If this article can be believed, the days of PrimeTime Live and Dateline NBC are numbered. I know I don't watch them much.Network Newsmagazines Struggle To Survive
And are reality shows to blame?
The point was so important that Diane Sawyer was compelled to make it twice during a "Primetime" episode on battling stepfamilies.
"You want reality TV?" she asked. "Tonight, you get it. Starting now."
The appeal couldn't be any more plain, or plaintive. Broadcast network newsmagazines are at a low ebb - with likely even fewer hours on the air next season - and the popularity of reality television is chiefly to blame.
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Sawyer's April 21 "Primetime" featured a stepfamily so abusive it seemed like "Supernanny" spun out of control, with tape of a father punching his teenage daughter. ABC was criticized for not alerting authorities where the family lives in upstate New York about the potentially dangerous behavior.
Newsmagazines have "morphed into something that is farther away from news and much closer to entertainment," said Joe Foote, acting dean of the University of Oklahoma's journalism school. "They're a long way from their roots."
Seems like the venerable "60 Minutes" is safe.