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Crossfire Fallout

So Jon Stewart's recent Crossfire appearance, plus Ted's link to the New Yorker panel of news anchors, plus the New Yorker article on the Dan Rather hubbub has gotten me to thinking more about the role that our major news media (particularly tv) plays in shaping the public discourse. Talking through this with all of the wallace-l smarties has also helped me solidify these thoughts a little.

First off, in terms of aftermath, here's Tucker Carlson's response to Friday night's show and here's a partial transcript of Novak and Carville's reaction and then here's Jon Stewart's take on the whole thing. There. Now that my linking obligations are fulfilled, let's move on.

Stewart's premise is that the talking-head punditry is actually hurting America. What passes for "debate" on shows like Crossfire or Hannity & Colmes or The McGlaughlin Group is too often just a rote recitation of partisan talking points volleyed back and forth. Fairness and balance is taken to mean equal time for both sides with no regard for content. Viewers are left with competing visions that have no basis in reality.

This is where I had a nice long rant complete with quotes from Monday night's Crossfire demonstrating this point. But I don't need to waste space or bore you with any of that. Instead, let me say that there is a place for shows like Crossfire, and a place for networks like Air America or FOX or EIB, but I think people are hungry for a little more in the way of potatoes and vegetables to go with their red meat, especially on the broadcast networks.

After all that, it might surprise you to learn that I'm actually hopeful. It seems to me that some media people are getting it. For instance, ABC refused to air any of the partisan spinmeisters after the Presidential debates, political correspondent Mark Halperin even seemed to take considerable pride in his role as a media filter. ABC may actually be staking out some ground here. If you listen to the Fresh Air rebroadcast that Ted linked to, you'll see that ABC's Peter Jennings also seems to get it, much more so than the retiring Tom Brokaw who came across as a fuddy-duddy grumbling about the influence of bloggers. Tim Russert strikes me as someone who also gets it, but I haven't watched much of his show since the Bill O'Reilly-Paul Krugman debacle that Russert failed to take control of.

Here's hoping that Stewart's stirring of the pot continues to swirl around so that more people in the media begin to take notice. Perhaps I'm overreacting to all this because we are in the middle of a very contentious election season, but I don't think so. We need honest debate and consideration of the issues now more than ever.