ABC News: The Most Revolutionary Changes In The US

Through the centuries, people have fought for their inalienable rights: life, liberty, and freedom. Most of the influential movements in history have started in the media, since it was the easiest way to disseminate information and unite nations. When demands were not met by a higher authority, the citizens unrest provided an impetus for some of the most revolutionary changes in the world’s history. The American Broadcasting Company was founded to provide the public the same chance to uphold their freedoms. Although ABC News started at the bottom of the United States’ news agencies; ultimately, their organizational structure, mission, and content has propelled them into a leading domestic and international news source.

ABC is a sterling example

With decreased competition in the news industry, the Federal Communications Commission forced NBC to sell its Blue Network radio station to Edward Noble on October 12, 1943 for 8 million dollars, which was subsequently renamed the American Broadcast Company (Swift, The New York Times). Then August 1948, the company expanded its operations to include television broadcasts. Still, the company struggled to compete with rivals CBS and NBC, until; ABC appointed Roone Arledge as president of ABC News in 1977. After Arledge took over the network, profits went up and the company began to achieve stronger ratings. Also, Arledge is credited for creating many of ABC News’ most popular and enduring programs, including: 20/20, World News Tonight, This Week, Nightline and Primetime Live (Britannica.com). Moving into the 90s, two major acquisitions changed the company forever: the first, ABC’s partnership with the nation’s leading sports network ESPN; the second,

However, it wasn’t until the late 1950s that the ABC network became a serious contender to NBC and CBS. The strategy ABC implemented in the 1950s to become competitive with the larger news networks was called counterprogramming (Britannica.com). The idea behind counterprogramming was to run their news programs directly against the times the other networks broadcasted their programs. This was a huge success, since ABC’s diverse range of programming continued to meet the expectations of the public (ABCNews.com). One of the most successful counterprogramming efforts came when ABC launched 20/20, a show that was designed similarly to CBS’s 60 Minutes. Still, the company’s most successful counterprogram to date is Nightline, which was originally launched to run against NBC’s Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Nightline has earned three Peabody awards and was ranked 23rd on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 (CBSNews.com). Other shows that have been successful and increased the network’s exposure are: This Week, Good Morning America and Primetime Live. Overall, ABC’s continued commitment to producing the highest quality news programs has propelled the company to the top of the United States’ news