Its removal after 35 years was seen by some as part of a general dumbing-down of British television and of ITV in particular. One commercial TV regulatory official privately characterised the "Tonight" programme which replaced it as merely "fluffy". Others saw "World in Action's" eventual disappearance as the inevitable consequence of rising commercial pressures. Announcing a £250,000 fund for an investigative journalism training scheme, Channel Four said in November 2011 that there had been a decline in the pool of investigative journalism since "the demise of training grounds such as "World in Action"".