Tom Brokaw: Evening News Today Is "A Struggle"

Forbes's Lacey Rose interviewed Tom Brokaw on the heels of his upcoming documentary King, which premieres on the History Channel this coming Sunday. But in the context of discussing a long-form documentary, Rose got to ask Brokaw his thoughts on the media today:

How do you get your news?

In a variety of ways. I'm sitting here at my computer now. When I log on in the morning, I go to MSNBC.com because that gives me kind of a fix on what we're up to. We're tied into The Washington Post too.

Then I generally go to one or two political sites like Politico, for example. And I get the [ New York] Times, the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal. I'm still a child of my generation--I like the tactile experience of sitting back with a newspaper in my hands. But I'll see something in the paper and I'll go Google it--a personality or an issue that I want to know more about. So I try to marry the small screen to the newspaper.

Do you watch the evening news?

I do when I can. I'm traveling a bit more. But I also have the advantage because I'm tied into the NBC system. I can come in and read the scripts, and they even let me weigh in from time to time if I spot something.

What purpose should the evening news serve today?

Well, it's a struggle. It was a struggle when I left 3.5 years ago. I think the Nightly News has found the right balance. People still want to know what happened that day. What we do is not so much wire service accounting but two or three of the biggest stories of the day. Maybe do them for a little longer and maybe with a little longer analysis.

And then give them what I call added value: medical news; you can't do enough about the economy these days; the environment is on a lot of people's minds. So it's that mixing and matching that is the trick to holding people and giving them reason to want to come watch it.

Read the entire interview at Forbes.com.

Comments

[Bulbul]

Nightly news is what I look forward to, Mostly Gibson, less of Williams, who is very good also, but I cringe whenever Russet stops by. After all, It is only 30 mins that I can easily spare, maintains proper decorum which is totally dissapearing these days.
Nothing is off limits any more, to all the other twenty four hour news...
So for me, nightly news and NPR...

[Jaybot]

Who watches TV news anymore? The only time I see it is when one of their more egregious lies becomes fodder for discussion in some political forum. The mainstream has moved beyond corporate owned and controlled news, it's just not trustworthy.

[Clinton]

Worse than useless, it has been misleading for some time now. It has become a soothing, authoritative voice we turn to in order to be told sweet lies. We are complicit in our own deceptions owing to fear and laziness.

[Durango]

Medical news, "added value"?

Every day all three networks report on the latest "medical miracle." Most of which come from untested studies that don't pan out.

I have concluded the only reason for these reports is that the anchors and producers have heavily weighted their stock portfolios with med-tech stocks and are seeking a huge return on their investments by pumping them up.

P.S. Where are the local reporters on the Evening News? Not once have I seen an Arab reporting on events in the Middle East. Is it too much to expect reporters who speak the language, know the culture, know the history and societies they are reporting about?

[John]

"Is it too much to expect reporters who speak the language, know the culture, know the history and societies they are reporting about?"

Yes it is. Far too much. That is why the BBC stands above any American news source. They have reporters living all over the world, not just occasionally flying into the nearest Hilton Hotel to report from a studio or the street in front of a landmark.

[Durango]

OMG, LIVING IN THE COUNTRY?

Each and every country? You mean they don't report on China from Tokyo?

American media, particularly the broadcast news is miserable, just miserable.

[monsieurjac]

A struggle is to hear him speak and try to understand what he's saying.

[loghyr]

Tom was always an ultra right-wing shill and GOP apologist, especially during the Clinton administration. He helped NBC truly become the Nazi Broadcasting Company after Grant Tinker was forced out.

Now that the neocon "revolution" has left all but its most insanely-rich followers in the biohazard effluent of its massive failure, semi-wealthy morons like Brokaw "struggle" to do their jobs. Newt and Karl are no longer feeding Tom his lines, so he' left with "mdeical news".

"The only Republicans are multi-millionaires and suckers."

[pkafin]

"Tom was always an ultra right-wing shill and GOP apologist, especially during the Clinton administration."

That is not at all how I remember him. Could you cite some examples instead of some bitter ad-hominen attack?

[racom]

I love this, 'can you cite some examples'. Can anyone cite any examples of what they have reported that was factual and true. The record one builds up over years is what they have to live with. NBC and brokaw have a dismal record of sucking up to power, of not asking the questions that need to be asked and answered, of not doing the hard work of bringing the factual story to their viewers. They take the easy and profitable way out by just quoting the official line from the administration. I have watched bush sit in an interview and lie about the UN inspectors not being allowed into Iraq and the fool interviewing did not call him down on it. Any one who followed the build up to war knows that the inspectors were in Iraq and were forced out because the US was about to start dropping bombs. It's not just brokaw, they all are gullty.

[overdahill]

I'm wondering if it's a" struggle" for the NBC commissary to clear those collector's item, Operation Iraqi Freedom ,DVD's -" with a special introduction by Tom Brokaw" - off the shelves?
What kind of questions did TB raise about the Iraq invasion beforehand while he was the anchorman at good 'ol NBC News? I can't recall any myself. Perhaps he should do a History Channel special on that aspect of the "struggle" of nightly news. Nah! I'm sure some Democrat will let out an amplified scream or be" too wooden" on the campaign trail which will eclipse any hope of actual news coverage.

I did enjoy his ratings boosting promenade along the deck of the USS Mission Accomplished back in ' aught three with the Commander Guy, though. If only they could have brought along their hunting dogs and shotguns it would have been a real Republican bonding moment.

[nippersdad]

That last paragraph is just a masterpiece of sarcasm. Thanks for the laugh, that was great!

[carex]

An ad for NBC and its' partners.

There is so much that is not on the news, which should be "news". The rest is just filler. I hate the medical stuff, more like a magazine show (short version of 60 minutes) than what is going on in the world. Entertainment value seems to be the emphasis on all networks, ot to actually inform.

There are no journalists in corporate news anymore, just hacks.

[Honeybun]

Evening news is a struggle? The struggle is experienced by serious people who want real news for real people from the real world. It is a struggle to find news that is not censored by omission. Anyone doubting that news in the US is being censored by omission need only read some foreign press for awhile. Trust me, it is well worth the time and effort.

[socks1]

If I had the money, I'd send Brokaw the Nation mag. so he could put his hands on it.

And if the nation gets lucky maybe he would read a page a day and have something of value to say on his infotainment spots, in between commercials.

[grannysharp]

If Brokaw thinks the the news is a struggle what does he think it is to the people who watch. Very little is said about the war, to much about the election and not enough about the middle class strugle

[1differentdrummer]

Personalities, personalities, personalities. Drivel. Slanted news. Corporate bias.

[Clinton]

Propaganda, really.

[AdultFilmLegend]

Just ask Katie Couric....nobody struggling more.

[VivaZapata]

when he talks it's like the boring lecturer in the royal bank of scotland commercial.