Tracie Powell, a media writer and founder of allDigitocracy.org, wrote Thursday for The Washington Post that she wasn’t surprised when news came out Wednesday that Diane Sawyer’s stepping down from her seat at ABC World News.
Who needs television? Most Americans, 55 percent of whom say television is still their primary source for news, according to Gallup. That’s why it’s still important to have more diversity, women and people of color, leading TV newscasts. It’s important to have someone reflective of the demographic changes happening in our society sharing the important news of the day with busy viewers.
At the same time, there was a sort of collective yawn when ABC announced a white guy would replace Sawyer. David Muir is more than capable, but society is no longer waiting on television to get it right. Network news is speeding toward irrelevancy and fragmenting audiences are tuning in elsewhere to see people who look like them, people they are more apt to trust, to deliver the news. Those other places include Vice, HuffPost Live and even Netflix (where viewers can watch news documentaries on a number of topics).
