Viewers eagerly grazed on 24-hour cable news, degrading coverage quality.

Evidence

Whereas Koppel could parade a stream of experts to talk about Iran, how many experts were there and on how many newsworthy topics? On the viewer’s side, would they be willing to treat the news as a twenty-four-hour buffet and graze in and out whenever they felt like it, rather than waiting for the next edition of the newspapers or their “evening meal” broadcast with the network anchors? Were they ever. Although CNN was criticized for providing “watered down” coverage as compared with the broadcast networks, it was almost immediately a success. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 133