"We haven't done a real division-wide initiative for a while and it was time to do it," said CBS president Sean McManus.
So far, what's missing is what "CBS Reports" actually was: a prime-time documentary. McManus said he didn't think there was enough room in the CBS schedule during a May "sweeps" month to reinstate the program, but he hasn't ruled out asking his bosses for time.
The issue of children of the recession hasn't been a highly covered economy topic, McManus said. The importance of the issue was made clear to him last week when he met with the cofounder of the Children's Health Fund.
"It occurred to me it was the one area that hasn't been given a lot of attention and, in the long run, it may be the longest-lasting effect of the recession," he said.
Tomorrow's "CBS Evening News" will be broadcast from Detroit after the medical vans arrive, he said. Other CBS platforms are working on their own stories, although it's not clear whether "60 Minutes" will be involved in the coverage.
CBS's rivals have similarly tried to focus intensely on one story. ABC News devoted a week each spring for a couple of years to extensive reporting in Iraq about what the war has meant to that country's citizens. NBC News has played a part in its parent General Electric's companywide emphasis on going green.
"CBS Reports" aired as a regular prime-time documentary from 1959 until 1971, with Edward R. Murrow's "Harvest of Shame" report about migrant workers one of its most remembered editions. After it ended as a regular series, "CBS Reports" lived into the 1990s with periodic documentaries.
Traditional documentaries have all but disappeared from prime-time television, as they're not considered competitive in the ratings with entertainment programming. Except for "60 Minutes," most prime-time news programming tends to be true-crime yarns or sociology experiments.
