“WORLD NEWS” PRODUCER “FRUSTRATED” AT BEING NO. 2

ABC’s World News executive producer Jon Banner has acknowledged that he is “deeply frustrated” that the news program with Diane Sawyer at the helm has made such slow progress in overtaking NBC Nightly News, anchored by Brian Williams. This season, the program has averaged 7.6 million viewers versus NBC’s 8.8 million. Banner, who is quoted as part of an extended profile of Sawyer in the Washington Post, blames weak promotion by the network, complaining that he regularly meets people who believe that Sawyer is still co-hosting Good Morning America. “I more than anything want to get back into first place,” Banner told the Post‘s media columnist, Howard Kurtz. “It’s something she deserves.” Sawyer had been slowly but steadily reducing the ratings gap between NBC’s Williams and herself, but last week it widened again to 859,000 viewers.