Rebecca Dana

Local television stations dominated the TV business for more than half a century. They inspired the term "network": a web of Channel 7s and 11s that delivered shows from ABC, CBS, NBC -- and later, Fox -- plus local news, syndicated reruns and talk shows.

Even as many news programs face a postelection audience drop-off, "serious" television news is drawing serious ratings this winter, with viewers flocking to shows like CBS's "60 Minutes" and PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." This interrupts a decade-long drift of viewers away from hard news toward softer fare.

Television news organizations, facing unprecedented scrutiny, have often expressed contrition for poorly chosen words during this election season. In a campaign that includes the first viable African-American presidential candidate, the lines of appropriate speech have become fuzzy.

Time may be running out for the CW network. Two years after CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. combined their second-tier networks UPN and WB into the youth-oriented CW to pool young viewers prized by advertisers, the network's hopes of surviving are looking increasingly bleak.