Networks 'shy away' from deadliest campus tragedy

Los Angeles: On the night after the deadliest shooting spree in American history, the nation's most popular TV networks weren't covering the grim news during their prime-time hours.

Instead, it was escapism as usual: ABC had Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor, Fox carried 24, CBS stuck with Two and a Half Men, and NBC showed Deal or No Deal.

Which raises a question: Just how big does a story have to be these days to get the broadcast networks to pay attention during their most watched hours?

A few news events in recent memory have commanded "wall-to-wall" coverage on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. The Big Four pre-empted their evening entertainment shows in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and after the deaths of Pope John Paul II and former President Ronald Reagan. And, of course, the events of September 11, 2001, merited almost a full week of nonstop network coverage.

But Monday's virtual non-coverage in prime time - only NBC pre-empted reruns of My Name Is Earl for an hour-long report at 10pm - fits a recent historical pattern. More than a decade ago, faced with declining audiences and the choices of airing more profitable sitcoms and dramas, the networks began to cut back on coverage of the political conventions, presidential addresses and election-night results.