The General [Daily Nightly]

Photo above of Roberts/Sawyer from GMA, and Williams with Eric Wishnie and General Downing in Iraq from the NBC Nightly News.