ABC - GIBSON: NEWSCASTS CAN'T DRAW YOUNG VIEWERS

GIBSON: NEWSCASTS CAN'T DRAW YOUNG VIEWERS

Charles Gibson suggests that his successful rise to the top of the ratings among the network news anchors has come as a result of doing "nothing" -- his word -- to achieve that goal. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Gibson, whose ABC World News is now the No. 1-rated evening newscast, said that ratings are "like crack for producers. ... You get into thinking, 'OK, we did that story, it rated well, so let's do more on that subject.' I don't think you can do that." Likewise, he suggested that the content of the programs will not draw younger viewers. "People's lifestyles give them a chance to watch the 6:30 p.m. news or they don't," he said, suggesting that younger viewers are generally occupied with other matters at that time. "But in 15 years when [the kids are] off to college and you're coming home maybe in the late afternoon ... and want to find out what's gone on that day, maybe at that point you'll turn it on," he said. Gibson also suggested that he was initially jealous that NBC had received the package of videos that Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-hui had produced on the day of his rampage. Then, "I thought, 'Boy, I'm glad he did that to them and not to us because they have got a really, really tricky decision on their hands.'" More recently Gibson says he decided not to air a report by ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross about the so-called DC Madam because other news developments demanded greater attention.

09/05/2007