ABC launched Nightline mainly as a cheap marketing counter to Johnny Carson.

Evidence

The ABC television network at the time decided to try something different by moving the daily Iran briefing to the late evening. This was also a marketing decision: ABC had no late-night programming against Johnny Carson’s venerable talk show on its rival NBC, and news programming was, by comparison, cheap. ABC filled the evening slot with a new program called Nightline devoted solely to coverage of the [hostage] crisis. Each night, ABC would splash the screen with “America Held Hostage,” followed by the number of days of captivity. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 131

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Iran hostage crisis created Nightline and reshaped nightly network news — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the…, 226

Broader Connections

• The Iran hostage crisis created Nightline and reshaped nightly network news #qualifies (0.75) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 226