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The third story covered by all three networks was a demographic feature rather than news. Quite properly, all three reports credited The New York Times with doing the legwork. By crunching the numbers in 2005 census data, the Times had found that, for the first time in US history, wives living with husbands represented a minority (49%) of women, down from 65% fifty years ago.
Non-wives, obviously, come in all shapes and sizes. NBC's Dawn Fratangelo used the movie Something's Gotta Give to illustrate one type: middle-aged divorcees. CBS' Kelly Wallace used the sitcom Sex and the City to illustrate another: twentysomething bachelorettes. ABC's Nancy Cordes (subscription required) showed us a clip from Ozzie and Harriet to illustrate the way things were. Lonely widows and cohabiting lesbians got short shrift.
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