But the opera of the schedule change had a strange unifying effect inside the division, with Ms. Walters cast as a martyr in the great battle to defend news coverage, an irony of sorts because some ABC colleagues have long sniffed at what they consider her softer, show-business approach to news. Self-preservation was on the minds of many. We always thought Barbara was sacrosanct. But in the changing dynamics of broadcast television, not even Ms. Walters is sacrosanct. And her eviction from Friday night tapped into a growing sense in the news division of its waning relevance.
Storm clouds are overhead.
Increasingly the networks, under advertiser pressure, are reaching out to younger consumers, and the news audience is a notoriously wrinkled crowd. And although news and sports were once the primary programming a network could own, that is no longer true. Networks can now freely take stakes in entertainment shows, intensifying the Cane and Abel sibling rivalry between the news and entertainment divisions. Of course, news magazines are often moved around in the network schedules. Ms. Walters spent the week in clear conflict.