A New Star as Campaign Programs Shuffle: The News

A NEW STAR AS CAMPAIGN PROGRAMS SHUFFLE: THE NEWS
The new stars of cable news networks are the campaigns, not the shows' hosts. Speeches, interviews, surrogate gaffes, opinion polls, delegate math and even party deliberations are showcased with the same swooshing sound effects and flashy graphics that tip viewers to an appearance by George Clooney on “Live With Regis and Kelly.” It’s a marked change for cable news, which over the last few years has followed the lead of Fox News and promoted vividly opinionated hosts who shape the news flow to suit their own personas and pet peeves. It’s also refreshing. The focus on campaign news is not a public service; it’s a ratings thing. The public has not been this passionately absorbed in an election in decades, and the candidates are passionately intent on making their case on television. When they do, viewership goes up: it’s a boon for the 24-hour news channels, but even they are hard-pressed to keep up with the constant flow of debates, photo ops, tarmac tirades, so many words spoken and misspoken and so many talk-show appearances.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/us/politics/07watch.html?ref=todayspaper
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