"With the most televised war in history winding down,
executives at TV news organizations are noticing one
startling detail in how Americans are watching the
coverage: viewers are increasingly tuning out the broadcast
networks' evening newscasts. ... The overall decline in the evening news programs' ratings,
coming at the same time as the three cable news networks
achieved gains of more than 300 percent, could be a
watershed moment in how Americans get their news on
television. ... Andrew Heyward, the president of CBS News, said the Bush
administration's new policy of placing reporters with the
military units engaged in the fighting, was the most
significant factor driving the decline. It introduced a new
element of live, often visceral, coverage that had a
profound impact on viewers, he said."