‘We should make money on our news’: The problem of profitability in network broadcast journalism history

Abstract

The US broadcast networks have traditionally argued that their news divisions were unprofitable. The networks used their news divisions to secure regulatory advantages by claiming that losses incurred in producing broadcast journalism proved a commitment to operating in the public interest. Network broadcast journalism was promoted as a singular genre, resistant to the economic imperative found elsewhere in American broadcasting. This article explores the history of profitability in network broadcast journalism, and, by doing so, it challenges the traditional economic and regulatory narrative. Countering the myth of the unprofitable network news division raises important questions concerning journalistic independence and autonomy within American broadcasting.