Bad economic news helps major networks

According to Media Life, the dire economy has given a boost to nightly newscasts on the three major networks. 

From the story: 

Last week, the week ended Feb. 1, all three broadcasts recorded a season high of some sort, and their viwership has been up in recent weeks as nervous Americans tune in to hear the latest bad news... All three networks are devoting huge chunks of their newscasts to the economy. Wednesday night, for instance, all three led with an economy-related story and had at least one economy-related feature later in the broadcast. 

The article also mentions that nightly newscasts are faring so well because viewers would rather tune in to see the "broader daily developments of the economic downturn" than follow the daily play-by-play offered by financial cable networks. The boost in ratings will probably continue until "the economic crunch begins to lessen." 

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