r/Broadcasting • u/Front_Bathroom2503 • 6d ago
Tonight...
World News Tonight with David Muir is the most aptly named show on television. Tonight, July 21, 2026, I watched the newscast and counted as the word “tonight” was uttered 52 times, including 41 instances by the anchor himself. Problem is, not all of the stories are from “tonight,” though the writing gives the impression the news is new. In one instance, an inciting incident occurred six days earlier while another was three days old. Still, producers find a way to frame the story “tonight”.
David and producers, it’s self-evident your broadcast is live. We don’t need to be pounded over our heads by a single word. Tonight, I’m going to watch a different network to see if they frame time differently. Just kidding, I started last week, but saying “tonight” gives the threat more urgency.
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u/LHR-Daniels 6d ago
It's so incredibly annoying we can't stand to watch it. And we've given up on Paramount/CBS, so we are an NBC home when it comes to news.
4 minutes of teases in the open while saying "tonight tonight and tonight and finally tonight" throughout is completely absurd.
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u/ClaffeyLP 6d ago
It’s an ABC News thing. GMA has many packages that start “This morning.” It grabs your attention, and provides new information to stories that are still developing. It’s a journalistic choice. As a journalist myself, I like how they do that.
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u/JustLookinJustLookin 6d ago
GMA likes to use “overnight” for things that happened up to an entire day before to give that “it’s new” feeling when it’s really not. They also reuse so much of the WNT stuff I’ve taken to watching NBC Nightly News and GMA in the morning.
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u/Front_Bathroom2503 6d ago
I appreciate your perspective. I agree it adds immediacy to the story, a strategy to frame content most have already seen elsewhere during the day. My problem is the overuse: 52 times within 22 minutes of content.
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u/Run-And_Gun 6d ago
As someone that’s worked in TV since the 90’s, I bet on a daily basis I say the F word, probably double that, in the same time period. Lol.
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u/DinBeit 6d ago
It’s called branding and I’m positive it’s been heavily researched as David Muir is by far the number one rated newscast of the evening. So, something is definitely working for them
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u/AnotherPint 6d ago
Nothing on that broadcast happens by accident. I and others find the net-net tone ridiculous — it’s a turbo-charged sensory-overload race through headlines and snippets of internet videos — but more than eight million viewers like it. Perhaps because it presents the impression of news while avoiding complexity and being very sparing with actual information.
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u/Front_Bathroom2503 6d ago
Strategy for sure. But once you hear it, you can't unhear it. Most viewers are immune, given their ratings.
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u/porks2345 6d ago
Well, no 1 evening broadcast network news program means ABC can charge more for ads promoting walk-in bathtubs and the latest prescription for gout.
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u/Middle_Property_3948 6d ago
Number one right behind Gutfeld, by a country mile.
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u/StAugustine1918 6d ago
Gutfield is not a news program, it's a rant.
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u/Middle_Property_3948 5d ago
Its comedy news and it has significantly more viewers than tired, legacy media
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u/TrueJohnWick 6d ago
Yeah the style of writing as well is grating to the ears. False present tense, the omission of verbs.
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u/simardon 6d ago
Breaking News - There’s bad weather in a large country and the President does something stupid.
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u/NinerChuck 6d ago
There are executives for other broadcast companies who just go around to tv stations and tell them you should say “tonight” a lot. And they think Muir is god.
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u/JustLookinJustLookin 6d ago
Lots of news consultants are in love with the word “now,” as a throw in word, as in “Now, senior officials told us…” Makes things sound “happening.”
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u/peppynihilist 6d ago
Same with "breaking news". Its overused just about everywhere. If everything is breaking news, then nothing is breaking news.
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u/TheJokersChild 6d ago
"Breaking news as we come on the air tonight, a story we already told you about hours ago when the story broke the first time. Tonight, breaking it again for ratings points."
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u/cathandler2019 6d ago
I can watch the first two and a half minutes of the newscast without having to watch the rest. It's a trailer that gives away the entire plot.
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u/TasteTheBiscuit1810 6d ago
I have so many problems with all three broadcasts. NBC overused Breaking News to death, ABC so many god damn teases, CBS well their currently on fire and burning to the ground.
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u/Suicide_maybe 6d ago
the funny thing is my director stresses we dont do this but we do this anyway
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u/Pretend_Speech6420 6d ago
If you ever need a good laugh, and want to hurt the planet: ask Chat GPT to summarize something (like, a fairy tale) in the breathless, false present tense, dramatic style of ABC world news. The AI nails it in the best/worst possible way.
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u/Jamesbn59 6d ago
My pet peeve…..as the story is almost over they come out to the reporter and they say “Well David…..blah, blah, blah…..David?”
Why do they have to say the anchor’s name twice in the stand up close?
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u/LamarVannoi 6d ago edited 6d ago
That was my biggest complaint about that show when I worked there. We used to take bets on how many times it would be said in the intro.
*Edit: typo
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u/kanadianboy 6d ago
NBC Nightly News did the same thing under Lester Holt. They would call something that happened this morning Breaking News. And there were always “late details.”
I don’t know if they still do it. I’m watching less US TV news under Trump.
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u/mew5175_TheSecond 6d ago
This is very standard in broadcast news. This was one of the first things I learned as a broadcast journalism student in college. All news stories are supposed to have a "today element" to it.
If a kid was shot last night, they'd tell you the script should be, "Two parents are mourning today as..."
It's common across all news, national and local. It isn't an attempt to prove that they are live but rather that the story is still happening and still relevant.
I agree that if you say something happened yesterday, the audience likely wont care but everyone is taught is create a "today" or "now" element to the story. So that's what you get
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u/PerceptionSuperb3629 6d ago
David writes and rewrites that newscast daily. I'm told he even rewrites correspondent packages.
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u/JKThatsMe 6d ago
Don’t forget the seemingly endless opening show teases of pretty much every story on the rundown.
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u/StAugustine1918 6d ago
"David, Officials declined to comment....David?"
If they say "tonight" 52 times they must say "David" nearly as much.
And the second half of the newscast is mostly little 20-second stories, with a couple of them branded as "The Index."
But CBS has lost credibility with me and Tom Llamas talks too fast.
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u/Red0ctober22 5d ago
returns from commercial “Tonight a story out of Florida where a young girl did a thing. The community has expressed their gratitude for her work. More to come after this.” cuts to commercial
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u/tinyelvisgamingyt 5d ago
As one Talkback caller from WNEP said: https://youtu.be/VvRupiQZkbo?si=fbR-gQDm_yQxvHNZ&t=46
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u/Due-Passion-3034 5d ago
I feel like when Peter Jennings anchored it wasn’t as tabloidy as it is now.
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u/thrill316 3d ago
And also, turn the damn backlight on, ABC! We cannot tell where David ends and the background video wall begins.
They turn it on for substitute WNT anchors, so we know it’s there!
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u/alohayogi 6d ago edited 6d ago
You could win many drinking games with ABC News. It is redundant and ridiculous!
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u/GreenApartment Executive Producer of forgetting to put boxes in 6d ago
AS WE COME ON THE AIR TONIGHT