Every weeknight at 11:30 pm, about 4.5 million people settle in to watch David Letterman on CBS. At the same time, over 5 million sit down to watch Ted Koppel on ABC's Nightline. Turns out, the people watching Nightline are the wrong people. They're too old for the taste of the advertising executives at Disney, ABC's parent company. And it's the hunt for cash that's precipitating the latest flap over network television: more specifically, over the value of television news.
If "working for the mouse" means that one of the most highly regarded magazine shows is headed for the rat hole, if "working for the mouse" means that only the entertainment division gets to shoot in Afghanistan, then what's the future for real journalism on network TV?
