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Experience You Can Trust:

Television News: History in the Making
The network news, an informational broadcast that was created and became regularity in
every American household back in the 1960s has grown into a major television industry which is
supported by almost all of the top television channels including ABC, CBS, FOX, and CNN.
Almost every American visits one of these television stations every day to gather information on
what is currently taking place in the nation and around the world. Whether it is U.S., world,
political, entertainment, health, or sports news, as Americans we rely on these stations to provide
accurate and trustworthy information. This reliable source of information is not something that
was just one day available to the people, but was something in the making for a long time. A lot
of hard work, research, and steady journalism went into making a trustworthy base for the
American people to rely on. The history of television news is one that started as a little
experiment, a foundation which grew into a nationwide masterpiece, spanning from coast to
coast providing information for past, present, and future generations. The groundbreakers
that initiated this type of presentation were the producers of NBC, CBS, and ABC along with
their lead journalists and anchors which captured the eyes of the entire nation. Their success
can be seen today through the development of their programs along with development of new
programs being created every day.
Initially, when television news got its start, only the main stations picked up a news
program, these included the American Broadcasting Company, ABC, owned by Walt Disney
Company, the National Broadcasting Company, NBC, owned by General Electric, and
Columbia Broadcasting Station, CBS, owned by Westinghouse (Madia). The very first time that
the news was broadcasted on television screens rather than over radio waves came on July 1,

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1941 when NBC broke through the visual barrier. This historical breakthrough came after years
of technological work and experiments to try and get broadcasting from the radio format to
television. This breakthrough gave the audience a visual product rather than just an oral
broadcast. NBC gets credited with the first broadcast but CBS was right there with them
(Conway, Mike). Together the two networks were the pioneers of the news on television and July
1st marked the beginning of a battle for ratings that still continues to this day.
However, as soon as the main stakeholders in the network news industry made their
introduction to the world, they were forced to shut down due to Americas involvement in a
war that was taking place around the world, also known as World War II (Madia). This marked
the first major event in the television news era, although they were unable to broadcast the event.
Networks were now able to provide their viewers with information as history was happening
along with providing them with actual visual into what was taking place. Some of the major
historical events that the early networks were able to capture included Political Conventions,
Election Night, the end of World War II, presidential speeches, the assignation and funeral of
President John F. Kennedy, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Early in the television era NBC held the highest ratings and was clearly the
frontrunner in the industry, they were the initial pioneers into broadcasting the news on a
television screen so it was quite evident that they would take the lead role in the early stages of
the industry. NBCs first broadcast took place alongside CBS on July 1, 1941. The NBC
broadcasting history can be broken into a few major categories of time, The Camel News
Caravan Era, The Huntley and Brinkley Era, and more recently The Nightly News Era. The
Camel News Caravan Era started in 1949 when NBC initially presented the program run by lead
anchor John Swayze. This was the first news program that actually attracted the eyes of its

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audience. Although not even close to as complex as the programs we have in todays era of
television, the Camel News Caravan was the first of its kind. A year later however David
Brinkley joined the broadcast, a move that would later prove pivotal for NBC. By 1951, CBS
had taken over the industry and took the lead in the ratings (Ellis). The producers at NBC knew
that a change had to be made and so, The Huntley and Brinkley Era began. NBC replaced the
Camel News Caravan with the Huntley-Brinkley Report in 1956. The two anchors who inspired
the title of the program were Chat Huntley and David Brinkley, mention earlier. Together the two
became the first dynamic duo of the news and had what was said to be the strongest network of
reporters during the time. The show proved to be the pioneer of NBC News and thus has given
NBC its strong reputation that it has today. In 1970 once Huntley had retired, the NBC Nightly
News had begun and is a program that continues to run on a nightly basis to this day (Madia).
Although the success was initially with NBC and their news team, CBS soon began to
stake their place in television news industry. It was clear from the time that they presented their
first broadcasts that the early battle over ratings and viewership would be between NBC and
CBS. As time progressed and televisions became more and more prevalent as part of every
American home, a shift began to take place. Technology began to advance, innovation in the
industry began to take place, and CBS had a new late night primetime program that shot them up
in the ratings. The CBS Evening News program headed by anchor Walter Cronkite was the first
to broadcast coast to coast across the United States and gave Cronkite one of the most influential
roles in the country during the 50s, 60s, and 70s (Conway, Michael). Cronkites expertise in the
anchor position and mere ability to connect with his audiences was something that was
unstoppable. The people of America truly believed in the words and news that he would present
to them and thus was coined the title as the most trusted man in America. One of the most

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famous moments of television came courtesy of Cronkite when, in 1963 he presented the news of
the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was unable to hold back his emotions while
on air and broke into tears, showing the audience an up close and personal side of Cronkite. It
was this type of emotion and personality that gave him and CBS News the lead in the ratings.
Cronkites dedication and hard work can be seen to this day by the success of the CBS Nightly
News program (Ehrlich).
Due to all of the success that NBC and CBS were having with its primetime news
programs it was only a matter of time before other networks got the idea, such as ABC and
other new competition. ABC soon came out with ABC Evening News. These programs boosted
ratings for all three of the major networks and reinvented the way that the news was broadcasted
for the rest of history. This type of primetime news brought out the biggest anchors they had to
offer and became the major attraction to the stations. While the big three were focusing on
competing with themselves, another major news broadcasting company was emerging. This
company Time Warner created the Cable News Network, CNN, and presented itself in 1980. The
very first broadcast on the CNN network was on June 1, 1980 making television news history as
the American station to broadcast as a twenty four hour news station. They took what was started
in 1941 by NBC and turned it into a twenty four hour lifestyle. There were numerous amounts of
skepticism when the network was first created, primarily because it was the first of its kind and
nobody really knew what was to come of this twenty four hour news channel (Madia). So
many questions were proposed, How are you going to present the same news all day, every
day?, Who is going to want to watch the news all day?, and How would you keep viewers
entertained for such an amount of time?. The success of the network spoke for itself rising in
the ratings and competing with all the networks at the top of the industry. The network presents

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several different shows continuously which deal with different categories of the news throughout
the day. This is the answer to all the questions that came with its introduction. CNN was able to
do something that all the other networks were unable to do which was specializing in the news. A
few examples of the shows that they have include Anderson 360 which deals primarily with
special event stories, Legal View dealing with legal issues, Around the World dealing with
foreign news and what is happening throughout the world, The Situation Room focusing on
political issues, and The CNN Newsroom which acts as their more traditional news program
like its industry affiliates NBC, ABC, and CBS. The success of CNN brought about the
formation of other twenty four hour stations such as FOX News brought by News Corporation,
and MSNBC by Microsoft (Jeffrey).
In conclusion, the television news industry is one that has come a long ways since
NBC introduced it to the world back in the 1940s. As technology and the world have advanced,
so have the news and the television stations that broadcast it. However, without the successful
hard work and dedication by some of the earlier less known journalists and anchors such as
Walter Cronkite, none of this would have been possible. The television news is a necessity in
every Americans home these days and the citizens of the nation rely on the networks to
broadcast important trustworthy information. And thats the way it is.-Walter Cronkite