Fox, CNN and NBC are just looking for content. At one point, ABC announced it would be airing preseason Monday Night Football games, rather than carry the conventions, then prevailed on the NFL to start the games at 7 p.m. and allow live convention broadcasts from 10 to 11 p.m. At CBS, the prime time news magazines 48 Hours and 60 Minutes will broadcast from the convention halls. Fox News Channel plans five hours a night. It s an opportunity despite the necessary tension with the parties, said Tom Hannon, CNN s political news director.
Parties are in the infomercial business.
We are in the news business. Politics is a great story for us. Our job is to put the conventions, the candidates and the issues in a context for our viewers. But public disinterest is real. Those saying they had no interest in the conventions has risen from 45 percent in 1992 to 55 percent in 1996 to 64 percent this year, according to a recent survey by the Pew Center for People and the Press.