Press: Days Of Turbulence, Days of Change

Television has always been a land of flux, a place where few programs last beyond two seasons and yesterday's top-rated star is today's trivia question. But for more than 30 years, all three networks have aired evening news shows that reach more people than any single newspaper or magazine. Turning on the TV set around dinnertime to watch the news has become a sort of flickering ritual that unifies much of the country for 30 minutes a day.

Now, however, the producers of the three broadcasts -- CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw and ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings -- fear they may be losing some of that hold. Besieged by budget cuts and competition, the news departments are going through a period of turmoil that is urgently forcing them to re-examine how they go about keeping Americans informed. Though most executives insist the quality of their flagship news programs will not be affected, many are not so sure. Says a CBS Evening News producer: "There comes a point when a worldwide newsgathering operation stops being a worldwide newsgathering operation."

Anxieties are running highest at CBS, where the sharpest knife is being wielded. Over the past 18 months, some 150 of the CBS News division's 1,400 employees have lost their jobs. In January, Chief Executive Officer Laurence Tisch asked News President Howard Stringer to cut up to $50 million from this year's nearly $300 million budget. Stringer presented a plan to Tisch last week that called for about $30 million in savings. Within two days, he began firing more than 200 staffers, including about 20 of the division's 75 or so full-time correspondents. "We can survive it," says Rather, "but not happily."

As names of the casualties filtered through the division's headquarters on Manhattan's West 57th Street, a mixture of anger and shock gripped employees. Rather refused to help pick those who should be laid off, and an anonymous letter circulated through the building urging a walkout to protest the cutbacks -- and to show support for the news writers, who struck CBS and ABC last week. (NBC's employees belong to another union.) Negotiations for a new contract collapsed when the networks insisted on greater flexibility in firing workers and hiring more temporary employees; during the walkout, news scripts are being written by managers and producers on the broadcasts. Rather, Jennings and 85 other sympathetic employees signed a letter saying they were "appalled" by management's demands. Says a CBS producer: "I've been here a long time, and I've never seen morale this bad."