Attached is a link of Roger Ebert’s reliably insightful review of Broadcast News.
A line that stood out to me in his review is ‘”Broadcast News” is not about details, but about the larger question of whether TV news is becoming show business.” The movie made me think about the state of TV news, and whether what James L. Brooks predicted has come true. I think that it has. One could look at shows like Meet the Press, World News Tonight on ABC or NBC Nightly News to know that they rely on a star system. When ratings are bad, they switch the host to someone younger and different than their predecessor in an effort to boost ratings back up again. I think it’s interesting that more onus is on the host to bring in viewers as opposed to emphasizing content of the news and quality of reporting.
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/broadcast-news-1987
I agree with you that news are supported by a star system. And like the movie says, the anchors are selling themselves, and they want the audience to trust them, to trust them more than another news show, or more than another anchor. But, me not being from the us, I wonder how much different this was back then. To me, it seems like this is how its always worked, not how it has evolved to now.